HP: The Hans Sloane Lecture - Dr Timothy Cutler
Held on Tuesday, 10 June 2025 at 6:30pm
Venue: Chelsea Physic Garden, 66 Royal Hospital Rd, London
SW3 4HS
Three Physic Gardens in London:
To be given by Dr Timothy Cutler
About:
In this lecture, Dr Tim Cutler will focus on the life of Sir Hans Sloane and the story of the Chelsea Physic Garden. along with its modern recreation at the Royal College of Physicians. It will delve into the purpose of the original renaissance Physic Gardens in Italy which were attempts to "re create" the Garden of Eden. Finally ending on one of the oldest Physic Gardens in the City of London at Barber-Surgeons Hall, originally created by the famous plantsman, John Gerard and re-instated after destruction in the second world war, which Dr Cutler now curates.
Dr Timothy Cutler MA MB BChir FRCP FLS, is a retired Consultant Dermatologist. He is a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Barbers and the Hon. Curator of the Physic Garden at Barber-Surgeons Hall. He was the Royal College of Physicians’ representative on the Advisory Board of Management at the Chelsea Physic Garden (1996-2016). He is a Garden Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners. He is a keen gardener at his home in Aldeburgh and also at his family farm in Southern Tuscany, where the principal activity revolves around the production of premium-quality organic single-estate extra virgin olive oil.
The Hans Sloane Lecture was established in 1973 to commemorate the tercentenary of the Physic Garden at Chelsea and named in honour of Sir Hans Sloane, Bart. PRCP, who granted the lease of the garden to the Society in perpetuity for a nominal rent. It is devoted to the history of botany, especially the part played by the Apothecaries.