Education
William Edward Gumbleton was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he matriculated 8 June 1858, but seems to have left the university before graduating, as there is no record of his being awarded a degree.
William Edward Gumbleton was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he matriculated 8 June 1858, but seems to have left the university before graduating, as there is no record of his being awarded a degree.
He was the elder of the two sons of Review George Gumbleton, an Anglican clergyman, and Frances Anne (née Penrose). The Gumbleton family had lived in Ireland for several generations and Review
George Gumbleton was vicar of Affane, County Cork.
As a young man, he travelled in Europe with his mother and studied languages, art and music, before settling at Belgrove, County Cork, an estate owned by his family and situated on Great Island in Cork Harbour. There, he devoted himself to horticulture, specialising in the growing of rare and newly introduced plants, particularly the species and cultivars of the Compositae such as Dahlia, Gnaphalium, Arctotis and Olearia.
Gumbleton was highly opinionated and quite intolerant of other people and of plants which he considered "inferior". There are examples of cases where, during visits to other people"s gardens, he destroyed inferior specimens of plants, sometimes with his umbrella.
The species Arctotis gumbletonii was named after him by Juris Doctor Hooker, "in tardy recognition of Mr.
Gumbleton"s services as a raiser and flowerer of many fine new plants". He also had two cultivars named after him: Kniphofia "West.E. Gumbleton" and Azalea"West.E. Gumbleton". He built up a comprehensive collection of botanical books which he bequeathed to the Irish National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin.