William Roxburgh was born in Craigie, Ayrshire in 1751. After initially studying Botany at the University of Edinburgh under John Hope, he joined the Indian Medical Service as a Surgeon's Mate in 1773. He was promoted to Assistant Surgeon in 1776, and finally Surgeon in 1780. He was awarded an MD by Marischal College in 1790, and became a Fellow of this College in the same year. A co-founder and early Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens, Calcutta, Roxburgh was a Fellow of the Linnaean Society, and is known for describing a number of species of tree. He returned to Britain in 1813 after a period of ill health, and died in Edinburgh in 1815.
