Surgeon and botanist William Jack passed away on this day. He was 27. He made important collections of plants in Malaysia after spending some time at the Calcutta Botanic Gardens.
He was born in Aberdeen and qualified as a surgeon from London, after which he arrived in India as a British East India Company employee. Because of his interest in botany, he began to correspond with Nathaniel Wallich of the Botanic Gardens. In 1818, Jack visited Wallich, who persuaded Jack to stay back for collaborative work. But Jack soon met Stamford Raffles, Governor of Sumatra, at the Botanic Gardens, and was pursuaded to go to Sumatra.
In Sumatra and adjoining areas, Jack began an intensive botanical exploration. This work is the basis of his series Descriptions of Malayan Plants. His life was cut short when he died from a tropical fever in 1822.
A small monument was built in his memory at the Calcutta gardens.