William Forsyth (horticulturist)

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William Forsyth by Sir Henry Raeburn

William Forsyth (1737–1804) was a Scottish botanist. He was a royal head gardener and a founding member of the Royal Horticultural Society. A genus of flowering plants, Forsythia, is named in his honor.

Forsyth was born at Oldmeldrum in Aberdeenshire, and trained as a gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden where he became a mentor to John Fraser. In 1779, he was appointed superintendent of the royal gardens at Kensington and St James'.

His great-grandson was the gardener and landscape architect Joseph Forsyth Johnson (1840–1906). Johnson was in turn the great-grandfather of the entertainer Bruce Forsyth.[1]


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