Joan Margaret Legge

Lady Joan Margaret Legge JP (1885–1939) was an English botanist who had a fatal accident while collecting samples in the Valley of Flowers in India.

Early life

Legge was born on 21 February 1885 to William Legge, 6th Earl of Dartmouth, and Lady Mary Coke.[1][2] She held the office of Justice of Peace for Staffordshire.[1]

Death
Tomb of Joan Margaret Legge

In 1939 Legge went to India to study flora in the Valley of Flowers on behalf of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.[3] While traversing some rocky slopes to collect flowers, she slipped off and lost her life.[4] She died unmarried at the age of 54.[1]

Legge's sister came in search of her and built a tomb in the Valley of Flowers.[5]

Commemoration

In 2010 a new species of Impatiens found near the Valley of Flowers was named Impatiens leggei as a tribute to Legge.[6][7]

References
  1. "Lady Joan Margaret Legge". thepeerage.com. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  2. National Portrait Gallery. "Group in fancy dress for the Shakespeare Memorial National Theatre Ball". npg.org.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  3. Edited by Richard W. Butler, and Douglas G.Pearce; Butler, Richard W. (1999). Tourism Development. London: Routledge. p. 205. ISBN 9780203380307. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  4. "Valley of Flowers". sikhnet.com. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
  5. N. Ulysses and Tabish, Thingnam Girija. "Trek to Valley of Flowers". Flowers of India. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
  6. "Mary Legge's Balsam". Flowers of India. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  7. D.K. Singh, P.K. Pusalkar. "Three New Species of Impatiens (Balsaminaceae) from Western Himalaya, India" (PDF). Taiwania, 55(1): 13-23, 2010.
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