John Forbes Royle British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 botanist

Botany

Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...

 and teacher of materia medica

Materia medica

Materia medica is a Latin medical term for the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing . The term 'materia medica' derived from the title of a work by the Ancient Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides in the 1st century AD, De materia medica libre...

, was born in Kanpur (then Cawnpore) in 1799. Entering the service of the East India Company

British East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

 as assistant surgeon, he devoted himself to studying botany and geology, and made large collections among the Himalaya Mountains. He also investigated the medical properties of the plants of Hindustan

Hindustan

Hindustan or Indostan, literal translation "Land of River Sindhu ", is one of the popular names of South Asia. It can also mean "the land of the Hindus"...

 and the history of their uses among the native races. The results of these investigations appeared in an essay On the Antiquity of Hindu Medicine (1837). For nearly ten years he held the post of superintendent of the East India Company's botanic garden in the Himalayas at Saharanpur

Saharanpur

Saharanpur is a city and a Municipal Corporation in the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India. It is the administrative headquarters of Saharanpur District as well as Saharanpur Division...

. In 1837 he was appointed to the professorship of materia medica in King's College London

King's College London

King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...

, which he held till 1856. From 1838 onwards be conducted a special department of correspondence, relating to vegetable products, at the East India House, and at the time of his death he had just completed there an extensive and valuable museum of technical products from the East Indies. In 1851 he superintended the Indian department of the Great Exhibition. He died at Acton

Acton, London

Acton is a district of west London, England, located in the London Borough of Ealing. It is situated west of Charing Cross.At the time of the 2001 census, Acton, comprising the wards of East Acton, Acton Central, South Acton and Southfield, had a population of 53,689 people...

 near London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 on the 2nd of January 1858.

The work on which his reputation chiefly rests is the Illustrations of the Botany and other branches of Natural History of the Himalayan Mountains, and of the Flora of Cashmere, in 2 vols. begun in 1839. In addition he wrote An Essay on the Productive Resources of India (1840), On the Culture and Commerce of Cotton in India and Elsewhere (1851) and The Fibrous Plants of India fitted for Cordage (1855), together with papers in scientific journals. He contributed most of the plant entries in "The Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature" edited by John Kitto. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Royle when citing

Author citation (botany)

In botanical nomenclature, author citation refers to citing the person who validly published a botanical name, i.e. who first published the name while fulfilling the formal requirements as specified by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature...

 a botanical name

Botanical name

A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar and/or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants...

.

His descendants include:

• Dr. Peter Royle - Son - Famous Doctor
• Rev. Vernon Royle
  Vernon Royle
  The Reverend Vernon Peter Fanshawe Archer Royle . He was the son of Dr. Peter Royle and Marina Fanshawe. He played cricket for Oxford University and Lancashire. He was a member of Lord Harris's cricket team to tour Australia in 1878/9...
  
   - Grandson - Cricketer
• Sir Lancelot Royle
  Lancelot Royle
  Sir Lancelot Carrington Royle KBE was a British olympian and businessman.Royle was an Olympic athlete , Chairman and CEO of Allied Suppliers Ltd., Home and Colonial Stores Ltd., Lipton Ltd., NAAFI and one of Britain’s leading 20th century retail businessmen.- Education :Lancelot Royle was the son...
  
   - Great Grandson - Olympic medalist
• Sir Anthony Royle
  Anthony Royle
  Anthony Henry Fanshawe Royle, Baron Fanshawe of Richmond KCMG was a British Conservative Party politician and businessman....
  
  (Lord Fanshawe) - Great Great Grandson - Politician