James William Helenus Trail FRS FLS (4 March 1851 – 18 September 1919) was a 20th-century botanist who served as Professor of Botany at

Aberdeen University The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland, petitioned Pope Al ...

from 1877 to 1919.

Life

He was born in

Birsay Birsay () (Old Norse: ''Birgisherað'') is a parish in the north west corner of The Mainland of Orkney, Scotland. Almost all the land in the parish is devoted to agriculture: chiefly grassland used to rear beef cattle. There are various ancien ...

on the isle of

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 The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated.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, ...

on 4 March 1851. His father, Rev

Samuel Trail Samuel Trail (1806–1887) was a Scottish minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1874. Life He was born in the parish of Udny on 31 May 1806, the son of John T. Trail, a farmer. He studied divini ...

, moved to Aberdeen as Professor of Theology in 1868, but James appears to have been sent to Aberdeen somewhat earlier to be educated there. When his father came they lived in the "Divinity Manse". He is earlier thought to have lived with his uncle, Adam Trail (later Traill) a teacher at the North Free Church School, who lived at 5 North Broadford. Despite a strong love of natural history he was pushed to study medicine at

and graduated MB ChB around 1871. However, in 1873 his love of botany was fed when he acquired an official post as botanist to the Amazon Steam Navigation Company, allowing him to spend two years in Brazil studying the tributaries of the River Amazon. In 1876 he was appointed botanist to the colony of

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies. It was located on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first known Europeans to encounter Guia ...

but before he sailed he gained a superior position as Professor of Botany at

beginning in the autumn of 1877 in succession to Prof George Dickie. In 1893 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

. He was also an active member of the

Cairngorm Club The Cairngorm Club is a mountaineering club, based in Aberdeen, Scotland formed in June 1887. History The Cairngorm Club was founded by Alexander Copland, Rev. Robert Lippe, Alexander Inkson M'Connochie, Rev. C. C. Macdonald, W. A. Hawes, and W ...

. In 1895 he was living at 71 High Street in

Old Aberdeen Old Aberdeen is part of Aberdeen in Scotland. Old Aberdeen was originally a separate burgh, which was erected into a burgh of barony on 26 December 1489. It was incorporated into adjacent Aberdeen by Act of Parliament in 1891. It retains the sta ...

, close to the university. He died on 18 September 1919 following a short illness. He is buried on the north side of St. Machar's Cathedral in

Memorials

A fine stained glass windows in

St Machar's Cathedral St Machar's Cathedral is a Church of Scotland church (building), church in Aberdeen, Scotland, located to the north of the city centre, in the former burgh of Old Aberdeen. Technically, St Machar's is no longer a cathedral but rather a Kirk ...

is dedicated to his memory. It was designed by Marjorie Kemp. In 1915,

Georg Kenneth Sutherland Georg may refer to: * ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) * , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker * Spiders Georg, an Internet meme See also * George (disambiguation) George may refer to: ...

published ''

Trailia ''Trailia'' is a genus of fungi in the family Halosphaeriaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Georg Kenneth Sutherland in Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc. vol.5 (1) on page 149 in 1915 and also New Phytologist vol.14 on page 193 in 1915. The genus nam ...

'', which is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of fungi in the family

Halosphaeriaceae The Halosphaeriaceae are a family of fungi in the Sordariomycetes class, subclass Hypocreomycetidae. Halosphaeriaceae is the family with the largest number of marine fungi with a few species are from freshwater and terrestrial habitats (Jones et ...

and named in Trail's honour.

Publications

*''The Fungi of Brazil'' (1874) *"The Palms of Brazil" (''Journal of Botany'') (1876/77) *''The Annals of Scottish Natural History'' *''Flowering Plants and Fern Allies of the

Cairngorms The Cairngorms () are a mountain range in the eastern Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland closely associated with the mountain Cairn Gorm. The Cairngorms became part of Scotland's second national parks of Scotland, national park (the Cairn ...

'' (1895)

Family

He was married to Dr Katherine Elizabeth Milligan LLD (1862–1944), daughter of Rev Prof

William Milligan William Milligan (15 March 182111 December 1893) was a renowned Scottish people, Scottish theologian. He studied at the University of Halle in Germany, and eventually became a professor at the University of Aberdeen. He is best known for hi ...

also of the university.Memorial window to J W H Trail, St Machar's Cathedral

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trail, James William Helenus 1851 births 1919 deaths People from Orkney Academics of the University of Aberdeen 19th-century Scottish botanists 20th-century Scottish botanists Fellows of the Royal Society Presidents of the British Mycological Society