Francis Chalmers Crawford

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". ...

(1851–1908) was a Scottish

stockbroker A stockbroker is an individual or company that buys and sells stocks and other investments for a financial market participant in return for a commission, markup, or fee. In most countries they are regulated as a broker or broker-dealer and ...

of fame as an amateur

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

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

. ''

Saxifraga ''Saxifraga'' is the largest genus in the family Saxifragaceae, containing about 473 species of holarctic perennial plants, known as saxifrages or rockfoils. The Latin word ''saxifraga'' means literally "stone-breaker", from Latin ' ("rock" or " ...

crawfordii'' is named after him. He served as President of the Scottish Microscopical Society. He was an avid collector of plant species, especially

Bryophytes Bryophytes () are a group of land plants ( embryophytes), sometimes treated as a taxonomic division referred to as Bryophyta '' sensu lato'', that contains three groups of non-vascular land plants: the liverworts, hornworts, and mosses. In t ...

and

Spermatophytes A seed plant or spermatophyte (; New Latin ''spermat-'' and Greek ' (phytón), plant), also known as a phanerogam (taxon Phanerogamae) or a phaenogam (taxon Phaenogamae), is any plant that produces seeds. It is a category of embryophyte (i.e. la ...

, notably in

Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...

and

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

but representing almost all areas of the United Kingdom. He often worked in partnership with Harold Stuart Thompson. He also collected in Hungary, Switzerland and Sweden with his friend

John Hutton Balfour John Hutton Balfour (15 September 1808 – 11 February 1884) was a Scottish botanist. Balfour became a Professor of Botany, first at the University of Glasgow in 1841, moving to the Edinburgh University, University of Edinburgh and also becomin ...

, many of his specimens being in the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...

Life

He was born in

North Berwick North Berwick (; ) is a seaside resort, seaside town and former royal burgh in East Lothian, Scotland. It is situated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, approximately east-northeast of Edinburgh. North Berwick became a fashionable holi ...

on 24 August 1851, the son of Adam Howden Crawford (1804–1882) of the Honourable East India Company, and his wife Margaret Buchan Chalmers (1821–1898). He attended

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, Stockbridge, is now part of the Senior Scho ...

1863–68 and then trained as a stockbroker. He retired in 1896 and began to focus fully on his botanical interests. In 1897 he became a Fellow of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh and demonstrated Botany at an academic level at the

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants, today it occupies ...

. In 1898 he was elected a Fellow 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 ...

. His proposers were

Ramsay Heatley Traquair Ramsay Heatley Traquair FRSE FRS (30 July 1840 – 22 November 1912) was a Scottish naturalist and palaeontologist who became a leading expert on fossil fish. Traquair trained as a medical doctor, but his thesis was on aspects of fish anatomy ...

, Sir

Isaac Bayley Balfour Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour, Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, KBE, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE (31 March 1853 – 30 November 1922) was a Scottish botanist. He was Regius Prof ...

James Geikie James Murdoch Geikie PRSE FRS LLD (23 August 1839 – 1 March 1915) was a Scottish geologist. He was professor of geology at the University of Edinburgh from 1882 to 1914. Early life He was born in Edinburgh, the son of James Stuart Geiki ...

and

John Chiene John Chiene, Order of the Bath, CB, Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, FRCSEd (25 February 1843 – 29 May 1923) was a Scottish people, Scottish surgeon, who was Professor of Surgery ...

. In his final years he lived at 19

Royal Terrace Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, ...

, an impressive Georgian townhouse designed by

William Henry Playfair William Henry Playfair Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE (15 July 1790 – 19 March 1857) was a prominent Scottish architect in the 19th century who designed the Eastern, or Third, New Town, Edinburgh, New Town and many of Edinb ...

Calton Hill Calton Hill (; ) is a hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland, situated beyond the east end of Princes Street and included in the city's United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Views of, and f ...

.Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1906-7 He died on 9 February 1908. He is buried with his parents and sister near the centre of the original north 19th century extension to

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and o ...

in western

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

beneath a Celtic cross. The grave lies in the south-west section.

Publications

*''Anatomy of British Carices'' (published posthumously, 1910)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Francis Chalmers 1851 births 1908 deaths 19th-century Scottish botanists People educated at Edinburgh Academy Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh People associated with Edinburgh Burials at the Dean Cemetery People from North Berwick Scottish stockbrokers 19th-century Scottish businesspeople