The Full Monty

Our family history is often revealing. None more so than for Monty who goes back to his roots to uncover the strong horticultural links of his past

- Monty

I have my birth certificate open before me. A little dog-eared and worn, the handwritten form is still very legible. It says that I was born in Iserlohn, West Germany, at five minutes past midnight on 8 July 1955. It also has my name as George Montagu Don. However, this has a single line passed through it in different ink and in another, smaller hand is written Montagu Denis, to replace the George.

The intention had been to name me after my two grandfathers – George Don and Montagu Wyatt. The latter died a few months before I was born, but my father’s father – George Don – when told of the arrangement for his latest grandson, said he thought Montagu was an absurd name and should be removed. However, my parents, standing up to the old bully for once, removed his name instead. Which is why I am called Monty, shortened from Montagu, Don.

But the name George Don has strong horticultural links in my family. The 18th- and 19th-century Dons were rooted firmly in Forfar in modern Angus. They were textile weavers and merchants, and a line of botanists, who worked at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Chelsea Physic Garden, The Linnean Society and, in George Don, one of the first plant hunters employed by the RHS.