Robert Scott Troup CMG CIE FRS (13 December 1874 – 1 October 1939) was a British

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...

expert. He spent the first part of his career in

Colonial India Colonial India was the part of the Indian subcontinent that was occupied by European colonial powers during the Age of Discovery. European power was exerted both by conquest and trade, especially in spices. The search for the wealth and prosper ...

, returning to England in 1920 to head Oxford's School of Forestry.

Education

Troup was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and 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 ...

. He then entered

Cooper's Hill College The Royal Indian Engineering College (or RIEC) was a British college of Civil Engineering run by the India Office to train civil engineers for service in the Indian Public Works Department. It was located on the Cooper's Hill estate, near Egham, ...

, which trained engineers and forest conservators for Indian service; there he trained under William Schlich.

Career

Troup joined the

Imperial Forestry Service The Indian Forest Service (IFS) is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India. The other two All India Services being the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. It was constituted in the year 1966 und ...

in 1897 and was posted to

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

as a Deputy Conservator of Forests. In 1905, he was appointed Forest Economist at the new Imperial Forest Research Institute and College at

Dehra Dun Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislativ ...

, India. In 1915 he was appointed Assistant Inspector-General of Forests. In 1917–1918 he also served as Controller of Timber Supplies with the Indian Munitions Board. He ended his

career as Inspector-General of Forests of

. In 1920, Troup returned to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

to take up the Chair of Forestry at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, from retiring William Schlich, under whom he had studied at Cooper's Hill. Troup was elected a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pro ...

. From 1924 to 1935 he was founding Director of Oxford's

Imperial Forestry Institute Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texas ...

. He was elected

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

(FRS) in 1926. He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in the 1920 New Year Honours and

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

(CMG) in 1934.

Works

Troup's three-volume work ''The Silviculture of Indian Trees'' was published in 1921. He also wrote ''Indian Forest Utilisation'', ''Pinus Longifolia'', ''Silvicultural Systems'', ''A Manual of Forest Mensuration'', ''Forestry and State Control'' and ''Exotic Forest Trees in the British Empire'' (1932).

Footnotes

References

*Obituary, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 3 October 1939 {{DEFAULTSORT:Troup, Robert Scott 1874 births 1939 deaths People educated at Aberdeen Grammar School Alumni of the Royal Indian Engineering College Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Imperial Forestry Service officers Administrators in British Burma Forestry academics Academics of the University of Oxford Fellows of St John's College, Oxford Fellows of the Royal Society Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire History of forestry education British foresters