John Hope (botanist)
John Hope | |
---|---|
King's Botanist (1761-86) Professor of Botany, University of Edinburgh | |
Author abbrev. (botany) | Hope |
Professor John Hope
In 1783 he was a joint founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
In 1784 Hope was elected as president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (1784–6).[1]
Early life
Born in Edinburgh on 10 May 1725, John Hope was the son of surgeon Robert Hope and Marion Glas, and a grandson of
He was educated at
For the next decade he practiced medicine, indulging in botany in his spare time. With the death of
In 1763, Hope succeeding in promoting the idea of combining the gardens and collections at Trinity Hospital and Holyrood to a new, combined site on Leith Walk to the north. Transfer of plants took several years and the old gardens closed in 1770.In the spring of 1689, for certain strategic military reasons, the Nor Loch which lay west of the Physic Garden was drained, resulting in the flooding of the garden, with much mud and general rubbish being deposited, to the ruination of many of the plants.[4] He also succeeded in obtaining a permanent endowment for the garden, thus establishing arguably the first ever "Royal Botanic Garden". Though he published only a few papers, and is therefore little remembered as a botanist, he made many early physiological experiments. These informed his teaching, but were not published, and were only discovered in his unpublished manuscripts many years after his death.[3] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in February 1767.[5] He was appointed Physician in Ordinary to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in 1768. In 1774 he was elected a member of the Aesculapian Club.[6]
In later life he lived at High School Yards on the southern edge of the Old Town.[7]
He died in Edinburgh on 10 November 1786, and was interred at Greyfriars Kirkyard.[2]
Botanical Reference
The genus Hopea is named after Hope.[2]
Bibliography
- Hope, John (1766). "Extract of a letter from Dr John Hope, Professor of Medicine and Botany in the University of Edinburgh to Dr Pringle; dated Edinburgh 24 Sept. 1765". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 55: 290–293. (Deals with Rheum palmatum)
Family
He was married to Juliana Stevenson, sister of Alexander Stevenson, also a joint founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[9][10]
The couple had the following children:[11][10][12]
- Robert Hope
- Marianne Hope, d. 1837, married James Walker, Esq.
- Major John Hope, (1765-1840)
- FRSE, (1766-1844)
- James Hope WS, (1769-1842)
His grandson,
Secondary sources
- Morton, A.G. (1986). John Hope 1725-1786 Scottish Botanist. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Botanic Garden (Sibbald) Trust. ISBN 9781906129712
References
- ^ "John Hope". Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-902198-84-5. Archived from the original(PDF) on 4 October 2006. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
- ^ a b Balfour, Isaac Bayley (1913). "A sketch of the Professors of Botany in Edinburgh from 1670 until 1887". In Oliver, Francis Wall (ed.). Makers of British Botany. Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Grant's Old and New Edinburgh vol.2 p.363
- ^ "Library and Archive Cataloue". Royal Society. Retrieved 20 November 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Minute Books of the Aesculapian Club. Library of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
- ^ Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1773-74
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Hope.
- ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original(PDF) on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
- ^ a b Hope (1914). "Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire". Google Books. Burke's Peerage Limited. pp. 1034–1035. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- ^ David Jamie (1907). John Hope: Philanthropist & Reformer. Hope Trust. Retrieved 27 May 2017 – via Internet Archive.
john hope botany.
- ^ "Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Volume 16". Google Books. Royal Society of Edinburgh. 1849. p. 419. Retrieved 29 May 2017.