Record

Authorised form of nameKidston; Robert (1852 - 1924); botanist and palaeobotanist
Dates1852 - 1924
NationalityBritish
Place of birthBishopton House, Renfrewshire, Scotland
Date of birth29 June 1852
Place of deathGilfachgoch, Glamorgan, Wales
Date of death13/07/1924
DatesAndPlacesBurial: Logie Churchyard, Stirling, Scotland
Occupationbotanist and palaeobotanist
Research fieldBotany
ActivityEducation: : High School, Stirling; Botany,Edinburgh University; LL.D (Hon Glasgow 1908), D Sc(Hon Manchester 1921).
Career: Studied Rhynie chert and worked for the British Geological Survey; catalogued the Palaeozoic plant collection of the British Museum (Natural History) (1883-1886).
Memberships:
FGS
FRSE (1878)
Secretary of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1909-1916)
Royal Society of Edinburgh VP (1917-1920)
Awards/Medals:
Neill Prize (1886-9)
Murchison Medal (1916)
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election05/06/1902
Age at election50
ProposerBenjamin Neeve Peach; John Horne; Ramsay Heatley Traquair; Harry Govier Seeley
Henry Woodward; William Turner Thiselton-Dyer; Dukinfield Henry Scott; Archibald Geikie; Albert Charle Seward; Frederick Orpen Bower; Isaac Bayley Balfour; James William Helenus Trail; James Murdoch Geikie
RelationshipsParents: Robert Alexander Kidston, a Glasgow businessman, and Mary Anne Meigh.
Spouse: Agnes Marion Christian Oliphant (1898).
Children: Hannah and Marjory.
PublishedWorksRCN 50449
RCN 14825
OtherInfoLaid the foundations for a modern understanding of the taxonomy and palaeobiology of Devonian and Carboniferous plants.
SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; ' Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002' [URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf; last accessed: 21/02/2024]
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc Series B 1925 vol 98 pp xiv-xxii, plate, signed by W H L
CodeNA2168
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
EC/1902/10Kidston, Robert: certificate of election to the Royal Society
RR/16/73Referee's report by Dukinfield Henry Scott, on a paper 'The fructification of Neuropteris heterophylla' by Robert Kidston29 November 1903
RR/16/74Referee's report by Albert Charles Seward, on a paper 'The fructification of Neuropteris heterophylla' by Robert KidstonDecember 1903
RR/16/228Referee's report by Robert Kidston, on a paper 'The structure and affinities of fossil plants from the palaeozoic rocks. V. A new type of sphenophyllaceous cone (sphenophyllum fertile) from the lower coal measures' by Dukinfield Henry ScottJanuary 1904
NLB/23/2/440Copy letter sent from Joseph Larmor, to Robert Kidston, Fellow of the Royal Society24 February 1904
NLB/67/137Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Dr [Dukinfield Henry] Scott, FRS1 November 1924
NLB/27/659Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Robert Kidston, Fellow of the Royal Society10 November 1903
MC/20/86Letter from Robert Kidston, The Palace Hotel, Grantown-On-Spey, to the Royal Society25 June 1905
NLB/32/377Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Robert Kidston, Fellow of the Royal Society1 March 1906
NLB/33/319Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Robert Kidston, Fellow of the Royal Society, Stirling2 August 1906
NLB/32/699Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Robert Kidston, Fellow of the Royal Society10 May 1906
NLB/36/571Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Messrs Harrison & Sons15 November 1907
NLB/37/567Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor F [Francis] W [Wall] Oliver, Fellow of the Royal Society, Chairman of the Botany Sectional Committee6 April 1908
NLB/42/23Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Robert Kidston8 March 1909
NLB/41/773Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Robert Kidston, Fellow of the Royal Society23 February 1910
NLB/42/70Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to M E de Wildeman, Scretariat General, Jardin Botanique, Brussels19 March 1910
NLB/42/174Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to M Van der Vaeren, Jardin Botanique, Brussels, Belgium19 April 1910
NLB/45/87Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Dr R [Robert] Kidston FRS19 December 1911
MC/20/257Letter from [Francis Wall] Oliver, 2 The Vale, Chelsea, to [Robert William Frederick] Harrison15 December 1905
NLB/48/632Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr Robert Kidston, Fellow of the Royal Society14 August 1913
RR/17/116Referee's report by Robert Kidston, on a paper 'On the structure of Sigillaria scutellata, Brongn., and other Eusigillarian stems, in comparison with those of other Palaeozoic lycopods' by E. A. Newell Arber and Hugh Hamshaw Thomas29 November 1907
NLB/68/72Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [William Henry] Lang, FRS8 May 1925
RR/16/249Referee's report by Robert Kidston, on a paper 'Some new species of lagenostoma: A type of pteridospermous seed from the coal measures' by E A Newell ArberFebruary 1905
RR/19/133Referee's report by Robert Kidston, on a paper 'Petrifactions of the earliest European angiosperms' by Marie Stopes[March 1912]
RR/22/113Referee's report by Robert Kidston, on a paper 'On williamsoniella, a new type of bennettitalean flower' by Hugh Hamshaw ThomasJuly 1915
NLB/68/336Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [William Henry] Lang, FRS22 June 1925
RR/16/330Referee's report by Albert Charles Seward, 'The microsporangia of the pteridospermeae, with remarks on their relationship to existing groups' on a paper by Robert KidstonDecember 1905
NLB/32/95Copy letter from [Robert William Frederick Harrison], to Professor Harry Marshall Ward, Fellow of the Royal Society22 December 1905
RR/17/224Referee's report by Robert Kidston, on a paper 'On the present distribution and origin of the calcareous concretions in coal seams, known as "coal balls"' by M C Stopes and David Meredith Seares Watson[July 1907]
RR/16/329Referee's report by Francis Wall Oliver, on a paper 'The microsporangia of the pteridospermeae, with remarks on their relationship to existing groups' by Robert KidstonDecember 1905
RR/16/331Referee's report by Dukinfield Henry Scott, on a paper 'The microsporangia of the pteridospermeae, with remarks on their relationship to existing groups' by Robert Kidston7 February 1906
RR/17/223Letter from Robert Kidston, regarding a paper 'On the present distribution and origin of the calcareous concretions in coal seams, known as "coal balls"' by M C Stopes and David Meredith Seares Watson13 July 1907
RR/18/104Referee reports and a letter from Robert Kidston, on a paper 'On the fossil flora of the forest of Dean Coalfield (Gloucestershire), and the relationships of the Coalfields of the West of England and South Wales' by E A Newell Arber12 December 1911
MC/20Volume 20 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1905
NLB/42/171Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Robert Kidston FRS, 12 Clarendon Place, Striling, NB18 April 1910
NLB/45/32Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Dr Robert Kidston FRS11 December 1911
MC/20/83Letter from Robert Kidston, 12 Clarendon Place, Stirling, to [Robert William Frederick] Harrison, The Royal Society24 May 1905
MC/20/85Letter from Robert Kidston, 12 Clarendon Place, Stirling, to the Royal Society15 June 1905
MC/20/87Letter from Robert Kidston, 12 Clarendon Place, Stirling, to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society, London13 November 1905
NLB/31/125Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Robert Kidston, Fellow of the Royal Society27 June 1905
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