Frederick Keeble

Sir Frederick William Keeble, CBE, FRS (2 March 1870 – 19 October 1952) was a British biologist, academic, and scientific adviser, who specialised in botany.

He had been awarded the Frank Smart studentship in botany and, after graduation, went to study the subject in Germany under Wilhelm Pfeffer.

[4] In 1902 he joined University College, Reading, first as a lecturer in botany, and from October that year as director of its horticultural department.

[1] He had been recommended to the Council of the Royal Horticultural Society by Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour, a former Regius Professor of Botany.

[2] That year, he wrote an article for The Times that advised on the growing of potatoes at home as part of the campaign for increased agricultural output.

[7] In a letter to the same newspaper, he drew attention to a newly created units of 'patriotic gardeners', formed by the Royal Horticultural Society.

[2] Keeble met Sir Alfred Mond when he was a guest to an event held at his Boars Hill home.

In 1927, Mond convinced him to leave the University of Oxford and become agricultural adviser to the newly created Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI).

[1] He worked with a team at Jealott's Hill Agricultural Research Station, investigating the effects of fertilisation on both arable land and pasture.

[11] He then relinquished his role as director of the research station, and continued his association with ICI as a scientific advisor and member of the company's executive council.

[14] On 4 June 1917, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) 'for services in connection with the War'.