William Griffith British Botanist

William Griffith (1810–1845), a british botanist and doctor was educated in medical profession and was apprenticed to a surgeon in London. In 1829 he started to study at the University of London as a student of the famous Sir John Lindley. There William Griffith got to know Nathaniel Wallich, a famous danish botanist. In 1832 he went to India as an assistant surgeon. 1835 he went to Assam (India) as part of a delegation to establish tea production. Soon afterwards William Griffith started to travel around in the area to collect plants. He vistited Burma (Myanmar), Sikkim, Bhutan, Afghanistan and the Himalayas, in some of the regions he was the first European ever. In 1842 Griffith became director of the Calcutta Botanical Gardens during the absence of Nathaniel Wallich. Later on, he went to Malacca, Malaysia as a civil surgeon, where he died of a parasitic liver disease at the 09.02.1845.

William Griffith bequeathed his collection and papers to the East India Company, which was sent to England, where they are stored in the library of the herbarium at Kew Gardens.
No Botanist ever, collected and described so many species, like Griffith.
His collection comprises about 12000 plants.
His author abbreviation: Griff.