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In honour of British Botanist George Samuel Jenman’s work to the Botanical Gardens, the Jenman Education Centre was officially launched in 2004 to raise environmental awareness, conduct environmental research and promote environmental activities.

George Samuel Jenman was born in 1945 in South of England, but was taken as a child by his parents to the south of Ireland where he spent his boyhood. He started life as a young gardener and obtained employment at the Royal Botanic Gardens in 1871. On 6 September 1873 he left that establishment to take charge of the Cinchona plantations in the Castleton Garden as the Superintendent in Jamaica, where he remained until he was appointed Government Botanist and Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens of British Guiana on 21 August 1879.

Jenman reorganised the Royal Botanic Gardens, bringing into high cultivation what was previously waste land, and making them one of the finest and most valuable botanic gardens in that part of the world. Jenman’s efforts to develop botanical research in British Guiana over a period of 23 years were selfless and untiring. He died at the pinnacle of his career on 28 February 1902 at the age of 57. His last report was dated 27 January 1902, which meant that he was working until the time of his death.

His botanical collection of over 8,000 specimens stands out even today as one of the most important colonial collections. In addition to numerous descriptions of new species published in various journals, in 1881 he published a hand-list of Jamaica’s ferns, and in 1898 in the bulletin of the Royal Botanic Gardens and Trinidad, an enumeration with description of the ferns of the British West Indies and Guiana.

The Jenman Educational Centre is a historical building. It was the home of George Jenman and was erected not too long after the start of the development of the Botanical Gardens.  Additionally, it served as the meeting place for the Garden’s Board of Directors and also was a small warden quarters for Jenman, who was brought to layout the Botanical Gardens, and spent 34 years doing so. The building was also used as an administrative office for the Botanical Gardens for a number of years and then later converted to an education centre, which speaks specifically to environmental education.

Also called the ‘Curator’s Lodge’, the centre was designed by Mr Brummell, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Botanic Gardens, and was erected in 1881. At first it served as a gatekeeper’s lodge and had a board room for the meetings of the Directors. It has a black and gold clock on the outside of the building, which was built as a memorial to George Samuel Jenman. It is still working and is serviced annually.

At a later date, a western wing was added to accommodate the gatekeeper. There is also a brass tablet on the building that was placed there in memorial to Sir John Henzon, Director of Science and Agriculture, 1905 to 1926. There are plaques on the wall, which were erected in honour of George Samuel Jenman and Professor Sir John Burchmore Harrison.

One reads, “To the Memory of George Samuel Jenman, fellow of the Linnean Society, Government Botanist and Superintendent of these gardens from 1879 to 1902 to whose knowledge, skill and work the colony is indebted for the laying out of the gardens and the formation of the herbarium.”

The second plaque states, “To the memory of Professor Sir John Burchmore Harrison, Director of Science and Agriculture, Government Analyst and Geologist who died on the 8th February 1926. This tablet is erected by the officers of the department of science and agriculture as a token of appreciation of his sterling ability and long and faithful service of 36 years to the colony of British Guiana.”

The mounting of three significant paintings of indigenous treasures to Guyana – the Kaieteur Falls, the Harpy Eagle and the Kanuku Mountains- were some additions made in the centre. It also carries a reading room for research and reading, which is usually visited by students.

For the more than 10,000 visitors who visit the Gardens per month, the objective of the centre is to serve to expose them to conservation areas and to exhibit Guyana’s flora and fauna.