Charles Alston (1683-1760)

Charles Alston (1683-1760) was Professor of Botany at Edinburgh University from 1738 to 1761.

Alston was born at Eddlewood (now part of Hamilton, just to the west of Chatelherault). He was educated in Glasgow, but on the death of his father, the Duchess of Hamilton became his patron and wished him to study law. Alston however wanted to study medicine and went to Leyden to study under Hermann Boerhaave (1668-1738). In Leyden, he met Alexander Monro ''primus'' (1697-1767). On their return to Edinburgh they revived medical lectures at the University with Alston being appointed Lecturer in Botany and Materia Medica. He also became Superintendent of the Botanic Garden. Alston published various medical papers and an index to the plants in the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. In his Tirocinium Botanicum Edinburgense (1753), he attacked the Linnaean system of classification. Charles Alston died on 22 November 1760.