Matthew Young Orr

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(1883-1953) was a 20th-century British

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and a specialist on

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

Life

Orr studied Botany at University College, Cardiff. From 1906 to 1913 he lectured in botany at the University of Cardiff. In 1913, he moved to

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

to oversee the Royal Botanic Gardens. In the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he served as a lieutenant in the 7th battalion Royal Scots in

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

and

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. He was later promoted to captain. He returned to the Royal Botanic Gardens after the war and worked under William Wright Smith. He later worked with both

John Macqueen Cowan John Macqueen Cowan FRSE CBE (1891–1960) was a prominent Scottish botanist in the mid 20th century. He is especially remembered for the recording and classification of trees on the Indian sub-continent. He was also an expert on Spermatophytes. ...

and

Roland Edgar Cooper Roland Edgar Cooper FRSE FRSGS (16 June 1890 – 31 January 1962) was a British botanist and Curator of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh from 1936 to 1950. Within the Gardens the Roland Edgar Cooper Collection stems from his own work. A number ...

. In 1932, he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were Sir William Wright Smith, Malcolm Wilson,

, and

Alexander Nelson Alexander Lloyd (Alex) Nelson (born 21 March 1988, in Stoke-on-Trent) is a retired sprint athlete who represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

. He died on 9 September 1953.

References

1883 births 1953 deaths British botanists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 19th-century Welsh people 20th-century Welsh people 19th-century British scientists 20th-century British scientists {{UK-botanist-stub