He was born in
Leith in 1815 the son of Jane Watson (b.1788) and Laurence Jameson or Jamieson (1783-1827), a soda manufacturer at Silverfield. His uncle was
Robert Jameson. He was educated at the High School in
Edinburgh then studied medicine at the
University of Edinburgh. In 1838 he received a position with the
Indian Medical Service based in Bengal. His interest quickly drifted to botany and he was made Curator of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. In 1842 he was made Superintendent of the
Saharanpur Botanical Garden. From 1860 he delegated this duty to Dr
John Lindsay Stewart whilst he was absent for a year. In 1863 he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer being
John Hutton Balfour. From 1875, he was Deputy Surgeon-General of India for which he was appointed
Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE). He died in
Dehradun in
India on 18 March 1882. ==Publications==