Burbidge was born at Wymeswold, Leicestershire, on 21 March 1847, was son of Thomas Burbidge, a farmer and fruit-grower. Burbridge entered the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at Chiswick as a student in 1868, and proceeded in the same year to the Royal Gardens, Kew. Here he showed skill as a draughtsman and was partly employed in making drawings of plants in the herbarium. Leaving Kew in 1870, he was on the staff of the Garden from that year until 1877. In 1877 Burbidge was sent by Messrs. Veitch as a collector to Borneo. He was absent two years, during which he also visited Johore, Brunei, and the Sulu Islands. He brought back to Great Britain many remarkable plants, especially:
pitcher plants, such as "Nepenthes rajah" and "N. bicalcarata";
orchids, such as "Cypripedium laurenceanum", "Dendrobium burbidgei" and "Aerides burbidgei";
ferns, such as "Alsophila burbidgei" and "Polypodium burbidgei".
The first set of the dried specimens brought back by Burbidge numbered nearly a thousand species, and was presented by Messrs. Veitch to the Kew herbarium. Sir Joseph Hooker in describing the Scitamineous "Burbidgea nitida" names it: In 1880 Burbidge was appointed curator of the botanical gardens of Trinity College, Dublin, at Glasnevin. There he did much to encourage gardening in Ireland. In 1889 Dublin University conferred on him the honorary degree of M.A., and in 1894 he became keeper of the college park as well as curator of the botanical gardens. On the establishment of the Victoria Medal of Honour by the Royal Horticultural Society, in 1897, Burbidge was one of the first recipients, and he was also a member of the Royal Irish Academy. He died from heart-disease on Christmas Eve 1905, and was buried in Dublin. Burbidge is commemorated in the name of the genus Burbidgea and several species including Globba burbidgei. Nepenthes burbidgeae is thought to be named after his wife. In the opinion of Frederick Corder the author of his biography in the Dictionary of National Biography "Although no scientific botanist, nor very skilful as a cultivator, Burbidge did admirable service as a horticultural writer".
Family
Burbidge married in 1876 Mary Wade, who died, six months before him. They had no children.
Works
During his period at Kew and working on the Gardener Burbidge published:
