William Forsyth (1737 – 25 July 1804) was a Scottish botanist. He was a royal

head gardener A head gardener is an individual who manages all horticultural aspects of a property or garden, including staff and volunteers. The properties they manage include historic gardens and private estates, as well as amenity horticulture teams, for ex ...

and a founding member of the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

. A

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of flowering plants, '' Forsythia'', is named in his honour. Forsyth was born at

Oldmeldrum Oldmeldrum (commonly known as Meldrum) is a village and parish in the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire, not far from Inverurie in North East Scotland. With a population of around 2,187, Oldmeldrum falls within Scotland's top 300 centres of popu ...

in Aberdeenshire, and trained as a gardener at the

Chelsea Physic Garden The Chelsea Physic Garden was established as the Apothecaries' Garden in London, England, in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries to grow plants to be used as medicines. This four acre physic garden, the term here referring to the sc ...

as a pupil of

Philip Miller Philip Miller FRS (1691 – 18 December 1771) was an English botanist and gardener of Scottish descent. Miller was chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden for nearly 50 years from 1722, and wrote the highly popular ''The Gardeners Dicti ...

, the chief gardener. He took over the chief gardening position in 1771 and became a mentor to

John Fraser John Fraser may refer to: Politics *John Simon Frederick Fraser (1765–1803), commanded the Fraser Fencibles in Ireland and was (M.P.) for Inverness-shire *John James Fraser (1829–1896), 5th Premier of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, 18 ...

. In 1784, he was appointed superintendent of the royal gardens at Kensington and St James's Palace, a position he kept until his death.Charles Frederick Partington (1838) ''The British cyclopædia of biography'' In 1774 he created one of the first rock gardens while curator of the Chelsea Physic Garden. His garden consisted of 40 tons of assorted stone collected from the roadside outside of the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

, some

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

and

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

from nearby

downland Downland, chalkland, chalk downs or just downs are areas of open chalk hills, such as the North Downs. This term is used to describe the characteristic landscape in southern England where chalk is exposed at the surface. The name "downs" is deriv ...

, and some pieces of

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

collected from

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. The garden failed to produce much serious growth. Forsyth created a ' plaister' in 1798 made of

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

, dung,

ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

es, soapsuds,

urine Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and in many other animals. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder. Urination results in urine being excreted from the body through the urethra. Cellular ...

, and other various components that was claimed to cure defects in trees and heal "where nothing remained but the bark." He received a grant of £1,500 from

British parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

to continue the creation of the plaister, as the nation was at war in 1799 with

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

and needed sound timber to build ships, while the Royal Forests were in poor condition. His great-grandson was the gardener and landscape architect

Joseph Forsyth Johnson Joseph Forsyth Johnson (1840 – 17 July 1906) was an English landscape architect and disciple of John Ruskin.

(1840–1906). Johnson was in turn the great-grandfather of the entertainer

Bruce Forsyth Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson (22 February 1928 – 18 August 2017) was a British entertainer and presenter whose career spanned more than 70 years. Forsyth came to national attention from the late 1950s through the ITV series '' Sunday Nig ...

(1928–2017).

Selected works

*''Observations on the Diseases, Defects, and Injuries in All Kinds of Fruit and Forest Trees'' (1st edition, 1791; 71 pages) *''A Treatise on the Culture and Management of Fruit-trees'' (1st edition, 1802)

References

External links

* Scottish botanists Scottish gardeners Scottish horticulturists 1737 births 1804 deaths Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Royal Horticultural Society English horticulturists People from Formartine 18th-century Scottish people 18th-century British botanists Paintings by Henry Raeburn {{Gardening-stub