William Grant Craib

William Grant Craib FLS FRSE (born 10 March 1882 in Banff, Aberdeenshire - died 1 September 1933 in Kew) was a British Botanist. Craib worked at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.^[1]

Craib was born in Banff, Scotland on 10 March 1882 and he was educated at Banff and Fordyce Academies.^[2] He entered Aberdeen University as an Art student but due to problems with his eyes he left and worked for a while on a ship as an engineer.^[2] When his eyes were better he returned to Aberdeen University and took a Master of Arts degree.^[2] He was ready to study for his Batchelor of Science degree but he took an opportunity to take a temporary post at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Calcutta.^[2]

While in Calcutta he became the curator of the Herbarium and made a large collection of plants from the North Cachar Hills which he later named.^[2] In 1899 he was offered a job as Assistant for India at Kew Gardens in London, a role in which he contributed his knowledge of Indian and South West Asian botany.^[2]

In 1915 he was offered and took the post as a Lecturer in Forest Botany and Indian Trees at Edinburgh.^[2] In 1920 he was appointed Regius Professor of Botany at Aberdeen University.^[2] As well as his teaching work and training research students, he studied with his pupils Siamese flora on which he wrote many books.^[2] In 1921 at a meeting of the British Association, Craib lost one of his legs in a serious accident.^[2]

During his vacations for University he worked in the Herbarium at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew particularly on the flora of Siam.^[2] It was during one of his stays at Kew that he became ill and died on 1 September 1933 aged 51.^[2]

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