Lawrence Ogilvie (5 July 1898 – 16 April 1980) was a Scottish plant pathologist who pioneered the study of wheat, fruit and vegetable diseases in the 20th century.
From 1923, in his first job and aged only 25, when agriculture was Bermuda's major industry, Ogilvie identified the virus that had devastated the islands' high-value lily bulb crops in 204 bulb fields for 30 years. By introducing agricultural controls, he re-established the valuable export shipments to the US, increasing them to seven-fold the volume of earlier "virus years". He was established as a successful young scientist when he had a 3-inch column describing his work published by one of the world's premier scientific journals, Nature.Annual reports of the Bermuda Department of Agriculture 1923-26Page 4 of the January 1929 Royal Botanic Society of London: Quarterly SummaryOctober 1968 Monthly Bulletin of the Bermuda Department of Agriculture and Fisheries article by Lawrence OgilvieKosmix.com
Bermuda's exporting its three vegetable crops a year to the USA gave plant pathologist Ogilvie much experience of vegetable diseases, such that on return to Britain, five years later, he became the UK expertNewsletter of the Federation of British Plant Pathologists No 6, Winter 1980, pages 47–48 Obituary notices: Lawrence Ogilvie by H Croxall on the diseases of commercially grown vegetables and wheat from the 1930s to the 1960s. This knowledge was vital for Britain in World War II with severe food shortages and rationing.
In total he wrote over 130 articles about plant diseases in journals of learned societies.
Education
Lawrence was born in Rosehearty, a fishing village on the north coast of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on 5 July 1898. His father, the Reverend William Paton Ogilvie, was the minister of the Presbyterian church there. He attended Aberdeen Grammar SchoolAberdeen Grammar School "Excellence" medals "EX Laurentio Ogilvie III Class MCMXIII" and "Ex Laurentio Ogilvie V Class MCMXV" and took his BSc and MA at the University of Aberdeen in 1921 as the Fullerton Research Scholar with special distinction in botany and zoology. He was also awarded the Collie Prize for the most distinguished student in botany. In Aberdeen, he lectured on the Alpine flora of China.The Garden magazine July 1919 At Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he studied plant pathology and was awarded an MSc in 1923 for his work on tree slime fluxes, particularly willow, elm, horse chestnut, and apple trees.Transactions of the British Mycological Society Volume IX part III, pages 167–182, 31 March 1924 Observations on the "Slime Fluxes" of trees Lawrence OgilvieNature magazine number 2845, volume 113, May 10, 1924, page 91
Career
On graduating at Cambridge University he was offered to be the first scientifically trained plant pathologist and entomologist to work in either of the then British colonies of Bermuda or Mauritius. He chose Bermuda, taking trains in September 1923 from Scotland to the port of Avonmouth near Bristol to catch the SS Changunida banana boat to Bermuda.
He was to be continuously employed from September 1923 in Bermuda, and then from 1928 in Bristol in the west of England, until he retired at the age of 65.
At age 71, working from home, he researched necessary changes and published his sixth edition of the British government's official national Diseases of Vegetables Bulletin 123 110-page guide for commercial growers – his first edition of 84 pages was published in July 1941 when food was rationed and in short supply due to WWII. The bulletin was also translated into Spanish and published in 1964 as Enfermedades de las Hortalizas.
Bermuda
From November 1923 (age 24) to April 1928 he was the Bermuda Government's first plant pathologist and entomologist—the first Bermuda Government agricultural scientist. He developed agricultural laws for Bermuda; initiated seed testing; registered local seedsmen; organised the improvement of seed potatoes; established plant quarantine; studied the diseases of celery and other vegetables, maize, vines, avocados, bananas and citrus fruits; and investigated the banana losses from the Mediterranean Fruit Fly.Bulletin of Entomological Research Volume XVIII part 3, February 1928 pages 289–290 and plate XIII Methods employed in breeding Opius Humilis, Silv., a parasite of the Mediterranean fruit-fly (Ceratitis Capitata, Wied) L Ogilvie Bermuda Department of Agriculture
As the Bermuda delegate at the Kingston, Jamaica 8th West Indian Agricultural Conference in March 1924, he initiated West Indian plant inspections,Fungus Diseases of Tropical Crops Paul Holliday nursery-stock export certificates, and the inspection and grading of fruit and vegetables for export.
He was acclaimed in Bermuda for identifying the virus that had increasingly damaged the commercially vital lily-bulb export trade of Lilium longiflorum to the USA since the late 19th century. Aphid damage had previously been thought to be the cause of the crop failures. He identified the virus as transmitted by the aphid Aphis lilii Takahashi. Following establishing strong government inspection in the fields and packing stations, he reported the marked improvements found during his 1927 inspections of 204 bulb fields of these lilies.
