Lady Joan Legge | |
Birth Date: | 21 February 1885 |
Birth Place: | Marylebone, London, England |
Death Place: | Valley of Flowers, India |
Father: | William Legge |
Relatives: | William Legge (brother) Humphry Legge (brother) |
Lady Joan Margaret Legge JP (21 February 1885 – 4 July 1939) was an English botanist who had a fatal accident while collecting samples in the Valley of Flowers in India.[1]
Legge was born at 55 Manchester St.[2] in Marylebone, London, to William Legge, 6th Earl of Dartmouth, and Lady Mary Coke.[3] She held the office of Justice of Peace for Staffordshire.[1]
In 1939, Legge went to India to study flora in the Valley of Flowers on behalf of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.[4] While traversing some rocky slopes to collect flowers, she slipped off and lost her life.[5] She died unmarried at the age of 54.
Legge's sister came in search of her and built a tomb in the Valley of Flowers.[6]
In 2010 a new species of Impatiens found near the Valley of Flowers was named Impatiens leggei as a tribute to Legge.[7] [8]