William Arthur (botanist)

William Arthur was appointed King's Botanist at Edinburgh in 1715, through his political connections, despite having no botanical qualifications. Shortly afterwards he was deeply implicated in the First Jacobite Rising, though there is still no agreement on whether this was fair. He fled to Italy, where he died the following year "from a surfeit of figs."^[1]

References

1. Balfour, Isaac Bayley (1913). "A sketch of the Professors of Botany in Edinburgh from 1670 until 1887". In Oliver, Francis Wall (ed.). Makers of British Botany. Cambridge University Press.