18 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN. 
become usual on the part of the public to speak of this official as 
Superintendent, and in newspaper references this term is 
commonly made use of, although all official documents refer 
to the Gardener or Principal Cadets This continued up to 
the appointment of William Macnab in 1810. James Macnab 
received no official appointment from the Crown; he was 
appointed verbally by the Regius Keeper of the day to succeed 
his father, an appointment confirmed subsequently by the 
Crown when in time the fact of the succession became known to 
it. James Macnab was spoken of by the public as Super- 
intendent, but in his later years the newer title of Curator 
became the customary one. On James Macnab’s death John 
Sadler was recommended for the post of Curator, and the Crown 
accepting without question the designation made the appoint- 
ment, and the title was continued to his successor. On the 
retirement of Robert Lindsay the old designation of Gardener 
was reverted to. 
John Williamson. 
He was Principal Gardener during the period in which the 
Royal Botanic Garden was established in Leith Walk, taking the 
place of the pre-existing gardens at Holyrood and at the east 
end of the North Loch. We have little knowledge of him 
beyond what is recorded on a memorial tablet in the Garden 
which bears :— 
To the memory of | John Williamson, | who during twenty- 
five years of ogi service | as Principal Gardener in this 
place, was no less | respected for the good qualities suited to 
his | station in life, than esteemed for eminent skill in | his 
profession, this monument is erected by | John Hope: PB: 
1781. | Removed from the Botanic Garden, | Leith Walk, | 2nd 
September, 1823. 
The words “ this place” on the tablet are, in the strict sense, 
inaccurate, for the Garden was only established in Leith Walk 
in 1764, and Williamson to put in twenty-five years’ service as 
Principal Gardener must have been appointed by Professor 
Alston—say in 1756. We may assume, however, from their 
use that the Royal Garden and the Town’s Garden prior to their 
