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John Goodyer
John Goodyer (1592–1664) was a botanist who lived in south-east Hampshire, England, all his life. He amassed a large collection of botanical texts which were bequeathed to Magdalen College, Oxford, and translated a number of classical texts into English.
John Goodyer was born in Alton, Hampshire, to Reginald Goodyer (c. 1578–1619) and Ann Goodyer. Reginald Goodyear was a local yeoman, and he and his wife had four children, John being the youngest. Learned in Greek and Latin, he evidently received a good education, possibly at the grammar school at Alton.
At that time he would have served an apprenticeship prior to his employment as an estate manager (steward). This would probably have been to William Yalden (d. 1644). Yalden was a land agent for estates owned by Magdalen College, Oxford near Petersfield, to the south, and whose second wife was John Goodyer's sister, Rose (d. 1652). When he first started work, Goodyer lived at nearby Buriton, close to his employer before moving further west to the village of Droxford, in the Meon Valley. In 1629 he moved back to the Buriton area, being given the lease of a neighbouring farm and house by the Bilsons at a nominal rate "in consideration of his faithful service" as the lease states.
Three years later, in November 1632, he married Patience Crumpe (b. c.1600), daughter of a London tailor, and moved to an area of Petersfield known as The Spain, where his substantial house still stands. The house was known as The Great House at that time and as Goodyers now. Such was Goodyer's reputation that in 1643 during the English Civil War (1642–1651), Ralph Hopton, one of the senior Royalist commanders, ordered troops "to defend and protect John Goodyer, his house, family, servants and estates". This order was found underneath the floorboards of the house.
After his wife died he moved to the hamlet of Weston, near Buriton, where he died in April or early May 1664 at the age of 71 and was buried in an unmarked grave near his wife's at St Mary's Church, Buriton. With no children to succeed him, the majority of his estate passed to his nephew, the Reverend Edmund Yalden, the only son of William and Rose Yalden.
Goodyer started working for Sir Thomas Bilson MP (1592–c. 1647), Lord of the Manor of Mapledurham, in the parish of Buriton, near Petersfield around 1616, an appointment probably obtained through the offices of Yalden. Bilson resided at West Mapledurham Manor House, (demolished 1829) and Goodyer initially leased a nearby house from him. Although a servant, he remained very close to the Bilson family, three of Sir Thomas' sons being close friends for life and being remembered in his will. He also held a position as the agent for two Bishops of Winchester: Thomas Bilson (father of Sir Thomas Bilson) and later, Lancelot Andrewes.
Goodyer's work involved spending much time in the countryside, and he took an interest in the plants he observed and how they were named. His intellectual interests prompted him to acquire botanical texts and to cultivate the company of apothecaries, who at that time possessed much of the knowledge of plants and their properties. Amongst these was John Parkinson in London whom he visited in 1616. His notes start from this date, reach a peak of activity by 1621, and are few following 1633. They show that the area he explored and recorded covered from Bristol, to Weymouth, Wellingborough, and Romney Marsh. His findings were mainly published by Thomas Johnson and his contemporaries, rather than by himself, leading to his work being largely forgotten after his death. They suggest his intention was to produce a guide to the English flora, matching his observations with the texts of the continental authors he had studied, but he was never able to complete this.
Goodyer added many plants to the British flora. He is credited with clarifying the identities of the British elms, and for discovering an unusual elm endemic to the Hampshire coast between Lymington and Christchurch named for him as Goodyer's elm; this was believed by the botanist Ronald Melville to be a form of the Cornish elm. He is also believed to have introduced the Jerusalem artichoke to English cuisine. Although not formally trained in medicine, like many herbalists of his time, he had a small practice using herbal remedies, skills he passed on to his nephew, Rev. Edmund Yalden.
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John Goodyer
John Goodyer (1592–1664) was a botanist who lived in south-east Hampshire, England, all his life. He amassed a large collection of botanical texts which were bequeathed to Magdalen College, Oxford, and translated a number of classical texts into English.
John Goodyer was born in Alton, Hampshire, to Reginald Goodyer (c. 1578–1619) and Ann Goodyer. Reginald Goodyear was a local yeoman, and he and his wife had four children, John being the youngest. Learned in Greek and Latin, he evidently received a good education, possibly at the grammar school at Alton.
At that time he would have served an apprenticeship prior to his employment as an estate manager (steward). This would probably have been to William Yalden (d. 1644). Yalden was a land agent for estates owned by Magdalen College, Oxford near Petersfield, to the south, and whose second wife was John Goodyer's sister, Rose (d. 1652). When he first started work, Goodyer lived at nearby Buriton, close to his employer before moving further west to the village of Droxford, in the Meon Valley. In 1629 he moved back to the Buriton area, being given the lease of a neighbouring farm and house by the Bilsons at a nominal rate "in consideration of his faithful service" as the lease states.
Three years later, in November 1632, he married Patience Crumpe (b. c.1600), daughter of a London tailor, and moved to an area of Petersfield known as The Spain, where his substantial house still stands. The house was known as The Great House at that time and as Goodyers now. Such was Goodyer's reputation that in 1643 during the English Civil War (1642–1651), Ralph Hopton, one of the senior Royalist commanders, ordered troops "to defend and protect John Goodyer, his house, family, servants and estates". This order was found underneath the floorboards of the house.
After his wife died he moved to the hamlet of Weston, near Buriton, where he died in April or early May 1664 at the age of 71 and was buried in an unmarked grave near his wife's at St Mary's Church, Buriton. With no children to succeed him, the majority of his estate passed to his nephew, the Reverend Edmund Yalden, the only son of William and Rose Yalden.
Goodyer started working for Sir Thomas Bilson MP (1592–c. 1647), Lord of the Manor of Mapledurham, in the parish of Buriton, near Petersfield around 1616, an appointment probably obtained through the offices of Yalden. Bilson resided at West Mapledurham Manor House, (demolished 1829) and Goodyer initially leased a nearby house from him. Although a servant, he remained very close to the Bilson family, three of Sir Thomas' sons being close friends for life and being remembered in his will. He also held a position as the agent for two Bishops of Winchester: Thomas Bilson (father of Sir Thomas Bilson) and later, Lancelot Andrewes.
Goodyer's work involved spending much time in the countryside, and he took an interest in the plants he observed and how they were named. His intellectual interests prompted him to acquire botanical texts and to cultivate the company of apothecaries, who at that time possessed much of the knowledge of plants and their properties. Amongst these was John Parkinson in London whom he visited in 1616. His notes start from this date, reach a peak of activity by 1621, and are few following 1633. They show that the area he explored and recorded covered from Bristol, to Weymouth, Wellingborough, and Romney Marsh. His findings were mainly published by Thomas Johnson and his contemporaries, rather than by himself, leading to his work being largely forgotten after his death. They suggest his intention was to produce a guide to the English flora, matching his observations with the texts of the continental authors he had studied, but he was never able to complete this.
Goodyer added many plants to the British flora. He is credited with clarifying the identities of the British elms, and for discovering an unusual elm endemic to the Hampshire coast between Lymington and Christchurch named for him as Goodyer's elm; this was believed by the botanist Ronald Melville to be a form of the Cornish elm. He is also believed to have introduced the Jerusalem artichoke to English cuisine. Although not formally trained in medicine, like many herbalists of his time, he had a small practice using herbal remedies, skills he passed on to his nephew, Rev. Edmund Yalden.