Joseph William Mathews

Joseph William "Jimmy" Mathews (7 April 1871 - 23 September 1949) was a horticulturist and gardener from England who served as the first curator of the Kirstenbosch national botanical garden in Cape Town, South Africa.

In 1913, the botanical garden at Kirstenbosch was established and Mathews was appointed the curator under the directorship of Professor H.H.W.

Mathew cultivated and encouraged the use of numerous local plants including several bulbs.

He retired in 1936 but continued to write and published on the Cultivation of non-succulent South African plants (Cape Town, 1938).

[1] The rockery at Kirstenbosch is named after him as are the plant species Geissorhiza mathewsii and Tritonia mathewsiana.