{{Short description|English botanist (1764–1842)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} [[File:Henry Gawler (1766-1852) and his brother John Bellenden Ker (1765-1842) holding a portfolio, as children with their dog by Henry Bone.jpg|thumb|John Bellenden Ker (r.) as child with his brother Henry Gawler (painted by [[Henry Bone]])]] [[File:Curtis's botanical magazine (Plate 1462) (8246940493).jpg|thumb|right|''[[Pitcairnia integrifolia]]'', one of many plants named by John Bellenden Ker]]
'''John Bellenden Ker''' ({{ne}} ''Gawler'') was an English botanist, born about 1764, [[Andover, Hampshire|Ramridge, Andover, Hampshire]], which was where he died in June 1842. On 5 November 1804, he changed his name to Ker Bellenden, but continued to sign his name as Bellenden Ker until his death. He was an unsuccessful claimant to the [[Duke of Roxburghe|Roxburghe dukedom]].<ref>{{Cite EB1911||wstitle=Roxburghe, Earls and Dukes of|volume=23|page=789}}</ref> His son was legal reformer [[Charles Henry Bellenden Ker]].
He is noted for having written ''Recensio Plantarum'' (1801), ''Select Orchideae'' (c. 1816) and ''Iridearum Genera'' (1827). He contributed to [[Curtis's Botanical Magazine]] under [[John Sims (taxonomist)|John Sims]], using the initial G.<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Ker, John Bellenden|volume=31}}</ref> He edited [[The Botanical Register|Edward's Botanical Register]] from 1815 to 1824 and was famous as a wit and botanist as well as being the author of ''Archaeology of Popular Phrases and Nursery Rhymes'' (1837).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_C00oAAAAMAAJ|title=An Essay on the Archaeology of Our Popular Phrases, and Nursery Rhymes|last=Ker|first=John Bellenden|date=1837-01-01|publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Company|language=en}}</ref> The 2nd volume of this work was published in 1840.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/essayonarchaeol00kergoog|title=Essay on the Archaeology of Our Popular Phrases: Terms and Nursery Rhymes|last=Ker|first=John Bellenden|date=1840-01-01|publisher=John King|language=en}}</ref> [[Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)|Robert Brown]] (1773–1858) named the genus ''[[Bellendena]]'' of the [[Proteaceae]] in his honour in 1810. The state of [[Queensland]] in [[Australia]] has named its second highest peak [[Mount Bellenden Ker]]. The [[Bellenden Ker Range]] in the same area was also named after him.
His work on English [[nursery rhyme]]s argued in four volumes that they were actually written in "Low Saxon", a hypothetical early form of Dutch. He then "translated" them back into English, revealing particularly a strong tendency to [[anti-clericalism]].<ref>H. Carpenter and M. Prichard, ''The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature'' (Oxford University Press, 1984), p. 290.</ref>
{{Botanist|Ker Gawl.|inline=yes}}
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== *Ray Desmond (1994). ''Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturists including Plant Collectors, Flower Painters and Garden Designers''. Taylor & Francis and The Natural History Museum (London). *{{cite DNB|wstitle=Ker, John Bellenden|volume=31}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ker, John Bellenden}} [[Category:1760s births]] [[Category:1842 deaths]] [[Category:19th-century English botanists]] [[Category:People from Andover, Hampshire]] [[Category:Date of birth missing]] [[Category:18th-century English botanists]]