Person

William Arthur

Not who you're looking for? Others named William Arthur: father of U.S. president Chester A. Arthur (1796-1875) · Wesleyan Methodist minister and author (1819–1901) · mathematician (1894–1979)

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Overview

William Arthur (1680 - 1716) was a Scottish doctor who served as Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden and King's Botanist at Edinburgh. Shortly afterwards he was deeply implicated in the Jacobite rising of 1715. He fled to Italy, where he died the following year "from a surfeit of figs." Early life William was born in Elie, Fifeshire in 1680 to Patrick Arthur of Ballone, a surgeon and apothecary and Commissioner of Supply for Fifeshire. His mother was Margaret Sharp, a relative of Archbishop James Sharp of St. Andrews who had been assassinated in Fife in 1679. William travelled to Utrecht in the early 18th century to study medicine under Dutch physician and "father of physiology", Herman Boerhaave. He graduated as Doctor of Medicine in March 1707 and returned to his native Scotland, initially practising medicine in Elie. He relocated to Edinburgh in 1713 and was admitted to the Royal College of Physicians, being made a Fellow in 1714. Marriage He married Barbara Clerk in 1710, widow of John Lawson, Laird of Cairnmuir, daughter of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, 1st Baronet and sister of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, known as Baron Clerk. Both her father and brother were both prominent Whig politicians and pro-Hanoverian. To William the marriage gave political connections at the highest levels of the Scottish establishment and society that found him "associating with the most influential people, and beyond suspicion of any want of loyalty - against that his wife's relationships protected him". Botanist to the King On the accession of King George I, the long-standing Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh was James Sutherland, King's Botanist and Professor of Botany. The Regius Keeper is a household appointment granted directly by Royal Warrant from the monarch and it was surprising that the experienced incumbent was replaced by William Arthur, who as doctor of medicine had no apparent qualification or skill for the role beyond a physician's knowledge of botanical herbs and plants. It is likely that the appointment was entirely on the merit of his political connections through Sir John Clerk. The biographer of the Regius Keepers of the Botanic Garden, Bayley Balfour, states that during his tenure, Arthur likely "performed few or none of [his] professional or other administrative duties" and left behind a "silence of botanical tradition".

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“There is not a beast of the field but may trust his nature and follow it; certain that it will lead him to the best of which he is capable. But as for us, our only invincible enemy is our nature.”
— P. 190.
“Return, O Power of the Pentecost, return to Thy people! Shed down Thy flame on many heads! To us, as to our fathers and to those of the old time before them, give fullness of grace! Without Thee we can do nothing; but filled with the Holy Ghost, the excellency of the power will be of Thee, O God! and not of us.”
— P. 323.
“No enumeration of the fruits of the Spirit will be found which excludes peace and joy, much less love; and from these graces, if, indeed, not from the last alone, spring the various fruits which unitedly constitute righteousness.”
— P. 321.
“Religion has never, in any period, sustained itself except by the instrumentality of the tongue of fire. Only where some men, more or less imbued with this primitive power, have spoken the words of the Lord, not with " the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth," have sinners been converted, and saints prompted to a saintlier life.”
— P. 321.
“On the day of Pentecost Christianity faced the world, a new religion, without a history, without a priesthood, without a college, without a people, and without a patron. She had only her two sacraments and her tongue of fire. The latter was her sole instrument of aggression.”
— P. 322.
“Presumption has many forms; and it is worth considering, whether a great and good Being would most disapprove the presumption which expected too much from His goodness, or the presumption which dared positively to disbelieve His promise.”
— P. 553.

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

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Not who you're looking for? Others named William Arthur: father of U.S. president Chester A. Arthur (1796-1875) · Wesleyan Methodist minister and author (1819–1901) · mathematician (1894–1979)

Notable quotes

“There is not a beast of the field but may trust his nature and follow it; certain that it will lead him to the best of which he is capable. But as for us, our only invincible enemy is our nature.”
— P. 190.
“Return, O Power of the Pentecost, return to Thy people! Shed down Thy flame on many heads! To us, as to our fathers and to those of the old time before them, give fullness of grace! Without Thee we can do nothing; but filled with the Holy Ghost, the excellency of the power will be of Thee, O God! and not of us.”
— P. 323.
“No enumeration of the fruits of the Spirit will be found which excludes peace and joy, much less love; and from these graces, if, indeed, not from the last alone, spring the various fruits which unitedly constitute righteousness.”
— P. 321.
“Religion has never, in any period, sustained itself except by the instrumentality of the tongue of fire. Only where some men, more or less imbued with this primitive power, have spoken the words of the Lord, not with " the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth," have sinners been converted, and saints prompted to a saintlier life.”
— P. 321.
“On the day of Pentecost Christianity faced the world, a new religion, without a history, without a priesthood, without a college, without a people, and without a patron. She had only her two sacraments and her tongue of fire. The latter was her sole instrument of aggression.”
— P. 322.
“Presumption has many forms; and it is worth considering, whether a great and good Being would most disapprove the presumption which expected too much from His goodness, or the presumption which dared positively to disbelieve His promise.”
— P. 553.

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

Overview

William Arthur (1680 - 1716) was a Scottish doctor who served as Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden and King's Botanist at Edinburgh. Shortly afterwards he was deeply implicated in the Jacobite rising of 1715. He fled to Italy, where he died the following year "from a surfeit of figs." Early life William was born in Elie, Fifeshire in 1680 to Patrick Arthur of Ballone, a surgeon and apothecary and Commissioner of Supply for Fifeshire. His mother was Margaret Sharp, a relative of Archbishop James Sharp of St. Andrews who had been assassinated in Fife in 1679. William travelled to Utrecht in the early 18th century to study medicine under Dutch physician and "father of physiology", Herman Boerhaave. He graduated as Doctor of Medicine in March 1707 and returned to his native Scotland, initially practising medicine in Elie. He relocated to Edinburgh in 1713 and was admitted to the Royal College of Physicians, being made a Fellow in 1714. Marriage He married Barbara Clerk in 1710, widow of John Lawson, Laird of Cairnmuir, daughter of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, 1st Baronet and sister of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, known as Baron Clerk. Both her father and brother were both prominent Whig politicians and pro-Hanoverian. To William the marriage gave political connections at the highest levels of the Scottish establishment and society that found him "associating with the most influential people, and beyond suspicion of any want of loyalty - against that his wife's relationships protected him". Botanist to the King On the accession of King George I, the long-standing Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh was James Sutherland, King's Botanist and Professor of Botany. The Regius Keeper is a household appointment granted directly by Royal Warrant from the monarch and it was surprising that the experienced incumbent was replaced by William Arthur, who as doctor of medicine had no apparent qualification or skill for the role beyond a physician's knowledge of botanical herbs and plants. It is likely that the appointment was entirely on the merit of his political connections through Sir John Clerk. The biographer of the Regius Keepers of the Botanic Garden, Bayley Balfour, states that during his tenure, Arthur likely "performed few or none of [his] professional or other administrative duties" and left behind a "silence of botanical tradition".

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).