Henry Doubleday (horticulturalist)

Doubleday had a wide range of interests; in 1851, he won a bronze medal for lace designs made in Coggeshall and shown at the Great Exhibition.

He gained the contract with De La Rue for the supply of gum arabic for postage stamps.

In his efforts to find a suitable material which could be grown in England he experimented with imported varieties of comfrey, though the gum produced proved to be unsuitable.

The full extent of his work may never be known, as his notes were burnt by his family after his death at the age of 92 in Coggeshall.

The work was also recognised by Lawrence D Hills, a horticulturalist who named the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA) after him.