William Grant Craib

Who is William Grant Craib?

William Grant Craib FLS FRSE was a British Botanist. Craib worked at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Craib was born in Banff, Scotland on 10 March 1882 and he was educated at Banff and Fordyce Academies. 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 Batchelor 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 a large collection of plants from the North Cachar Hills which he later 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.

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 and Aberdeen University.