Alexander Carroll Maingay (1836 - 1869) was a British

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and botanical collector.

Education

Alexander Carroll Maingay was born in Great Ayton, Yorkshire and 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 ...

from 1854-1858, obtaining a gold medal for his thesis entitled 'Monograph on the British parmeliaceae'. During his medical studies he also assisted in re-arranging the large collection of Algae in the University Herbarium.

Career

On leaving the University, he became a Surgeon in the British Indian Medical Service in Bengal in 1859, transferring to China in 1860 and then became magistrate of the prison in

Malacca Malacca (), officially the Historic State of Malacca (), is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, southern region of the Malay Peninsula, facing the Strait of Malacca ...

, now part of modern day Malaysia, from 1862 and in 1868 became the superintendent of Rangoon Central Prison in Myanmar (Burma). While stationed in the Far East he collected plants in various localities including North China, Malacca,

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. After his death his botanical collections were acquired for

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

, including many plants then new to science. Maingay is commemorated in several plant names, such as ''Artocarpus maingayi'' King and ''Maingaya malayana'' Oliv.

Death

It was while superintendent of Rangoon Central Prison that he was killed during a riot by inmates in November 1869.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maingay, Alexander Carroll Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Plant collectors 19th-century British medical doctors British botanists 1836 births 1869 deaths