William Grant Craib (10 March 1882 in

Banff, Aberdeenshire Banff ( gd, Banbh) is a town in the Banff and Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is situated on Banff Bay and faces the town of Macduff across the estuary of the River Deveron. It is a former royal burgh, and is the county town of the ...

– 1 September 1933 in

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

) was a 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 ...

. Craib was Regius Professor of Botany at Aberdeen University and later worked at the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

Life

Craib was born in

in northern

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

on 10 March 1882 and he was educated at

Banff Academy Banff Academy is a S1–S6 secondary school in Banff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It serves the towns of Banff, Macduff, Whitehills, Portsoy, Aberchirder, Gardenstown, Ordiquhill, Fordyce and surrounding communities. The school does not teac ...

and

Fordyce Academy Fordyce Academy, known until the mid-19th century as Fordyce School, and also sometimes called Smith's Academy, was a famous grammar school in the village of Fordyce, Banffshire, Scotland, founded about 1592, refounded in 1790, and closed in 19 ...

. He entered Aberdeen University as an Art student but due to problems with his eyes he left and worked for a while on a ship as an engineer. When his eyes were better, he returned to Aberdeen University and took a Master of Arts degree. He was ready to study for his Bachelor of Science degree, but he took an opportunity to take a temporary post at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Calcutta. While in Calcutta he became the curator of the Herbarium and made in the

North Cachar Hills Dima Hasao district (), earlier called North Cachar Hills district, is an administrative district in the state of Assam, India. As of 2011, it is the least populous district of Assam. Dima Hasao district is one of the two autonomous hill distr ...

a large collection of plants, including a number of new species which he later described and named. In 1899 he was offered a job as ''Assistant for India'' at Kew Gardens in London, a role in which he contributed his knowledge of Indian and South West Asian botany. Richmond Cemetery, William Grant Craib

In 1915 he was offered and took the post as a lecturer in forest botany and Indian trees at Edinburgh. In 1920 he was appointed Regius Professor of Botany at Aberdeen University. As well as his teaching work and training research students, he studied with his pupils Siamese flora on which he wrote many books. In 1921 at a meeting of the British Association, Craib lost one of his legs in a serious accident. 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 ...

in 1920. His proposers were Sir

Isaac Bayley Balfour Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour, KBE, FRS, FRSE (31 March 1853 – 30 November 1922) was a Scottish botanist. He was Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow from 1879 to 1885, Sherardian Professor of Botany at the University of Oxfor ...

, Sir David Prain, Sir

Thomas Hudson Beare Sir Thomas Hudson Beare FRSE RSSA (30 June 1859 – 10 June 1940) was an eminent British engineer. He was successively Professor of Engineering at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, at University College, London (where he was a colleague of K ...

, and

James Hartley Ashworth James Hartley Ashworth FRS FRSE DSc SZS (2 May 1874 – 4 February 1936) was a British marine zoologist. Life See He was born on 2, May 1874, in Accrington in Lancashire, the only son of James Ashworth. He spent most of his early life in Bu ...

. During his vacations for university, he worked in the Herbarium at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, particularly on the flora of Siam. It was during one of his stays at Kew that he became ill and died on 1 September 1933 aged 51, and is buried in Richmond Cemetery. Craib is commemorated in the genera ''

Craibiodendron ''Craibiodendron'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Ericaceae. Its native range is Assam to Indo-China. Species: *''Craibiodendron henryi'' *''Craibiodendron scleranthum'' *''Craibiodendron stellatum'' *''Craibiodendro ...

'' and ''

Craibia ''Craibia'' is a genus of legume in the family Fabaceae. It contains the following species: * ''Craibia atlantica'' * ''Craibia brevicaudata'' Craibia was named for William Grant Craib (1882–1933), a British botanist who was an Assistant for ...

'', as well as a number of species.

Family

He married Mary Beatrice Turner in 1917. They had no children.

Selected publications

The Flora of Banffshire. Craib, William Grant, 1912. Banffshire Journal Limited, Transactions of the Banffshire Field Club Florae siamensis enumeratio : a list of the plants known from Siam, with records of their occurrence. Craib, William Grant, Kerr, Arthur Francis George. 1925-1931. Siam Society, Bangkok : The Bangkok times press

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craib, William Grant 1882 births 1933 deaths British botanists Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish botanists Alumni of the University of Aberdeen People educated at Fordyce Academy Burials at Richmond Cemetery