Archibald Menzies

Archibald Menzies, who lived from 1754 to 1842, was a Scottish surgeon, botanist and naturalist who spent many years at sea with the Royal Navy, private merchants and the Vancouver Expedition. Born in Perthshire, he was encouraged by the Edinburgh botany professor John Hope to study medicine, qualified as a surgeon and joined the Royal Navy as assistant surgeon on HMS Nonsuch. In 1786 he sailed as surgeon on the fur-trading voyage of the Prince of Wales to the northern Pacific, and he collected new plants and kept the crew free of fatal illness. From 1791 to 1795 he was naturalist on George Vancouver's voyage around the world in HMS Discovery and took over the surgeon's duties when the surgeon fell ill. He made the first recorded ascent of Mauna Loa in Hawaii in 1794, brought the first monkey puzzle trees to Britain from seeds he pocketed at a dinner in Chile, and assembled the most extensive collection of lichens from outside Europe made in the eighteenth century. He received his M.D. from the University of Aberdeen in 1799, afterwards practised as a doctor and surgeon at Notting Hill in London, and died there in 1842.