Sir George Taylor, FRS FRSE FLS LLD (15 February 1904, in Edinburgh – 13 November 1993, in

Dunbar Dunbar () is a town on the North Sea coast in East Lothian in the south-east of Scotland, approximately east of Edinburgh and from the English border north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Dunbar is a former royal burgh, and gave its name to an ecc ...

) was a Scottish botanist.

Life

He was born at 5 West Preston Street the son of George William Taylor, a painter and decorator, and his wife, Jane Sloan. He was educated at

Boroughmuir High School Boroughmuir High School is a non-denominational secondary school in Edinburgh, Scotland. Buildings It was founded in 1904, and located at 22–24 Warrender Park Crescent, overlooking Bruntsfield Links, in a building designed by John Alexan ...

. By 1911 his father had gone into partnership as a tailor, with premises "Taylor and Thomson" at 39

George IV Bridge George IV Bridge is an elevated street in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is home to a number of the city's important public buildings. History A bridge connecting the Royal Mile to the south was first suggested as early as 1817, but was first p ...

. George then began private education at

George Heriot's School George Heriot's School is a Scottish independent primary and secondary day school on Lauriston Place in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. In the early 21st century, it has more than 1600 pupils, 155 teaching staff, and 80 non-teaching staff. ...

. He studied Biology at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...

graduating BSc in 1926. He did field studies in Rhodesia and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

1927/28 and then continued as a postgraduate gaining a DSc in 1928. Following this he immediately obtained a position as an assistant at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

. In 1934 he led a museum expedition to Ruwenzori in East Africa. In 1938 he joined

Frank Ludlow Frank Ludlow OBE (10 August 1885 – 25 March 1972) was an English officer stationed in the British Mission at Lhasa and a naturalist. Life He was born in Chelsea, London and studied at West Somerset County School and Sidney Sussex College, Ca ...

and

George Sherriff Major George Sherriff (1898–1967) was a Scottish explorer and plant collector. Biography Born in Larbert, he was educated at Sedbergh School and attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. In 1918 he took a commission in the Royal Garrison ...

in a trip to

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

. Staying at the British Museum for most of his working life he became Deputy Keeper of Botany in 1945 and Keeper in 1950.Independent (newspaper), Obituary, 16 November 1993. In 1933 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were

William Wright Smith Sir William Wright Smith FRS FRSE FLS VMH LLD (2 February 1875 Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire – 15 December 1956) was a Scottish botanist and horticulturalist. Life He was born at Parkend farm near Lochmaben in Dumfriesshire, the son of James ...

William Edgar Evans William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Eng ...

, Malcolm Wilson and

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. ...

. He was knighted by Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

in 1962 and elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1968. He was Director of 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 1,10 ...

from 1956 to 1971. During this time (1965 to 1969) he was also responsible for the creation of the Queen's Garden at

Kew Palace Kew Palace is a British royal palace within the grounds of Kew Gardens on the banks of the River Thames. Originally a large complex, few elements of it survive. Dating to 1631 but built atop the undercroft of an earlier building, the main surv ...

. In 1971 he returned to Scotland as Director of the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust based at Belhaven House near Dunbar. There he was responsible for a radical replanting of the entire garden. He retired in 1989 and died in

on 13 November 1993.

Family

He married four times: firstly in 1929 to Alice Helen Pendrich, secondly to Norah English, and thirdly Beryl Walker, Lady Colwyn, daughter of Harvey Walker and widow of Frederick Smith, 2nd Baron Colwyn. This was her fourth marriage. Following Lady Colwyn's death in 1967 he married for the final time, June Maitland. He had two sons by his first marriage.

Publications

*''An Account of the Genus Meconopsis'' (1934) Asiatic Poppies

Standard author abbreviation

References

Scottish botanists Scottish horticulturists 1904 births 1993 deaths Botanists active in Kew Gardens People associated with the British Museum Scottish civil servants Scottish curators Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People educated at Boroughmuir High School People educated at George Heriot's School Knights Bachelor Scottish knights Scientists from Edinburgh 20th-century British botanists {{UK-botanist-stub