Andrew Thomas Gage (14 December 1871 – 21 January 1945) was a Scottish botanist and surgeon in the

Indian Medical Service The Indian Medical Service (IMS) was a military medical service in British India, which also had some civilian functions. It served during the two World Wars, and remained in existence until the independence of India in 1947. Many of its officer ...

who worked at the Calcutta Botanical Garden.

Biography

Gage was born on 14 December 1871 in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, Scotland, the son of Robert Gage. He attended

Aberdeen Grammar School Aberdeen Grammar School is a state secondary school in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is one of thirteen secondary schools run by the Aberdeen City Council educational department. It is the oldest school in the city and one of the oldest grammar school ...

before going to the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

graduating MA in 1891 and BSc in 1893. He worked as professor of botany at the University of Aberdeen until 1896. He then studied medicine and joined the Indian Medical Service, going to India in 1898 and serving in the North-West Frontier. He was then posted curator to the herbarium of the Royal Botanic Garden at Calcutta to succeed

David Prain Sir David Prain (11 July 1857 – 16 March 1944) was a Scottish botanist who worked in India at the Calcutta Botanical Garden and went on to become Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Life Born to David Prain, a saddler, and his wife ...

who moved to become director and in this position he made several collection expedition. When Prain moved to Kew in 1905, Gage became the superintendent of the botanical garden. He was also involved in establishing

cinchona ''Cinchona'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae containing at least 23 species of trees and shrubs. All are native to the Tropical Andes, tropical Andean forests of western South America. A few species are ...

cultivation and taught at the Medical College in Calcutta. He retired from the directorship of the botanical garden in 1923 and was succeeded by Charles Cumming Calder. He was appointed CIE on 1 January 1923. He died in

Strathpeffer Strathpeffer ( gd, Srath Pheofhair) is a village and spa town in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland, with a population of 1,469. Geography It lies in a strath west of Dingwall, with the elevation ranging from above sea level. Sheltered on ...

Ross and Cromarty Ross and Cromarty ( gd, Ros agus Cromba), sometimes referred to as Ross-shire and Cromartyshire, is a variously defined area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. There is a registration county and a lieutenancy area in current use, the latt ...

, Scotland. Gage was admitted Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1908. He worked on the manuscript by

Benjamin Daydon Jackson Benjamin Daydon Jackson (3 April 1846 – 12 October 1927) was a pioneering botanist and taxonomer who wrote the first volume of ''Index Kewensis'' to include all the flowering plants. Biography Jackson was the eldest child of Benjamin Daydo ...

to produce a ''History of the Linnean Society of London'' (1938) which was further expanded upon by W.T. Stearn in 1988. He was married to Jean Sturt Bruce of Kildrummy.

Works (selected)

* 1901: ''A Botanical Tour in the South Lushai Hills'' * 1901: ''On the anatomy of the roots of Phoenix paludosa Roxb.'' * 1903: ''A Census of the Indian Polygonums'' * 1904: ''The Vegetation of the District of Minbu in Upper Burma'' * 1912: ''Catalogue of Non-herbaceous Phanerogams Cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta'' * 1916: ''Letters to

Nathaniel Wallich Nathaniel Wolff Wallich FRS FRSE (28 January 1786 – 28 April 1854) was a surgeon and botanist of Danish origin who worked in India, initially in the Danish settlement near Calcutta and later for the Danish East India Company and the British ...

, 1819-1821'' * 1918: ''Report on the extension of Cinchona cultivation in India'' * 1922: ''Euphorbiaceae novae e Peninsula Malayana'' * 1938: ''A History of the Linnean Society of London''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gage, Andrew Thomas 1871 births 1945 deaths British people in colonial India Medical doctors from British India 19th-century Scottish botanists 20th-century Scottish botanists 19th-century Scottish medical doctors 20th-century Scottish medical doctors Alumni of the University of Aberdeen