|
FORSYTH,
a surname, the etymology of which is uncertain. As in Kilsyth the last
syllable is supposed to be derived from Sythin, which is Gaelic
signifies peace. It seems probable that the brook of Sith in Stirlingshire
was in remote superstitious times believed to be haunted by the Daoine
Sith, of Scottish fairies, called “men of peace,” for fear of their
malign influence [Nimmo’s Stirlingshire, ed. 1817. App. p. 754.] If
the name is Celtic in its origin, the first syllable would arise from
fuar, cold, and the word might therefore mean cold river of peace. For
the antiquity of the name, says Nisbet (System of Heraldry, vol. i.
p. 352), there is a charter in the earl of Haddington’s collections, p.
67, granted by King Robert the Bruce Osberto filio Roberti de
Forsyth servienti nostro, of an hundred solidates terrae in
tenemento de Salekill, in the sheriffdom of Stirling. As there was the
family of Forsyth of Forsyth, the name must originally have been
territorial.
FORSYTH, WILLIAM,
an able arboriculturist, was born in 1737, at Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire,
where he was early initiated into the science of horticulture. In 1763 he
went to London, and became a pupil of the celebrated Philip Miller,
gardener to the company of apothecaries at their botanical gardens at
Chelsea. In 1771 he succeeded him in that situation. In 1784 he was
appointed by King George the Third chief superintendent of the royal
gardens at Kensington and at St. James’. Having discovered a composition
to remedy the diseases and injuries incident to fruit and forest trees, he
received a grant from parliament on disclosing the secret of his discovery
to the public. Accordingly, in 1791 he published his ‘Observation on the
Diseases, Defects, and Injuries of Fruit and Forest Trees,’ to which he
appended the whole of the correspondence that had taken place between the
commissioners of the land revenue, the committee of parliament, and
himself, on the subject. A Mr. A.T. Knight, of Elton, near Ludlow in
Shropshire, president of the Horticultural Society, published a small
quarto pamphlet, entitled ‘Some doubts relative to the Efficacy of Mr.
Forsyth’s Plaister in renovating Trees,’ which does not seem to have
attracted much attention. In 1802 appeared his ‘Treatise on the Culture
and Management of Fruit Trees,’ with plates, three editions of which
valuable and useful work were sold in a very short time. Mr. Forsyth, who
was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and a member of the Linnaean
and other learned bodies, died at his official residence in Kinsington
Gardens, July 25, 1804. In honour of his name, a particular genus of
plants has been termed Forsythia. – His son, also named William, his
successor at Chelsea Gardens, was the author of the following botanical
work: ‘A Botanical Nomenclator; containing a systematical arrangement of
the classes, orders, genera and species of plants, as described in the new
edition of Linnaeus’ System, by Dr. Gmelin, with the Alphabetical Indexes
of the Latin and English names, &c.’ Lond. 1794, 8vo. |
