William Roxburgh
By: Charles Warren
Dimensions: 14. 1 x 22. 8 cm
William Roxburgh (1751-1815) was a botanist born in Ayrshire. He studied botany under Professor John Hope (1725-1786) at the University of Edinburgh. In 1766 with assistance from Hope, Roxburgh was appointment surgeon's mate on one of the East India Company's ships. In 1790 he gained the official post of naturalist in the Madras presidency. Three years later due to the death of the founder and manager of the Royal Botanic Garden in Calcutta, Colonel Robert Kyd, Roxburgh obtained the post as superintendent. Under Roxburgh’s management the collections grew from around 300 species in 1794 to around 3500 in 1813. Roxburgh was elected a Fellow of the Linnaean Society in 1799.
