George Henry Kendrick Thwaites CMG FRS FLS[1] (9 July 1812,[2] Bristol – 11 September 1882, Kandy) was an English botanist and entomologist.

In March 1849, on the death of George Gardner, Thwaites was appointed superintendent of the botanical gardens at Peradeniya, Ceylon.

[3] He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society on 1 June 1865 following the publication of his Enumeratio Plantarum Zeylaniæ, – (five fasciculi 1859–64).

He established the Cinchona nurseries, Hakgala, Ceylon and was in the board of directors of the Alfred Model Farm Experimental Station that later became the Royal Colombo Golf Course.

Specimens collected by Thwaites are cared for at multiple institutions, including the Natural History Museum, London, Plantentuin Meise, the National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, and Kew Herbarium.