William Griffith (4 March 1810 – 9 February 1845) was a British doctor, naturalist, and

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 ...

. Griffith's botanical publications are from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

. After a brief stay in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

, he was assigned as a Civil Surgeon to Tenasserim, Burma, where he studied local plants and made collecting trips to the Barak River valley in Assam. He explored various parts of Burma, traveling the rivers, including the Irrawadi as far as Rangoon. He visited the highlands of

Sikkim Sikkim ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the ...

, and the region of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

around Shimla. Subsequently, Griffith was appointed as Civil Surgeon in Malacca, where he died of a parasitic liver disease.

Biography

William was born at Ham on 4 March 1810, the son of Thomas Griffith. He studied under a private tutor along with brothers and even in his early days, took an interest in botany. He later went to London University where he studied under

Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...

and

John Lindley John Lindley Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidology, orchidologist. Early years Born in Old Catton, Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four c ...

. He was also influenced by his friend R.H. Solly. He studied briefly at Paris under Charles Mirbel and at the Chelsea Physic Garden. He received the Linnaean Gold Medal of the Society of Apothecaries in 1830 (botanical class) and joined the East India Company as an assistant surgeon at Madras on 24 September 1832. In 1835 he was deputed to join Nathaniel Wallich and John McClelland on a mission to examine tea cultivation in northeastern India. The Commissioner in Assam, Jenkins, later deputed him to visit the Mishmi Hills and the Lohit valley. He served with Major Robert Boileau Pemberton's mission to Bhutan in 1837. In 1839 he visited the Indus region and studied the botany of Afghanistan, returning to 1841 and recuperating in Shimla before visiting his brother at Jabalpur. When Nathaniel Wallich visited South Africa, he was made in-charge of the Calcutta Botanical Garden and also acted as Professor of Botany at the Medical College from 1842 to 1844. On being relieved, he moved back to the Straits of Malacca, falling ill and dying of a liver disorder on 10 February 1845. The Calcutta Journal of Natural History, produced with assistance from him ceased and the subscriptions were used by John McClelland to publish Griffith's unpublished manuscripts. He married Emily Henderson (sister of his brother's wife) in September 1844 and in December of the same year he sailed from Calcutta to Malacca but on arrival in January 1845 he suffered from hepatitis and died on 9 February. He was buried in Malacca. A memorial tablet was placed at the St. George's Cathedral in Madras.

Taxa named in honour

There are number of plants with specific names ''griffithianus'', ''griffithia'' and ''griffithii'' named in honour of William Griffith. Including: '' Bulbophyllum griffithii'', '' Euphorbia griffithii'', '' Hopea griffithii'', '' Iris griffithii'', '' Larix griffithii'', '' Magnolia griffithii'' and '' Xanthophyllum griffithii''.

Selected publications

* Griffith, William (1847) ''Journals of Travels in Assam Burma Bootan Affghanistan and the Neighbouring Countries'' Bishop's College Press, Calcutta; reprinted 2001 Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, New Delhi.

Notes

References

*Lang, W. H. (1913) "William Griffith, 1810-1845" ''in'' Oliver, Francis W. (ed.) (1913) ''Makers of British Botany: A Collection of Biographies by Living Botanists'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
pp. 178-191
*Arnold, David (2006) ''The Tropics and the Traveling Gaze: India, Landscape, and Science, 1800-1856'' University of Washington Press, Seattle, pp. 16–17, 63, 65, 67, 144, 157, 159, 167, and 171–176,

External links

* *
Works by William Griffith (1810-1845)
at

Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the world’s largest open-access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives. BHL operates as a worldwide consortium of natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working ...

"William Griffith British Botanist"
The Beauty of Orchids and Flowers website {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffith, William 1810 births 1845 deaths British botanists Botanists with author abbreviations