Biography

English surgeon and pharmaceutical chemist. He was born into a family of seedsmen of Pall Mall, London, his father, grandfather and great-grandfather being named Samuel Gray. His father was a follower of Linnaeus and translated Linnaeus's Philosophia Botanica for James Lee's Introduction to Botany. In 1821 S.F. Gray published A natural arrangement of British Plants with his son J.E. Gray, who was subsequently (1824-1875) employed by the British Museum (Natural History). The great many new names and nomenclatural combinations are attributed to S.F. Gray, but the systematic synopsis of the plants was actually written by J.E. Gray under the superintendence of his father. Though very little is known of the collections of S.F. Gray, it is probable that material was included in the herbarium of his son or colections of his other descendents who became botanists.