Gertrude Jekyll (1843–1932)

Gertrude Jekyll was born in London, England, one of seven children of Captain Edward Jekyll, a British army officer, and his wife Julia Hammersley. Her younger brother Walter was a friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, who may have borrowed the family name for his famous novella Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. When she was a small child, the family moved to Surrey, where Gertrude lived for the rest of her life. She became an influential artist, garden designer, horticulturalist, and writer, creating some 400 gardens in the UK, Europe and the USA. She wrote more than 1,000 articles for magazines such as The Garden and Country Life. Her books about gardening, such as Wood and Garden (1899) are still widely read.