William Grant Craib

William Grant Craib FLS FRSE (born 10 March 1882 in Banff, Aberdeenshire – died 1 September 1933 in Kew) was a British Botanist. Craib worked at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Craib was born in Banff, Aberdeenshire in northern 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 at Aberdeen University. As well as his teaching work and training research students, he studied with his pupils Siamese flora on which he wrote many books. In 1921 at a meeting of the British Association, Craib lost one of his legs in a serious accident.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1920. His proposers were Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour, Sir David Prain, Sir Thomas Hudson Beare, and James Hartley Ashworth.

During his vacations for University he worked in the Herbarium at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew in London, particularly on the flora of Siam. It was during one of his stays at Kew that he became ill and died on 1 September 1933 aged 51.

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