Ellen Hutchins

[1] Ellen Hutchins was from Ballylickey, where her family had a small estate at the head of Bantry Bay, County Cork, Ireland.

Her father, Thomas, was a magistrate who died when Ellen was two years old, leaving his widow Elinor and six surviving children (from twenty-one).

[3] Dr Whitley Stokes, a family friend, took her under his and his wife's care in his house in Harcourt Street, Dublin.

[3] In her correspondence with botanist Dawson Turner, Hutchins often describes her solitude and melancholy as a caretaker for her family in the country.

After her mother died there in 1814, she moved back to Ardnagashel House, close to Ballylickey, to be cared for by her brother Arthur and his wife Matilda.

[7] A public memorial was placed in the old Bantry (Garryvurcha) graveyard in 2015, the bicentenary of her death, by the National Committee for Commemorative Plaques in Science and Technology.

[8][9] She focused on botany (Stokes' own specialism) and spent much time out of doors accompanied by the indoor occupations of identifying, recording and drawing the plants she collected.

She learnt quickly and clearly had a gift for plant identification, produced very detailed watercolour drawings, and meticulously prepared specimens.

In 1807, Mackay sent her specimens to Dawson Turner a botanist in Great Yarmouth on the East Anglian coast of England, for his publication Fuci.

[12] Her ability to find new plants, and the quality of her drawings and specimens drew admiration from the leading botanists of the day, and her work was featured in many publications.

[17] Her rare finds included lichens and she contributed to Lewis Weston Dillwyn's work British Confervae (1802–09).

[3][28] An exhibition of her life and work was held in the School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin February – April 2017.

[32] In September 2022 the Environmental Research Institute at University College Cork renamed their building in honour of Ellen Hutchins.