Robert Graham (botanist)
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Robert Graham FRSE FRCPE MWS (3 December 1786, Stirling – 7 August 1845, Coldoch, by Blairdrummond, Perthshire) was a Scottish physician and botanist.
Life
He was born in Stirling the son of Dr Robert Graham, physician.
After studying at Stirling Grammar School he continued first to Glasgow University and then to Edinburgh University where he qualified as a doctor in 1808.[1]
He trained further at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, where he qualified as a surgeon. He then returned to Scotland to practice at Glasgow Royal Infirmary 1812-3 and 1816-19.[2]
He began lecturing in Botany in 1816 at Glasgow University, taking over from Thomas Brown of Lanfine and Waterhaughs following his resignation.[3]
He was a major figure in the creation of Glasgow Botanic Gardens and was the inaugural chair of botany at the Glasgow in 1818. In 1820 he moved to Edinburgh to take on the role of Professor of Botany and Medicine at Edinburgh University, a role he continued until 1845.[4] He was also physician to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Regius Keeper (1820–1845) of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
In the 1830s he is listed as living at 62 Great King Street in the centre of Edinburgh's Second New Town.[5]
He died at Coldoch in Perthshire on 7 August 1845.
Memberships and Positions Held
- Member of the Highland Society, 1821–45
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1821-1845
- President of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, 1840–42
- First President of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, 1836
- President of the Medico-Chirugical Society, 1842
Botanical Contributions
He wrote descriptions of new and rare plants cultivated in the gardens which were published in Edinburgh New Philosophical Magazine, Curtis's Botanical Magazine and Hooker's Companion to the Botanical Magazine.
Among plants he described was the Australian shrub Lasiopetalum macrophyllum.[6]
References
- ↑ http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf
- ↑ http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH2150&type=P
- ↑ http://www.hmag.gla.ac.uk/john/huntmin/Lanfine.htm
- ↑ http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf
- ↑ http://digital.nls.uk/directories/browse/pageturner.cfm?id=83400483&mode=transcription
- ↑ "Lasiopetalum macrophyllum Graham". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
- ↑ "Author Query for 'Graham'". International Plant Names Index.
Further reading
- Robert Graham Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, 1851
- 1670 and all that: a brief chronology Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
External links
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"Graham, Robert (1786-1845)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
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