Alexander Anderson

Alexander Anderson (1748 – 1811) was a Scottish surgeon, explorer and botanist who worked as Superintendent to the Botanical Garden on the Windward Island of Saint Vincent from 1785 to 1811. Early life and education Born in Aberdeen, Anderson later studied at the University of Edinburgh, where he was tutored by William Cullen (professor of medicine and chemistry) and John Hope (professor of botany and materia medica). Fellow Aberdonian William Forsyth briefly employed him at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London, prior to Anderson's emigration to New York in 1774, where he stayed with his brother John, a printer. After a petition was lodged by physicians William Wright and Thomas Clarke of Jamaica in 1798, Anderson was awarded an honorary 'Degree of Doctor in Physick' from the University of St. Andrews. The petition identified him 'assistant surgeon to his Majesty's forces in St. Vincent' and confirmed he had been 'educated in Scotland' with knowledge 'in all branches of Medicine, Natural History and Philosophy'. Less is known of Anderson's demeanour, but an entry from the Journal of British botanist Henrietta Liston in 1800 described him as a 'kind', 'good-looking Scotchman', very 'liberal in giving his plants', and 'very kind in his offers of supplying [Liston] on [her] return to Scotland'. Family Records indicate that Anderson married Elizabeth Alexander of Antigua, who Liston described as 'very deaf' from 'some accident'. They appear to have produced a daughter named Elizabeth, who later married John Pemberton Ross, Speaker of the House of Assembly on St. Vincent. Anderson's wife is recorded in a Journal of the House of Commons dated 1815, receiving £100 per annum as 'window of Dr. Alexander Anderson, in consideration of his services as Superintendent of the Botanical Garden at St. Vincent's'. Anderson's nephew Alexander Anderson – one of America's first wood-engravers – recorded a 'visit to [his] uncle', 'King's botanist in the Island of St. Vincent', in 1798: he 'remained at the Botanic Garden (a perfect paradise at that time) for about three months', but rejected an employment offer that 'would have made [him] independent'.