Frances Stackhouse Acton

Today is the birthday of the botanist Frances Stackhouse Acton.
Frances was the daughter of Thomas Andrew Knight, who served as the second president of the Royal Horticultural Society. Thomas assumed the position at the urging of his friend Joseph A Banks.
Now, Knight's inclination was always to turn inward - he was a little introverted. Banks helped him overcome that.
Thomas Knight had inherited 10,000 acres of land, and he used the property to conduct all kinds of experiments on plants like strawberries, cabbages, and peas.
Frances' father encouraged her to pursue her education, and she often recalled that,

“The hours spent with [my father] in his study, or in his garden, as amongst [my] happiest recollections".

A born pragmatist like her father, Frances assisted him with his breeding efforts, which were always designed to help make better plants to feed the masses. Francis contributed to her father's work through drawing. She illustrated many of her father's writings, and she established herself as both...
“an accomplished botanist and botanical artist.”