Old Travel Blog Photograph Cadsom Street Hamilton Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of a Tram, shops, and a Policeman directing traffic on Cadsom Street in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. This is the fifth largest Scottish town, excluding cities, after Paisley, East Kilbride, Livingston and Cumbernauld. Charles Alston was born in Hamilton in 1683. and was apparently raised by the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton. In 1715 he went to Leyden to study under the Dutch physician Hermann Boerhaave. On his return to Scotland he became lecturer in materia medica and botany at Edinburgh and also superintendent of the botanical gardens. He was a critic of Linnaeus's system of plant classification. He was appointed Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 1716, holding the position until 1760. He is buried in Canongate Kirkyard on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, immediately east of the church. The tree genus Alstonia is named after him.



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