British botanist who served as director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens from 1957-1969. Humphrey Burkill was the son of the former Gardens director Isaac Henry Burkill, and was born in the Director's House in the Gardens, where he lived until he was four years old. Humphrey Burkill was thereafter brought up in England and attended Cambridge University, reading Natural Sciences.
Although hoping for a placement in the Colonial Agriculture Department following his degree, Burkill was not successful and instead applied to join the police force in the late 1930s, inspired by an interest in firearms and forensic analysis. However, he soon went off the idea of a career in law enforcement and instead took a postgraduate course in crop husbandry at the Cambridge University School of Agriculture. This led to an appointment in Malaya, initially in rubber planting, followed by a post as Botanist at the Rubber Research Institute of Malaya. The Second World War saw Burkill serve as a member of the Federated Malay States Volunteer Force, which led him to be incarcerated in Thailand, working on the notorious Burma-Thailand railway for three years. Following the war Burkill returned to England to live in Leatherhead, but was re-employed in Malaya in 1946, initially with Dunlop and then at the Rubber Research Institute. When funding for the latter organisation dried up, Burkill found himself back at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, where he was appointed Assistant Director in 1954.
Three years later, Burkill moved into the Director's House where he had spent his first years, succeeding J.W. Purseglove as Director of the Gardens. While in this role Burkill helped the Gardens through the transition from British rule to Malayan rule and through a difficult period of short-staffing, alleviated by forging links with the University of Malaya and attracting foreign botanists to work at the herbarium at the Gardens. He also oversaw the first major investigation of Malayan seaweeds and led an orchid breeding programme that gained great acclaim. When Singapore hosted the 4th World Orchid Conference in 1963 it was dubbed the Orchid Olympics. Following his retirement from the Singapore Gardens, Burkill continued to work in the field of botany at Kew, contributing to the publication Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. In 1998 he was awarded the Kew Medal by the Kew Guild in recognition of his work there. He was also made OBE in 1970. In 2004 the Director's House at Singapore Botanic Gardens was renamed Burkill Hall in honour of the father and son who had both been director there. There is also a Humphrey Morrison Burkill Research Fellowship programme at the Gardens.
Sources:
H.M. Burkill, 2004, "The Burkills of Burkill Hall", Gardenwise
I.M. Turner, 2006, "Humphrey Morrison Burkill OBE, FLS, (1914-2006)", Gardens' Bulletin, Singapore, 58: 133-139.
