Peter William Watson (1761–1830) was an English merchant and botanist.

Life

He was born at

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually shortened to Hull, is a historic maritime city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Est ...

in 1761, and baptised at Holy Trinity Church there on 26 August. Educated at

Hull grammar school Hull Grammar School was a secondary school in Hull, England, founded around 1330 and endowed in 1479 by the prelate John Alcock. In 1988, as part of a restructure by the Local Education Authority, the site was renamed William Gee School. In 19 ...

under Joseph Milner, he went into trade as a merchant. Watson's interests included botany, entomology, chemistry, and mineralogy, and he was a landscape-painter. He traversed the East Riding in his gig, systematically botanising, and in 1812 was involved in setting up the Hull botanic garden. He was elected a fellow of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...

in 1824. Watson died at Cottingham, near Hull, on 1 September 1830.

Works

In 1824–5 Watson issued, in twenty-four parts, ''Dendrologia Britannica; or Trees and Shrubs that will live in the Open Air of Britain throughout the year'' (London, 2 vols. 1825).

John Claudius Loudon John Claudius Loudon (8 April 1782 – 14 December 1843) was a Scottish botanist, garden designer and author, born in Cambuslang in 1782. He was the first to use the term arboretum in writing to refer to a garden of plants, especially trees, co ...

described this work as "the most scientific work devoted exclusively to trees which has hitherto been published in England." It contained an introduction to descriptive botany, and 172 coloured plates of exotic trees and shrubs, accompanied by technical description.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Peter William 1761 births 1830 deaths English merchants 18th-century British botanists Fellows of the Linnean Society of London 19th-century British botanists