Williamson, William Crawford (1816-1895)

English botanist, surgeon, zoologist, and palaeontologist who was regarded as one of the founders of modern palaeobotany. His research included work on deep-sea deposits, protozoans (single-celled animals), and cryptogams (plants that grow from spores, such as algae, ferns, or mosses). He showed that not all plant fossils containing secondary wood were necessarily spermatophytes (seed plants), but that some were spore-bearing.

Williamson was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire and was apprenticed to an apothecary in 1832, although he studied natural history in his spare time, especially fossilized plant remains. He trained as a doctor at University College, London and returned to Manchester to practise medicine, where he was made curator of the Manchester Natural History Museum in 1835. He became the professor of natural history, anatomy, and physiology at Owens College in Manchester and professor of botany there in 1880.

The significance of plant fossils was not appreciated in the 19th century, however. After 40 years of teaching and dedicated research at Owens College, he was refused a pension upon retirement.