Exports of Bermuda Easter lilies increased from 823 cases in 1918 to 6043 cases in 1927.Page 223 of 22 September 1928 The Gardeners' ChronicleArticles by A Grove on page 82 of the 2 February 1929 The Gardeners' Chronicle and page 10 of the 6 July 1929 issue Due to this success being published in the renowned Nature magazine, and while still in his 20s, Ogilvie was made a vice-president of the British Lily Society.The Lily Year Book 1957 pages 45 to 59
Ogilvie wrote The Insects of Bermuda, published in 1928 by the Department of Agriculture, Bermuda. He identified and described 395 insects; in particular the Aphid ogilviei discovered by him on Lilium Harrisli in Bermuda.The Insects of Bermuda by Lawrence Ogilvie, published 1928 by the Department of Agriculture, Bermuda
Bermuda had three crops of vegetables each year for export to New York: this gave him the experience to later pioneer the European study of vegetable diseases.Foreword by M. Cohen, Director of the British Plant Pathology laboratory: page iii of the 1969 sixth edition of the HMSO Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's Diseases of Vegetables SBN 11-240423-5
England
In the winter of 1928 he was appointed Advisory Mycologist at Long Ashton Research Station near Bristol, England. The Vale of Evesham, Cornwall, and other West Country areas grew and grow much of Britain's vegetables.The Annals of Applied Biology Volume XXVI, number 2, pages 279–297, May 1939 Lettuce mosaic G C Ainsworth and L Ogilvie He pioneered the European study of commercial fruitJournal of Pomology and Horticultural Science Volume XI, no 3, pages 205–213, September 1933 Canker and die-back of apples associated with Valsa Ambiens L OgilvieJournal of Pomology and Horticultural Science Volume XIII, no 2, pages 140–148, June 1935 The fungus flora of apple twigs and branches and its relation to apple fruit spots L Ogilvie and particularly vegetable diseasesAnnual Report of the Long Ashton Research Station 1933 The effect of Formalin on potato "sickness" L OgilvieTransactions of the British Mycological Society Volume XXII, parts III and IV, 1939, pages 308–9 Vegetable disease investigations at Long Ashton L Ogilvie and C J HickmanTransactions of the British Mycological Society Volume XXIII, part II 1939 Root rot of hardy vegetables L OgilvieNature volume 160-page 96, 19 July 1947 Occurrence of Botrytis Fabæ Sardiña in England L Ogilvie and M Munro1946 Annual Report of the Agricultural and Horticultural Research Station, Long Ashton, Bristol [England] Chocolate Spot of field beans in the south west L Ogilvie and M Munro with 44 scientific papers between 1929 and 1946 at Long Ashton Research Station. He wrote the government's official national Diseases of Vegetables practical guide for trade growers: the six editions from 1941 to 1969 (in 1969, retired and aged 71) were full of photos of wilting crops.Six editions (each edition revised) July 1941–1969 of the British Ministry of Agriculture's 100-page Bulletin 123: Diseases of Vegetables by Lawrence Ogilvie. The first edition was expanded from Ogilvie's Vegetable Diseases: a brief summary Bulletin 68 1935.
Ogilvie was influential in the World War II and post-war challenge of feeding Britain: he was the leading British expert on the diseases of cereal crops(British) National Agricultural Advisory Service Quarterly Review Volume XIV, Winter 1962, number 58 Relation of disease control to successful continuous cereal growing L Ogilvie and I G Thorpe and vegetables. By the 1940s, wheat varieties had not been sufficiently bred to resist the rust and other diseases in the damp climate prevalent in Britain and particularly in the south west where he was responsible for advising farmers. Before the war, Britain imported half its food, but by 1941 relied on home-grown crops because German submarines were sinking about 60 merchant ships per month, and the priority for shipping was to carry matériel to resist the impending invasion. The 1940s varieties of wheat were still unable to resist disease, with long stalks prone to lodging in the heavy rains of the west of England.
Ogilvie was also consulted about willow diseases during World War II. Surprisingly, willows were a strategic material throughout the war. Everything dropped by parachute was dropped in a basket – light and strong, they bounced on impact and could be made to any shape. Home production of willows was about 2000 tonnes per year. There were 630 manufacturers employing 7000 basket makers.Willow diseases. http://www.wringtonsomerset.org.uk/archive/stottwillow.html Wringtonsomerset.org.uk
He was the international authority on the diseases of wheat that flourished in these British damp, warm conditions – particularly Black Stem Rust6th Commonwealth Mycological Conference, London 1960 Black Rust of wheat: co-operative investigations in western Europe and northern Africa L Ogilvie and I G ThorpeScience Progress Volume XLIX number 194, April 1961 pages 209–227 New light on epidemics of Black Stem Rust of wheat L Ogilvie and I G Thorpe2nd European Colloquium on Black Rust of Cereals, Madrid April 1961 Studies of Black Rust Epidemiology in England L Ogilvie and I G ThorpeInternational Cereal Rust Conferences June and July 1964 Black Stem Rust of wheat in Great Britain L Ogilvie and I G Thorpe and Take All.Plant Pathology volume 4, number 4, December 1955, pages 111-113 Effect of ley grasses on the carry-over of Take-All Valerie M Wehrle and L Ogilvie
Ogilvie and his team of scientists advised growers and farmers in the south-west of England through the war years and until his retirement age 65 in 1963.BSPP.org.ukHBCI.com This was particularly important to Britain during the war and the continued food rationing period to 1954Report of the 13th International Horticultural Congress, 1952: Recent developments in vegetable diseases in Great Britain Lawrence OgilviePlant Pathology Volume 2, number 4, December 1954 New or uncommon plant diseases and pests in England and Wales: "Net blotch" of field and broad beans Moira C D Justham and L Ogilvie – bread for instance was rationed from 1946 to 1948, even though it was not rationed during the war.
Ogilvie was elected a vice president of the British Mycological Society in December 1956.
Personal life
Before 1940
On 10 January 1931 in the Unitarian Meeting House, in Bessels Green, Sevenoaks, Kent, England, Lawrence married landscape architect Doris Katherine Raikes Turnbull, whom he had met within three months of starting work in Bermuda: a letter to his mother within six months included "I am all for her ... Miss T is a great one for gadding about".