John Gillies (botanist)

John Gillies (about 1792 to 1834) was a Scottish naval surgeon who later became an explorer and botanist. Educated at the University of Edinburgh, he served in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Afflicted by tuberculosis, he left Britain at the age of 28 for South America in the hope that its climate would improve his fragile health. He spent eight years there, mostly in Argentina, surviving wars, civil unrest and chronic ill health, and sent numerous plants to Hooker at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, before returning in 1828. He died at Edinburgh on 24 November 1834 at the age of 42 and was buried at Calton.