William Jack

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 ...

(1795 in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

– 1822 in Bencoolen,

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

) was a noted Scottish

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 medical practitioner.

Life

He was born in

on 29 January 1795 the son of Rev Prof William Jack and his wife Grace Bolt (d.1850). His father was a regent (the equivalent of Fellow) at

King's College, Aberdeen King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland, the full title of which is The University and King's College of Aberdeen (''Collegium Regium Abredonense''), is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and now an integral part of the Universi ...

at the time of Jack's birth, and went on to be first Sub-Principal and then Principal of the College. Jack studied at King's College, Aberdeen (which later became 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 ...

) and received an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree at the age of 16, then continued studies in medicine in London, graduating as an

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

, and was admitted to the

Royal College of Surgeons of England The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) is an independent professional body and registered charity that promotes and advances standards of surgical care for patients, and regulates surgery and dentistry in England and Wales. The ...

in 1812. Jack was employed by the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

as a surgeon in India, where he corresponded extensively with botanist

Nathaniel Wallich Nathaniel Wolff Wallich FRS FRSE (28 January 1786 – 28 April 1854) was a surgeon and botanist of Danish origin who worked in India, initially in the Danish settlement near Calcutta and later for the Danish East India Company and the British ...

. In 1818 he accompanied

Stamford Raffles Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British statesman who served as the Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816, and Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. He is ...

where he extensively documented the rich flora of that region until his death in 1822. Much of his work, including manuscripts, drawings, and collections, was destroyed by fire in 1824. He died at Bencoolen in

on 15 September 1822. Two of his younger brothers (also in the East India Company) were killed in the

Cawnpore Massacre The siege of Cawnpore was a key episode in the Indian rebellion of 1857. The besieged East India Company forces and civilians in Cawnpore (now Kanpur) were unprepared for an extended siege and surrendered to rebel forces under Nana Sahib in ret ...

in 1857.

Botanical References

Three plant genera are named after him: * ''Jakkia'' Blume, 1823, a synonym of ''

Xanthophyllum ''Xanthophyllum'' is a genus of about 109 species of trees and shrubs, of the plant family Polygalaceae; (under the Cronquist system it was previously placed in the monotypic family Xanthophyllaceae). The generic name is from the Greek meaning ...

'', in family Polygalaceae * ''Jackia'' Wall., 1824, a synonym of ''Jackiopsis'' Ridsdale, in family Rubiaceae * ''Jackia''

Spreng. Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel (3 August 1766 – 15 March 1833) was a German botanist and physician who published an influential multivolume history of medicine, ''Versuch einer pragmatischen Geschichte der Arzneikunde'' (1792–99 in four vo ...

, nom. illeg., 1826, a synonym of ''

Eriolaena ''Eriolaena'' is a genus of flowering plants. Traditionally included in the family Sterculiaceae, it is included now in the recently expanded Malvaceae. The genus is distributed in Asia, from southern China through Indochina to India, Bangladesh, ...

'' in family Malvaceae

Published works

* ''Descriptions of Malayan Plants'' 1820–1822. Originally published in ''Malayan Miscellanies'', and reprinted in various forms at later dates. * William Jack, communicated by Robert Brown (1823
On the Malayan Species of ''Melastoma''
Transactions of The Linnean Society of London 14(1): 1-22 * William Jack, communicated by Aylmer Bourke Lambert (1823
On Cyrtandraceae, a new Natural Order of Plants
Transactions of The Linnean Society of London 14(1): 23-45 * William Jack, communicated by Henry Thomas Colebrooke (1823
Account of the ''Lansium'' and some other Genera of Malayan Plants
Transactions of The Linnean Society of London 14(1): 114-130

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jack, William 1795 births 1822 deaths Scottish botanists Scottish surgeons Scientists from Aberdeen