A can of worms!

[Roger Horton]

Sheet 377276 records the cultivation of a mint at 355 Sandycombe Road, Kew. A list of Old Kewites gives this as the address of John Fraser VMH FLS - so surely the 'J Fraser' whose rather cramped handwriting accompanies so many Mentha specimens. Looking him up in 'collectors', however, I find he is in the company of others, some genuine, some spurious. I have done some editing, but can anyone shed any light on this situation, please? Below our man is in bold with a possible duplicate underlined, and collection dates outside probable lifespan in red:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
coll. no. --- name --- life dates --- active dates --- data*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
16434 Dr Fraser --- ? --- 1845-1885 --- 17/0/1/1
797 --- J Fraser --- ? --- 1820-1934 --- 423/1/490/154
16888 --- Mr J Fraser --- ? --- 1932 --- 1/0/0/0
16857 --- Dr J Fraser --- ? --- 1874-1910 --- 12/0/0/3
10792 --- Rev. James Fraser --- 1842-1902 --- 0 --- 0/0/0/0
21028 --- James Fraser --- ? --- 1903-1926 --- 298/3/4/5
10794 --- James Alexander Fraser --- ? --- fl. 1836-1890 --- 0/0/0/0
14892 --- Dr Joannis/Joannes Fraser --- 1820-1909 --- 1863-1929 --- 125/0/150/10
15040 --- John Fraser --- 31/1/1854-24/1/1935 --- 1883-1933 --- 21/0/21/1
10795 --- John Fraser --- 1820-1909 --- 1873-1906 --- 21/0/2/4
17886 --- John Fraser [MD] --- ? --- 1883 --- 1/0/0/0
14542 --- Dr John Fraser --- ? --- 1873-1927 --- 22/1/12/1
3656 --- John Fraser [MD] --- ? --- 1879-1910 --- 8/0/0/1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* data = number of sheets as coll./com./ex herb./det

[oldnick]

I think we are particularly in need of biographical details for 'J Fraser' of the Mints. But see:
http://herbariaunited.org/core/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8801
(Living and cultivating mints at Sandycombe Road Kew is interesting, I've just edited a sheet cultivated at 'Kew Green' - http://herbariaunited.org/specimen/377305/ however I see on the map this place- & road-name is nearer Kew Bridge, and may fall partly within the gardens.)

[Chris Liffen]

John Fraser of Sandycombe Road, Kew died January 24, 1935 at Charing Cross Hospital (pneumonia, after injuries sustained in a road accident ?).
Born in Newdeer, Aberdeenshire 31st January, 1854.
He was one time gardener at the RHS gardens, Chiswick and Asst Editor / Editor of Gardening World. Described in census of 1901 / 1911 as a journalist. FLS.
Acknowledged expert on Mentha and Salix.

[Chris Liffen]

And more detail here:-
http://plants.jstor.org/person/bm000390432

[Roger Horton]

Groom, O'Reilly, and Humphrey (2014) in an article describing the exchange networks of British and Irish botanists, New Journal of Botany, 4 (2), 95-103, based on data derived from herbaria@home, have commented that "A particular difficult case is that of the name 'J. Fraser', where John, James, and Joannis Fraser all collected around the same period"!

[Chris Liffen]

Perhaps some of the information on the message boards would help