Patrick Neill (naturalist)

He was born in Edinburgh on 25 October 1776, and spent his life there. He became the head of the large printing firm of Neill & Co., of Edinburgh, but during the last 30 years of his life he took little active part in its management. Early in his career he devoted his spare time to natural history, especially botany and horticulture. The Wernerian Natural History Society was established in 1808, and in 1809 the Caledonian Horticultural Society was founded. Neill was the first secretary of both societies, holding the latter post for forty years.[1]

View of Canonmills Cottage Garden, near Edinburgh, from Gardener's Magazine, July 1836.

Neill's residence at Canonmills Cottage (in Canonmills, then near the city of Edinburgh, now a suburb) was open to visitors;[1] and his garden was noted, with William Brackenridge as head gardener before he moved to Berlin.[2] He was Fellow of the Linnean Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and honorary LLD of the University of Edinburgh.[1]

Plan of Canonmills Cottage Garden, near Edinburgh, from Gardener's Magazine, July 1836.

He served as president of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh in 1842–43.[3]

A short time before his death he became enfeebled by a stroke of paralysis, and after several months of suffering he died at Canonmills on 3 September 1851, and was buried in Warriston Cemetery, on the western wall in the extreme south-west corner of the original cemetery, just west of the archway to the southern extension. His tombstone states that he was "distinguished for literature, science, patriotism, benevolence, and piety".[1] The memorial was restored by the Friends of Warriston Cemetery 2014/2015.

The Royal Society of Edinburgh has John Syme's portrait of Neill.[4]

He died unmarried, and among his various charitable bequests was one of £500 to the Caledonian Horticultural Society to found a medal for distinguished Scottish botanists or cultivators (now the Dr Patrick Neill Medal), and a similar sum to the Royal Society of Edinburgh for a medal to distinguished Scottish naturalists. He is botanically commemorated by the rosaceous genus Neillia.[1]

Neillia thibetica.

Edinburgh is indebted to Neill for the scheme of the West Princes Street Gardens. In 1820, that portion of the north loch was drained, and five acres of ground were laid out and planted with seventy-seven thousand trees and shrubs under his direction. He also intervened to preserve several antiquities that were on the point of being demolished.[1]

In 1806 appeared his Tour through Orkney and Shetland, a work which gave rise to discussion because of its reports of poverty. In 1814 he issued a translation, An Account of the Basalts of Saxony, from the French of Dubuisson, with Notes, Edinburgh. He was the author of the article "Gardening" in the seventh edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, and it was subsequently published as The Flower, Fruit, and Kitchen Garden (several editions). In 1817 Neill, with two other deputies from the Caledonian Society, made a tour through the Netherlands and the north of France, and he wrote an account of it, which was published in 1823.[1]

His great niece was the Scottish lady golfer and First World War heroine, Margaret Neill Fraser who died while serving in Serbia.

• Parks & Gardens UK page

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Neill, Patrick (1776-1851)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.