Edward Whittall

Edward Whittall (born Smyrna, Ottoman Empire, 9 September 1851; died 15 July 1917) was an Anglo-Ottoman merchant and amateur botanist best known today for sending many species of bulbs to Europe.

[4] According to English traveller Gertrude Bell writing in 1902, Edward Whittall was known to be a friend and advisor of statesman Kâmil Pasha, who was to return as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire in 1908.

[5] In 1874 Whittall, an avid sportsman who was fond of shooting in the nearby mountains, organized an expedition there with Henry John Elwes, a visiting British naturalist who had an increasing interest in plants.

Eventually he created a larger garden area on Nif dagı to hold his collection and sent some of them to be sold in Britain and Holland.

Whittall's house in the Bornova district of İzmir and its gardens still exist and as of 2021 are operated as a venue for weddings and events by Brian Giraud, a great-grandson.