He was the son of William Doubleday and his wife Hannah Corder. His father was a shopkeeper in Coggeshall; the family were all
Quakers. He lived at the same time as his cousin
Henry Doubleday (1808–1875), the
entomologist and
ornithologist. He gained the contract with
De La Rue for the supply of
gum arabic for
postage stamps. Gum arabic is made from imported extracts from the
acacia tree. In his efforts to find a suitable material which could be grown in England he experimented with imported varieties of
comfrey, though the gum produced proved to be unsuitable. The HDRA, now called Garden Organic, has since become the largest
organic gardening and horticultural organisation in Europe. == References ==