Professor John Hope (10 May 1725 – 10 November 1786) was a Scottish physician and botanist. He did enormous work on plant classification and

plant physiology Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. Plant physiologists study fundamental processes of plants, such as photosynthesis, respiration, plant nutrition, plant hormone functions, tr ...

, and is now best known as an early supporter of

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

's system of classification. He did not publish much. In 1783 he was a joint founder of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. In 1784 Hope was elected as president of the

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that set the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by royal charter i ...

(1784–6).

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

Archibald Hope, Lord Rankeillor Sir Archibald Hope, Lord Rankeillor (1639 – 10 October 1706) was a Scottish advocate and judge, the second son of John Hope, Lord Craighall, the grandfather of the botanist John Hope and the great-grandfather of the chemist Thomas Charles Hope ...

, a

Senator of the College of Justice The senators of the College of Justice in Scotland are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of senator: Lords of Session (judges of the Court ...

who was in turn the son of

Sir John Hope, 2nd Baronet Sir John Hope, 2nd Baronet, Lord Craighall (1605? – 27 April 1654) was a Scottish judge. Life Born about 1605, he was eldest son of Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall, 1st Baronet, by Elizabeth, daughter of John Bennet of Wallyford in Haddingtons ...

. He was the great-grandson of

Sir Thomas Hope, 1st Baronet Sir Thomas Hope, 1st Baronet Hope of Craighall (1573 – 1646) was a Scottish lawyer, and Lord Advocate under Charles I. Life He was the son of an eminent Edinburgh merchant, Henry Hope, and his French wife, Jacqueline de Tott, her parents ...

. He was educated at

Dalkeith Grammar School Dalkeith High School is a secondary school, secondary state school located in Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland. History Dalkeith High School was previously the historic Dalkeith Grammar School. A list of masters of the Grammar School at Dalkeith ( ...

, then studied medicine at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. He took leave to study botany under

Bernard de Jussieu Bernard de Jussieu (; 17 August 1699 – 6 November 1777) was a French naturalist, younger brother of Antoine de Jussieu. Bernard de Jussieu was born in Lyon. He took a medical degree at Montpellier and began practice in 1720, but finding the wo ...

at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

, but returned to his studies in Scotland, graduating MD from the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

in 1750. For the next decade he practiced medicine, indulging in botany in his spare time. With the death of

Charles Alston Charles Henry "Spinky" Alston (November 28, 1907 – April 27, 1977) was an American painter, sculptor, illustrator, muralist and teacher who lived and worked in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem. Alston was active in the Harlem Renaissa ...

in 1760, he succeeded him as the 4th

Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh The Royal status of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is intrinsically linked to the issue of a Royal Warrant to the first Intendant of the Gardens in 1699. Since that date, the appointment of each new Director of RBGE has required the as ...

and King's Botanist and as Professor of Botany and Materia Medica at the University of Edinburgh. However Hope saw his responsibility for

materia medica ''Materia medica'' ( lit.: 'medical material/substance') is a Latin term from the history of pharmacy for the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing (i.e., medications). The term derives f ...

as a threat to his work in botany, and therefore arranged for the chair to be split: Hope became Professor of Medicine and Botany, and a separate chair of Materia Medica are created. 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 Leith Walk is one of the longest streets in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is the main road connecting the east end of the city centre to Leith. Forming most of the A900 road, it slopes downwards from Picardy Place at the south-western end of the str ...

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 The Nor Loch, also known as the Nor' Loch and the North Loch, was a man-made loch formerly in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the area now occupied by Princes Street Gardens and Edinburgh Waverley railway station, Waverley station which lie between t ...

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. 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. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in February 1767. He was appointed Physician in Ordinary to the

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) was established in 1729, and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest voluntary hospital in the United Kingdom, and later on, the Empire."In Com ...

in 1768. In 1774 he was elected a member of the

Aesculapian Club The Aesculapian Club of Edinburgh is one of the oldest medical dining clubs in the world. It was founded in April 1773 by Dr. Andrew Duncan. Membership of the club is limited to 11 Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and ...

. In later life he lived at High School Yards on the southern edge of the

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

. He died in Edinburgh on 10 November 1786, and was interred at

Greyfriars Kirkyard Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the southern edge of the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town, adjacent to George Heriot's School. Burials have been taking place since the late 1 ...

Botanical Reference

The genus ''

Hopea ''Hopea'' is a genus of plants in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It contains some 113 species, distributed from Sri Lanka and southern India to the Andaman Islands, Myanmar, southern China, and southward throughout Malesia to New Guinea. They are ...

'' is named after Hope.

Bibliography

* (Deals with ''

Rheum palmatum ''Rheum palmatum'' is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family (botany), family Polygonaceae. It is commonly called Chinese rhubarb, ornamental rhubarb, Turkey rhubarb or East Indian rhubarb. ''Rheum palmatum'' is a herbaceous peren ...

'')

Family

He was married to Juliana Stevenson, sister of Alexander Stevenson, also a joint founder of the

. The couple had the following children: *Robert Hope *Marianne Hope, d. 1837, married James Walker, Esq. *Major John Hope, (1765–1840) *

Thomas Charles Hope Thomas Charles Hope (21 July 1766 – 13 June 1844) was a Scottish physician, chemist and lecturer. He proved the existence of the element strontium, and gave his name to Hope's Experiment, which shows that water reaches its maximum density at ...

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

, (1766–1844) *James Hope WS, (1769–1842) His grandson, John Hope WS (1807–1893) was a noted campaigner and philanthropist who founded the Hope Trust.

Secondary sources

* (digital edition in Internet Archive: one hour lending); new edition by Henri J. Noltie, 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hope, John British plant physiologists Scottish surgeons 1725 births 1786 deaths Founder fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People from Dalkeith Medical doctors from Edinburgh Burials at Greyfriars Kirkyard 18th-century Scottish botanists 18th-century Scottish medical doctors Scientists from Edinburgh University of Paris alumni