George Arnott Walker Arnott of Arlary (6 February 1799 – 17 April 1868) was a Scottish botanist. He collaborated with botanists from around the world and served as a
regius professor of botany at the
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...
. An orchid genus ''
Arnottia'' was named in his honour in 1828.
Early life
George Arnott Walker Arnott was born in
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 ...
, on 6 February 1799, the son of David Walker Arnott of Arlary (near
Kinross
Kinross (, ) is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, around south of Perth, Scotland, Perth and around northwest of Edinburgh. It is the traditional county town of the Counties of Scotland, historic county of Kinross-shire.
History
Kinro ...
). He grew up in Edenshead and Arlary, and attended
Milnathort Parish School then the
High School of Edinburgh from 1807. He received an
AM degree in 1818. He took to mathematics and was recognized by
Sir John Leslie and
John Playfair. He wrote articles in Tilloch's Philosophical Magazine on ''Observations on the Solution of Exponential Equations'' (1817) and ''Comparison between the Chords of Arcs employed by Ptolemy and those now in use'' (1818). He then joined to study law in Edinburgh from 1821. In 1822, his father died and he became heir to the estate in Arlary. Finding law boring, he preferred the lectures of Professor
Robert Jameson
image:Robert Jameson.jpg, Robert Jameson
Robert Jameson Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (11 July 1774 – 19 April 1854) was a Scottish natural history, naturalist and mineralogist.
As Regius Professor of Natural History at the Univers ...
and John Stewart. He also attended the classes of
Robert Kaye Greville
Dr. Robert Kaye Greville FRSE FLS LLD (13 December 1794 – 4 June 1866) was an England, English mycologist, bryology, bryologist, and botanist. He was an accomplished artist and illustrator of natural history. In addition to art and scien ...
on
cryptogam
A cryptogam (scientific name ''Cryptogamae'') is a plant, in the broad sense of the word, or a plant-like organism that share similar characteristics, such as being multicellular, photosynthetic, and primarily immobile, that reproduces via sp ...
s. He moved to France and began to examine the herbaria of
Baron Delessert there. He also attended the classes of
Adrien de Jussieu. He wrote on a classification of the mosses, and for this he was soon elected
Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1825. He also made a collection of diatoms.
Arnott issued a work called ''Diatomées. Collection J. Derby'' which might be a unique or
exsiccata
Exsiccata (Latin, ''gen.'' -ae, ''plur.'' -ae) is a work with "published, uniform, numbered set of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Typically, exsiccatae are numbered collections of dried herbarium Biological specimen, spe ...
-like.
Career
Arnott travelled in Spain and Russia in 1828 and 1829. He then began to work with
Sir William Jackson Hooker, examining the collections from
Captain Beechey's voyage and those of other collectors including
Alexander Collie
Dr Alexander Collie (2 June 1793 – 8 November 1835) was a Scottish surgeon and botanist who journeyed to Western Australia in 1829, where he was an explorer and Colonial Surgeon.
Early life
Collie was born in Insch in Aberdeenshire, Scotland on ...
. This took ten years and helped establish a reputation. He described species from across the world, writing and collaborating with numerous correspondents. With his contemporary from high school
Robert Wight
Robert Wight (6 July 1796 – 26 May 1872) was a Scottish surgeon in the East India Company, whose professional career was spent entirely in southern India, where his greatest achievements were in botany – as an economic botanist and leading ...
, he collaborated on plants from India. He received an LLD in 1837 from the University of Aberdeen. He replaced Hooker as lecturer at Glasgow University in 1839 and became
Regius Professor of Botany in 1845, a position he held until his death. Among his students was
John Lindsay Stewart.
He was a member of numerous learned societies including the Societe de Histoire Naturelle in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
and the
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
Imperial Society of Natural History.
Personal life and death
Walker Arnott married Mary Hay Barclay in 1831 and they had three sons and five daughters. His pastimes included curling. A freemason he rose to deputy grand master of the Scottish order.
He lived in Glasgow where died in 1868, aged 69, and is buried in
Sighthill Cemetery. The orchid genus ''
Arnottia'' was named in his honour by
Achille Richard in 1828.
In 1839, along with Houston Rigg Brown, Walker Arnott "resuscitated" the
Royal Order of Scotland of Freemasonry, which may have been founded before 1732, but by 1819 was on the verge of extinction.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker Arnott, George Arnott
Botanists with author abbreviations
1799 births
1868 deaths
Fellows of the Linnean Society of London
Academics of the University of Glasgow
Members of the Faculty of Advocates
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Scientists from Edinburgh
People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh
19th-century Scottish botanists
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh