He was born in Ireland in 1805. Trained as a soldier he joined the army attached to the artillery in the
East India Company around 1820. He travelled extensively in
India in the 1820s and 1830s and believed he saw Biblical associations to the local flora. He did later tours in the company of Dr
Hugh Falconer, basing themselves at
Saharunpore. They also met and befriended the brothers
Henry and
Richard Strachey. He retired to
Edinburgh in 1849, living at 26
Regent Terrace, an elegant Georgian townhouse on
Calton Hill. In 1853 he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh, his proposer being
John Fleming. He was also President of the
Botanical Society of Edinburgh for 1855–56. He died in Edinburgh in 1856. ==Family==