Born in Belfast on September 15, 1951, he was the eldest son of Robert and Heather Nelson. The family lived in Enniskillen where he attended Portora Royal School, alma mater of Samuel Beckett and Oscar Wilde, which is now merged into the Enniskillen Royal Grammar School.
Nelson went on to Aberystwyth University, Wales, where he was awarded a bachelor of science degree in botany, the study of plant life. He moved on from there to Australia where, in 1975, his work on the taxonomic classification and ecology of the Australian native shrub Adenanthos earned him a PhD at the Australian National University in Canberra.
His next move was to Dublin where he took up a position at the Glasnevin-based Botanic Gardens as horticultural taxonomist, a role that generally focuses on the practical side of botany and plant classification. He also became a founding member of the Irish Garden Plant Society and chaired its inaugural meeting.
He played a key role in the 1980 establishment of the Northern Ireland Heritage Gardens Committee, which later became the NI Heritage Gardens Trust, serving as co-president along with David Gilliland until 2018. He had a lifelong interest in the history of Irish gardens and their plants and his articles appeared frequently in The Irish Garden magazine.
Moving to England in 1996, he lived at Outwell, west Norfolk. Following the death of his wife Sue, he moved, in late 2020, to Sutton St Edmund, Lincolnshire. Tirelessly active, he worked in later years as a freelance botanist, author and editor, as well as leading botanical holidays to the Greek island of Crete and other places.
Preferring to call himself E Charles Nelson, he authored or edited more than two dozen books and more than 150 research papers. Between 1999 and 2012 he was honorary editor of the Archives Of Natural History journal and continued as an associate editor.
Two of his books were declared “reference book of the year” by the Garden Media Guild. The first book, chosen in 2001, was an encyclopaedia titled A Heritage Of Beauty: The Garden Plants Of Ireland and the second, in 2012, was called Hardy Heathers Of The Northern Hemisphere: Calluna, Daboecia, Erica.
He was joint author with Eileen M. McCracken of The Brightest Jewel: A History Of The National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin, which was published by Boethius Press in 1987. It was described in an Irish Times review as “meticulously researched with a full list of references and sources and a superb and generous selection of illustrations” and the reviewer said “this is no mere coffee-table book; it is a serious and detailed history”. The review continued: “For the serious student of botany or horticulture, for the enthusiastic gardener, this book will be a source of continuing interest. For those whose interest is less studious they can learn about the distinguished history of this delightful oasis.”
Another one of Nelson’s books, titled Shadow Among Splendours: Lady Charlotte Wheeler-Cuffe’s Adventures Among The Flowers Of Burma was published in 2014. The subject of the book, a talented botanical artist, was born Charlotte Isabel Williams in Wimbledon on May 24, 1867, a granddaughter of the Rev Hercules Richard Langrishe of Knocktopher, Co Kilkenny. Young Charlotte and her sister, Rosabel Mary, paid many childhood visits to Fir Grove, near Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, the home of their aunt, Charlotte Langrishe.
In his book Nelson focused on Charlotte’s experiences in Burma (now Myanmar) between 1879 and 1921, when she painted watercolours of orchids and other flowers and plants. It was a British colony at the time and her husband, Otway Wheeler-Cuffe, who also had Irish roots, was a civil engineer employed in the 1890s by the Public Works Department in Burma.
A sociable individual, she sang and played the piano in addition to drawing and painting and she created an outstanding botanical garden at Maymyo, a scenic hill town officially known as Pyin Oo Lwin. Seeds given by her were replanted at the Botanic Gardens in Dublin with spectacular results. Kew Gardens in London also benefited from her work. Her husband died in 1934 but she survived until 1967 when she died in Kilkenny, 11 weeks before her 100th birthday.
Nelson’s other books included a biography of Scottish naturalist John Scouler, who was professor of mineralogy at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS), which was published by the Glasgow Natural History Society in June 2014. In co-operation with David J Elliott of the Catesby Commemorative Trust, he edited The Curious Mister Catesby: A “Truly Ingenious” Naturalist Explores New Worlds, published for the trust by the University of Georgia Press in April 2015. The trust has been known since 2020 as the Mark Catesby Centre, University of South Carolina. Nelson was an honorary senior research director.
In May 2013, he received a Founders’ Medal from the Society for the History of Natural History, which was set up in 1936 to ensure good quality records were kept in that sphere. The medal is awarded in recognition of having made a significant contribution to the fields of the history and/or bibliography of natural history.
In June 2020, he was elected as an honorary member “for his signal services to the society over many years”. The society’s president, Peter Davis, said at the time: “Charles acted as the editor of Archives Of Natural History from 1999-2012, and as copy-editor from 2013-2019; he still makes a significant contribution to our journal as an associate editor. These roles add up to many years of crucial service. Added to that are the many other tasks he carried out simultaneously that almost nobody else could have done, including the compilation of History & Mystery, the Cumulative Index for Archives, and publication of Darwin In The Archives (2010). Charles has supported development of our websites and social media activities and has also been a regular contributor to our newsletter.”
In February 2015, the Royal Horticultural Society presented Nelson with the Veitch Memorial Medal, which is awarded to persons “who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement and improvement of the science and practice of horticulture”.
In September 2016, the Heather Society’s Award of Merit was given to Nelson, who edited that society’s yearbook among other roles. In December 2016, Nelson was one of three recipients, with Helen Dillon and Thomas Pakenham, of the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland’s prestigious Medal of Honour.
Husband of the late Sue and brother to Alan, Jeffrey, Christine, Brian and Rosemary, Nelson died suddenly on May 20 during a holiday in Greece and, at his request, the funeral arrangements were kept private.
In a message on behalf of the trustees of the Dublin-based Edward Worth Library, Emer Lawlor said: “I am sending our deepest sympathies to Charles’s family. A botanist and botanical writer of worldwide repute, the trustees are extremely grateful for his extensive input and commitment as an author and editor to Botany And Gardens In Early Modern Ireland published by the Worth Trust in 2022.”
