Hugh Synge
Botanist and influential figure in the world of plant conservation
HUGH SYNGE, who has died of cancer aged 67, was a pioneering botanist, one of the first to create a global list of endangered plant species. He was also involved in the development of important plant conservation organisations. In 1995, with John Akeroyd, Synge established Plant Talk, a plant conservation magazine aimed not only at academics, but at amateurs who were not necessarily native English speakers.
Plant Talk was not so much a scientific publication as a forum for the exchange of information, opinions and ideas among the worldwide community of professional and non-professional plant conservationists. An important feature was “100 Plant Facts”, a clear and concise introduction to the plant world which achieved more than a million page-views a year on the magazine’s website.
While Plant Talk was greatly appreciated by the younger generation of conservationists, thanks to its popular approach it was not well-received by the academic establishment, and it closed in 2006. When the Prince of Wales heard, he rang the magazine’s backers, urging them to reconsider.
Arthur Hugh Millington Synge was born on August 4 1951 at Woking, Surrey, the elder son of Patrick Millington Synge, editor of the journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, and Margaret (née Chenevixtrench). One of his forebears was the playwright JM Synge, author of The Playboy of the Western World.
He was educated at Rugby, which he did not enjoy, and when he left he burnt his schoolbooks.
In 1973, after graduating in Horticulture from Wye College, he joined the Herbarium at Kew as a volunteer, supporting himself by working three days a week at the Westminster Tax Office, while lodging in the bohemian house of John de Trafford.
Synge helped Professor Grenville Lucas to compile 250 case histories of threatened plants for the seminal Plant Red Data Book (1978). Soon his work earned him a full-time place at Kew, and he remained there until 1990, when he established himself as a freelance consultant.
Synge brought to all his projects an incisive mind and an impressive ability to convey complex concepts in readable prose. As one of the pioneers of plant conservation, he had a wide range of contacts. He drove himself hard and set exacting standards for collaborators, tempering determination with quiet charms.
Plant Talk alone would have assured his reputation, but few significant plant conservation publications or initiatives did not involve him as a key contributor or guiding influence. He was one of six founders of Plantlife, the UK’S largest and most influential plant conservation NGO, launched in 1990. In 2007 he was awarded Plantlife’s Award for lifetime achievement in conservation, and was also voted one of the 20 most influential British conservationists by BBC Wildlife magazine.
After Plant Talk, Synge moved from London to a cottage in the Wardour valley in Wiltshire. He set up Soltrac, a company installing solar panels, and then sold the company and established the Nadder Community Energy project, which uses solar energy income to assist local community projects.
It was a project close to his heart, and he continued to preside over meetings during his illness, chairing his final meeting remotely by computer.
A keen gardener, he established a fine collection of native apple varieties, and specialised in growing lilies, a favourite flower that had also been a particular interest of his father.
Days before his death he was discussing the use of driverless Gps-controlled micro-tractors in farm management to reduce the environmental impact of heavy machinery.
Hugh Synge is survived by a younger brother.