The South London Botanical Institute was founded in 1910 by Allan Octavian Hume, a former civil servant for the British Raj in India. After returning to England in 1894 Hume turned his attention to horticulture, which eventually led him to create the Institute in a large Victorian house in Norwood Road, near Tulse Hill, South London, to provide an environment where anyone interested in plants, whether amateur or professional, could meet to develop their knowledge of botany.