| Authorised form of name | Kidston; Robert (1852 - 1924); botanist and palaeobotanist |
| Dates | 1852 - 1924 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Bishopton House, Renfrewshire, Scotland |
| Date of birth | 29 June 1852 |
| Place of death | Gilfachgoch, Glamorgan, Wales |
| Date of death | 13/07/1924 |
| Dates and places | Burial: Logie Churchyard, Stirling, Scotland |
| Occupation | botanist and palaeobotanist |
| Research field | Botany |
| Activity | Education: : 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 category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 05/06/1902 |
| Age at election | 50 |
| Proposer | Benjamin 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 |
| Relationships | Parents: Robert Alexander Kidston, a Glasgow businessman, and Mary Anne Meigh.
Spouse: Agnes Marion Christian Oliphant (1898).
Children: Hannah and Marjory. |
| Published works | RCN 50449
RCN 14825 |
| General context | Laid the foundations for a modern understanding of the taxonomy and palaeobiology of Devonian and Carboniferous plants. |
| Sources | Sources:
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 |
| Royal Society code | NA2168 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| EC/1902/10 | Kidston, Robert: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| RR/16/73 | Referee's report by Dukinfield Henry Scott, on a paper 'The fructification of Neuropteris heterophylla' by Robert Kidston | 29 November 1903 |
| RR/16/74 | Referee's report by Albert Charles Seward, on a paper 'The fructification of Neuropteris heterophylla' by Robert Kidston | December 1903 |
| RR/16/228 | Referee'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 Scott | January 1904 |
| NLB/23/2/440 | Copy letter sent from Joseph Larmor, to Robert Kidston, Fellow of the Royal Society | 24 February 1904 |
| NLB/67/137 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Dr [Dukinfield Henry] Scott, FRS | 1 November 1924 |
| NLB/27/659 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Robert Kidston, Fellow of the Royal Society | 10 November 1903 |
| NLB/32/377 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Robert Kidston, Fellow of the Royal Society | 1 March 1906 |
| NLB/33/319 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Robert Kidston, Fellow of the Royal Society, Stirling | 2 August 1906 |
| NLB/32/699 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Robert Kidston, Fellow of the Royal Society | 10 May 1906 |
| NLB/36/571 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Messrs Harrison & Sons | 15 November 1907 |
| NLB/37/567 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor F [Francis] W [Wall] Oliver, Fellow of the Royal Society, Chairman of the Botany Sectional Committee | 6 April 1908 |
| NLB/42/23 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Robert Kidston | 8 March 1909 |
| MC/25/123 | Letter from [Robert] Kidston, 12 Clarendon Place, Stirling, to Sir Archibald [Geikie], [Royal Society] | 21 April 1910 |
| NLB/41/773 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Robert Kidston, Fellow of the Royal Society | 23 February 1910 |
| NLB/42/70 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to M E de Wildeman, Scretariat General, Jardin Botanique, Brussels | 19 March 1910 |
| NLB/42/174 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to M Van der Vaeren, Jardin Botanique, Brussels, Belgium | 19 April 1910 |
| NLB/45/87 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Dr R [Robert] Kidston FRS | 19 December 1911 |
| MC/26/128 | Letter from [Robert] Kidston, 12 Clarendon Place, Stirling, to the [Royal Society] | 7 December 1911 |
| NLB/48/632 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr Robert Kidston, Fellow of the Royal Society | 14 August 1913 |
| RR/17/116 | Referee'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 Thomas | 29 November 1907 |
| NLB/68/72 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [William Henry] Lang, FRS | 8 May 1925 |
| RR/16/249 | Referee'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 Arber | February 1905 |
| RR/19/133 | Referee's report by Robert Kidston, on a paper 'Petrifactions of the earliest European angiosperms' by Marie Stopes | [March 1912] |
| RR/22/113 | Referee's report by Robert Kidston, on a paper 'On williamsoniella, a new type of bennettitalean flower' by Hugh Hamshaw Thomas | July 1915 |
| NLB/68/336 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [William Henry] Lang, FRS | 22 June 1925 |
| RR/16/330 | Referee's report by Albert Charles Seward, 'The microsporangia of the pteridospermeae, with remarks on their relationship to existing groups' on a paper by Robert Kidston | December 1905 |
| NLB/32/95 | Copy letter from [Robert William Frederick Harrison], to Professor Harry Marshall Ward, Fellow of the Royal Society | 22 December 1905 |
| RR/17/224 | Referee'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/16/329 | Referee's report by Francis Wall Oliver, on a paper 'The microsporangia of the pteridospermeae, with remarks on their relationship to existing groups' by Robert Kidston | December 1905 |
| RR/16/331 | Referee's report by Dukinfield Henry Scott, on a paper 'The microsporangia of the pteridospermeae, with remarks on their relationship to existing groups' by Robert Kidston | 7 February 1906 |
| RR/17/223 | Letter 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 Watson | 13 July 1907 |
| RR/18/104 | Referee 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 Arber | 12 December 1911 |
| MC/25/122 | Letter from [Robert] Kidston, 12 Clarendon Place, Stirling, to Sir Archibald [Geikie], [Royal Society] | 8 February 1910 |
| NLB/42/171 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Robert Kidston FRS, 12 Clarendon Place, Striling, NB | 18 April 1910 |
| MC/20/85 | Letter from Robert Kidston, 12 Clarendon Place, Stirling, to the Royal Society | 15 June 1905 |
| MC/20/83 | Letter from Robert Kidston, 12 Clarendon Place, Stirling, to [Robert William Frederick] Harrison, The Royal Society | 24 May 1905 |
| MC/20/86 | Letter from Robert Kidston, The Palace Hotel, Grantown-On-Spey, to the Royal Society | 25 June 1905 |
| NLB/45/32 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Dr Robert Kidston FRS | 11 December 1911 |
| MC/20/87 | Letter from Robert Kidston, 12 Clarendon Place, Stirling, to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society, London | 13 November 1905 |
| NLB/31/125 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Robert Kidston, Fellow of the Royal Society | 27 June 1905 |
| MC/20/257 | Letter from [Francis Wall] Oliver, 2 The Vale, Chelsea, to [Robert William Frederick] Harrison | 15 December 1905 |
| MC/28/247 | Letter from [Dukinfield Henry] Scott, East Oakley House, Basingstoke, to [John Rose] Bradford, [Royal Society] | 9 July 1913 |
| MC/20 | Volume 20 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1905 |
| MC/31/184 | Letter from [Dukinfield Henry] Scott, Oakley, Hants, to Mr [Robert] Harrison, [Royal Society] | 9 July 1916 |
| MC/32/156 | Letter from [Robert] Kidston, 12 Clarendon Place, Sterling, to Mr [Robert] Harrison, [Royal Society] | 30 January 1917 |
| MC/32/157 | Letter from [Robert] Kidston, 12 Clarendon Place, Sterling, to the Librarian, Royal [Society], London | 29 October 1917 |