Sarah Drake

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Sarah Ann Drake (24 July 1803 Skeyton, Norfolk – 9 July 1857 ) was an English botanical illustrator. July 24, 1803 in Skeyton, Norfolk,

Born in 1803, she came from the same area of Norfolk as John Lindley, and in 1830 moved into the Lindley home in London. She appears to have had a number of roles in the Lindley home, including that of governess, but eventually she took up botanical art, gradually taking over from Lindley the illustration of his botanical publications. In 1847 she returned to Norfolk to care for elderly relatives. In 1852 she married John Sutton Hastings. She died in 1857, putatively from diabetes, but it has been speculated that she may suffered from cumulative poisoning from her painting materials.

The Western Australian orchid genus Drakea was named in her honour by Lindley in 1840.

[edit] References

• Hewson, Helen (1999). Australia: 300 years of botanical illustration. Collingwood, Victoria: CSIRO Publishing. ISBN 0-643-06366-8. 

[edit] External links

• Linda Hall Library