George King (botanist)

Sir George King, KCIE FRS (12 April 1840 – 12 February 1909), was a British botanist appointed superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta in 1871, and the first Director of the Botanical Survey of India from 1890. He was recognized for his work in the cultivation of cinchona and for setting up a system for the inexpensive distribution of quinine throughout India through the postal system.

George was born in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, to Robert King and Cecilia Anderson. Robert King was a bookseller who moved to Aberdeen to partner with his brothers who were also in the book business. One brother Arthur was the founder of the Aberdeen University Press. Another brother George was an antiquarian, founder of a local liberal newspaper and a prominent writer on economic and social matters. King's parents both died from phthisis, the father in November 1845 aged thirty six and the mother in 1850 at the age of forty. Orphaned at the age of ten, George was taken care of by his namesake uncle. After studying at the Aberdeen Grammar School where he was nicknamed "Tertius" to distinguish him from other "King" namesakes, something that stuck. One of his teachers was Patrick Geddes. Although a good student, his health was poor and was forced to leave in 1854. The family had associated with the Free church but King later favoured the Anglican church. For a while he worked with his uncle's press business but continued to take a greater interest in natural history that had developed in his youth. He started putting together a collection in his work place, something the printer uncle despised. At the age of eighteen King decided to pursue a medical education and entered the University of Aberdeen in 1861, where he was influenced by his teachers George Dickie, Alexander Harvey and John Struthers.

In 1862 King became an assistant to Alexander Dickson. This led to an interest in cryptogamic botany and was advised by Sir W.J. Hooker to follow the path of his son (J.D. Hooker) to join the Naval Medical Service. King however was interested in India upon reading Royle and Hooker's works. The Indian Medical Service had suspended recruitment from 1860 but it happened to restart in April 1865. King obtained an M.B. in 1865 and joined the Indian Medical Service on 2 October, carrying with him an Ipecacuanha plant from Hooker, left for India in March and reached Calcutta on 11 April 1866.

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