Background
William Aiton was born in 1731, in Avondale, Lanarkshire, Scotland. According to the parish baptismal roll, Aiton was the eldest of eleven children of William Aiton of Wailsely, whose occupation is not revealed.
Botanist horticulturist scientist
William Aiton was born in 1731, in Avondale, Lanarkshire, Scotland. According to the parish baptismal roll, Aiton was the eldest of eleven children of William Aiton of Wailsely, whose occupation is not revealed.
William Aiton was trained as a gardener when he left in 1754 for London, where in the following year he became an assistant to Philip Miller, curator of Chelsea Physic Garden, who was the most eminent gardener of his time and author of the celebrated and immensely important Gardener’s Dictionary. Miller’s influence on young Aiton greatly enlarged the latter’s botanical knowledge and to a very large extent determined his future career.
Aiton’s aptitude and proficiency led to his engagement in 1759 by Princess Augusta to plant a botanical garden at Kew House, under the supervision of John Haverfield; this was the inauguration of the present-day Royal Botanic Gardens. The princess also engaged Sir William Chambers as landscape architect to lay out the grounds in the fashionable mode; he is responsible for the orangery, the pagoda, and several temples.
At this time the princess depended for scientific direction on John Stuart, third earl of Bute, a most accomplished and knowledgeable botanist, who introduced many new species to Kew. Chambers has recorded Bute’s assiduity in the assembling of plants from many parts of the globe to make the collection at Kew the largest in Europe, so Aiton’s responsibility for its care was indeed a heavy one. A generous patron of botanical science, Bute encouraged Aiton in every possible way.
Upon the death of Princess Augusta in 1772, the gardens came into the possession of George III, and Bute was replaced by Sir Joseph Banks as the royal adviser on Kew. Banks was undoubtedly the greatest scientific impresario of the day and spared no effort in building up the collection at Kew. He used his connections with naval officers, merchants, doctors, and travelers to obtain plants; these specimens were entrusted to Aiton, who assumed control of the garden in 1783.
Like Bute, Banks befriended Aiton; and the two men, together with Daniel Carl Solander and Jonas Dryander, Banks’s librarian, enabled Aiton to publish his Hortus Kewensis in 1789. This three-volume work is of fundamental importance as a catalog of some 5,500 plants under cultivation at the time, and records their provenance and the date of their introduction. It also contains descriptions of new species.
It is unlikely that Aiton, who was a gardener rather than a botanist, had the scholarship required to produce, entirely by himself, a work of this nature. Indeed, in the Preface he acknowledges in general terms the assistance from those more learned than himself, without mentioning them by name. For the strictly botanical content, especially the Latin descriptions, Aiton depended heavily on Solander, but even more on Dryander, who was largely responsible for editing the work and seeing it through the press. The Hortus was well received and was sold out in two years.
Aiton is commemorated by the interesting monotypic South African genus Aitonia, which was described by Carl Peter Thunberg in 1780. The plant was introduced into cultivation by Aiton’s fellow Scot, Francis Masson, whom he had trained as a gardener before Masson went in 1772, on behalf of Kew, to the Cape of Good Hope.
Aiton died on February the 2nd of 1793 and was buried at nearby St. Anne's Church, Kew. A measure of the high esteem in which Aiton was held is shown by the presence as pallbearers at his funeral of Sir Joseph Banks, Bishop Goodenough, Jonas Dryander, and the famous artist John Zoffany, who lived in nearby Strand-on-the-Green.
Aiton`s major achievement came in 1759, when he was only 29, and still was appointed to the post of Director of the newly established Kew Gardens in London. He remained Director until his death in 1793, doing much to ensure their early success and working closely with the garden's patron, King George III, an enthusiastic gardener in his own right. Having commissioned the collection of plants from around the world, Aiton set to work in the 1780s to catalogue every plant being grown at Kew, which meant pretty much every plant then being grown in the country. Hortus Kewensis included information on the country of origin of every plant, who first cultivated it in Britain, and when. It was a three-volume work is of fundamental importance as a catalog of some 5,500 plants under cultivation at the time, and records their provenance and the date of their introduction. It also contained descriptions of new species.
(Originally published in 1814. A glance at the Index revea...)
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Quotes from others about the person
The species was featured in The Botanical Magazine in 1791 by William Curtis, who remarked:
"The great length of time Mr. Aiton has been engaged in the cultivation of plants, the immense numbers which have been the constant objects of his care through every period of their growth, joined to his superior discernment, give him a decided superiority in the prima facie knowledge of living plants over most Botanists of his day; his abilities in the other line of his profession, are displayed in the eulogies of all who have seen the royal collections at Kew, which he has the honour to superintend."
There is little evidence available of his personal affairs. His wife was named Elizabeth, and she lies in the family tomb in Kew churchyard with her husband, four daughters, and two sons.
Daniel Carlsson Solander or Daniel Charles Solander (19 February 1733 – 13 May 1782) was a Swedish naturalist who helped Aiton to publish his Hortus Kewensis in 1789.
Dryander helped Aiton to publish his Hortus Kewensis in 1789.
William Townsend Aiton (2 February 1766 – 9 October 1849) was an English botanist.
Miller was the most important horticultural writer of the eighteenth century, as well as a curator of the Chelsea Physic Garden from 1722 to 1770.
Aiton’s aptitude and proficiency led to his engagement in 1759 by Princess Augusta to plant a botanical garden at Kew House, under the supervision of John Haverfield.
Sir William Chambers, February 1723 – 10 March 1796, was a Scottish-Swedish architect, based in London. Among his best-known works are Somerset House, London, and the pagoda at Kew. Chambers was a founder member of the Royal Academy.
John Stuart, third earl of Bute was a most accomplished and knowledgeable botanist, who introduced many new species to Kew. A generous patron of botanical science, Bute encouraged Aiton in every possible way.
Banks befriended Aiton; and the two men, together with Daniel Carl Solander and Jonas Dryander, Banks’s librarian, enabled Aiton to publish his Hortus Kewensis in 1789.
Francis Masson (August 1741 – 23 December 1805) was a Scottish botanist and gardener, Kew Gardens’ first plant hunter, and a friend of Aiton.
