William Curtis

Born in Alton, Hampshire, in 1746, William Curtis began his working life in medicine, training and practicing as an apothecary before devoting himself more fully to botany and natural history. He became known not only as a botanist but also as an entomologist, showing a broad curiosity about the living world.

Curtis worked at the Chelsea Physic Garden in the 1770s, where he served as demonstrator of plants and held the post of Praefectus Horti. He later established his own botanical garden and set about publishing works that made plants easier to study and admire. Among the best known are Flora Londinensis and The Botanical Magazine, first issued in 1787.

What makes his career especially interesting is the way he combined science, teaching, and publishing. His books and periodicals helped popularize botany for readers beyond a small scholarly circle, and his name remains closely linked with botanical illustration and plant writing at the end of the eighteenth century.