Esmé Franklin Hennessy grew up in Umzinto, the daughter of a medical doctor. She studied botany and zoology at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, and ultimately obtained a Ph.D. in Botany in 1983. She worked as a school teacher, a research assistant in the Amoebiasis Research Unit (CSIR), lecturer at the University College, Durban, which later became the University of Durban-Westville, where she held an associate professorship.
A self-taught botanical artist, Esmé has an impressive body of work. She wrote and illustrated SA Erythrinas (1972) as well as numerous illustrations and descriptions for Flowering Plants of Africa and the American Orchid Society Bulletin; illustrated and co-authored Orchids of Africa (1981) with Mrs. Joyce Stewart and illustrated and co-authored The Slipper Orchids (1989) with Mrs. Tessa Hedge.
She has exhibited widely internationally and locally, including the Hunt Institute, Pittsburgh, USA in 1977; the Royal Horticultural Society London (1989,1992) being awarded two silver-gilt Grenfell Medals, and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington in 2000.
She is a wonderful public speaker and in 1990 she was the opening guest speaker for an exhibition held at the 1820 Settlers Monument in Grahamstown, run in conjunction with the SA Association of Botanists’ conference and the first botanical artists’ workshop. From its inception, she was an avid supporter of BAASA KZN, always willing to serve on exhibition selection panels and as an opening speaker.
Esmé has been retired for a number of years and is currently living in Oregon, USA, near her son.Read more in the June 2009 National Newsletter here.
