William Purdom (10 April 1880 – 7 November 1921) was a British plant explorer. After being apprenticed as a gardener at Brathay Hall in the English Lake district, he traveled to London to work at the Hugh Low, Enfield Nursery, then onto the Veitch establishment at Coombe Wood. In 1902, Purdom took up a position as a gardener at Kew Botanic Garden soon becoming promoted to a sub-foreman (leading-hand) position. Purdom became heavily involved with early Union activities particularly promoting the rights of junior workers which eventually led to his unjustified dismissal. Despite being a bane to the, then, Kew Director, David Prain, the latter recognized the talents of William Purdom and recommended his employee as being very suitable as a plant collector for a joint venture by Veitch and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University to the northern provinces of China in 1909. Purdom collected and photographed plants for the Arboretum, as well as the great British Nursery firm for three years 1909- 1911. Over many months in the field, he traveled and collected from as far north as Duolun Nor and Rehe, to Wutaishan, out to Yulin and Yan'an on the fringes of the Ordos desert, to the peaks of Tabaishan, as well as in the Minshan Mountains and Lamashan near Jone. He failed in an attempt to reach the monastery of Labrang and the Amnye Machen range due to the hostility of the local lamas. In this period of severe turmoil in China, Purdom's life was at risk on several occasions In 1914, Purdom and the well-known English horticulturalist, Reginald Farrer, set out on an ambitious expedition to Qinghai then Tibetan Amdo and the Gansu province of North-west China. Extensive plant collections were made by the pair through the Minshan Ranges and 'Stony Mountains' in their first season, followed by explorations in the Datong Mountains just to the north-west of Xining. Purdom himself traveled as far west as Lake Qinghai (KokoNor) in search of new plants. Their base camps included Zhugqu (Siku), Jone, as well as the Buddhist monasteries of Quezang (Chebson Abbey) and Tiantang. After completing the work in Gansu, Purdom and Farrer returned overland, traveling by horseback and river-boat southwards through the Dabashan Range and into the Sichuan basin before returning to the coast by way of the Yangtze River steamboat service. The expedition was a great success despite the very definite threats to their