Dr. Albert W. Borthwick will be readily remembered as an old Madras boy,
and his old College is proud of his latest distinction. He has been
appointed as the first Professor of Forestry in Aberdeen University. After
leaving Madras College he graduated at St. Andrews University as B.Sc. in
Natural Science, taking first-class honours in Botany, Philosophy and
Mathematics, and subsequently he obtained the degree of D.Sc. Thereafter
he spent four years studying Continental methods of Forestry at the
University of Munich. Returning to this country he was appointed assistant
to the Professor of Botany, and Lecturer in Plant Physiology in the
University of Edinburgh, and later lecturer in Forest Botany in the University, and Lecturer in Forestry in the East of Scotland College of
Agriculture. From 1900 to 1915 Dr. Borthwick was Lecturer in Forest Botany
in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. He holds the Gold Medals of
several distinguished Societies, and he acted from 1915 until his present
appointment as Chief Advisory Forest Officer to the Scottish Agricultural
Board.
A. W. BORTHWICK, O.B.E., D.Sc.
The death at Aberdeen on 19th April 1937 of A. W. Borthwick,
Professor of Forestry at Aberdeen University, brings a distinguished
career to a close.
Well over forty years ago he went from Madras College to St. Andrews
University, where he graduated B.Sc. in Natural Science, with 1st Class
Honours in Botany, Physiology and Mathematics, afterwards proceeding by
thesis to the degree of D.Sc..
Specialising in forestry, he spent four years in this study in Germany,
mostly at 1he University of Munich, and, after being assistant to the
Professor of Botany in Edinburgh, became Lecturer in Forestry in that
University and in the East of Scotland College of Agriculture. He held
various posts — as Lecturer in the Royal Botanic Gardens, as Chief
Advisory Forest Officer to the Board of Agriculture in Scotland, and as
Chief Research and Education Officer of the Forestry Com-mission. He was
awarded several medals and other distinctions for his work in his chosen
line, and his O.B.E. was the reward of invaluable work done during and
after the war in connection with the problem of maintaining and
providing for supplies of home-grown timber. Finally in 1926 he became
the first occupant of the new Chair of Forestry at Aberdeen.
