Scottish nurseryman and botanist. James Dickson was a very successful businessman in London and, through the help of his friend Sir Joseph Banks, was put in charge of the gardens of the British Museum. Also a keen naturalist with a good knowledge of the bryophytes, pteridophytes and fungi, he returned to Scotland countless times in order to investigate its flora.

Born at Kirke House in Traquair, Peeblesshire (now Scottish Borders), as a boy he worked in the gardens of the Earl of Traquair. It was here that his interest in botany developed, reportedly when he overheard one boy asking another what one of the plants was called. When the first was able to answer correctly Dickson was amazed and resolved to learn all he could about botany in his spare time. While still young he moved to London and was employed by Jeffrey and Co. who owned a huge nursery in Kensington which was located on the current sites of the Natural History Museum, Imperial College and the Albert Hall. Around this time he also worked in the gardens of several large estates on the edge of London, before setting up his own business; selling seeds and plants from his shop in Covent Garden in 1772. Dickson was successful and soon became very well known, his customers including William Forsyth (the King's gardener), Sir Francis Drake (Master of the Household) and James E. Smith, a renowned botanist.

Not long after settling in Covent Garden he met Joseph Banks, then still an undergraduate at Oxford University, and the two became good friends. When, in 1781, the trustees of the British Museum became dissatisfied with their gardener, Banks asked the Scottish nurseryman for his estimate on the cost of keeping and improving the grounds. When Dickson quoted a lower price for keeping it in a far better condition, the job of head gardener was given to him. He successfully maintained this position for the rest of his life.

Between 1785 and 1791 Dickson botanised on many trips to Scotland, including visits to Ben Lawers and the Hebrides. Collecting examples of cryptogamic plants he prepared his most important publication, Fascicularis plantarum cryptogamicarum Britanniae. Produced in four fascicles between 1785 and 1801 it contained the descriptions of 400 species, including many bryophytes new to Britain. The watercolour illustrations were by James Sowerby and the Latin descriptions were written by a Polish apothecary named John Ziers, for Dickson had no formal school education. Ziers died before the work was completed and so the final fascicle was written by Robert Brown. He produced several other botanical works, including Catalogus Plantarum Cryptogamicarum Britanniae (1795) and a Hortus Siccus Britannicus (between 1793 and 1802).

Some of his Scottish expeditions were termed "quite outlandish" by one of his biographers and he was nicknamed "lynx-eyed Dickson" by James Smith for he was a keen observer in the field. Some were also undertaken in the company of his brother-in-law. His first wife had died and Dickson was remarried to a young lady named Margaret Park, whose brother was then a medical student. In introducing Mungo Park to Sir Joseph Banks, Dickson was responsible for his brother-in-law's career as an explorer, for which Park is now famous. Park's first voyage as a surgeon on an East Indiaman to Sumatra in 1792 was a great success and he was soon appointed to the 1795 voyage to Gambia. After two years of absence, however, Parks was given up for dead in 1797. Far from it, he arrived back in London on Christmas morning that same year. Not wanting to disturb his sister's household so early in the morning he wandered to the British Museum and, finding its gates unlocked, he entered the gardens. To the great surprise and delight of both men, Dickson had risen early that morning to tend to the greenhouse fires and at such an unusual time and place they were reunited. Unfortunately, Park did not survive his next voyage to Niger and lost his life at the hands of natives in 1806.

Dickson is also famed for being present at the founding of both the Linnean Society (1788) and the Royal Horticultural Society (1804), serving the latter as vice-president from its inception. His business a huge success it appears Dickson bought more land in Croydon some time after 1793, where he developed his nursery business by maintaining larger gardens. He retired to a house there around 1799, which would have been in the countryside at that time, and remained there until his death at the age of 84. He was survived by his wife, one son and two daughters, to each of which he was able to give a considerable inheritance. The tree fern genus Dicksonia was named in honour of his contributions by L'Héritier de Brutelle in 1788.

Sources:
M. Hadfield, 1955, Pioneers in Gardening
A. McConnell, 2004, "Dickson, James (1738-1822)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
J. Simmonds, 1943, "The Founders: James Dickson (1738-1822)", Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, 68: 66-72
M. Lawley, James Dickson (1738-1822), The British Bryological Society:
http://rbgweb2.rbge.org.uk/bbs/Learning/Bryohistory/Bygone%20Bryologists/JAMES%20DICKSON.pdf.