The mineralogist Robert Jameson was born in Leith on 11 July 1774. His early education was received in Leith and then he became the apprentice of a surgeon in Leith, with the aim of going to sea. He also attended classes at Edinburgh University, studying medicine, botany, chemistry, and natural history. On the death of John Walker in 1803, Jameson was appointed Regius Professor of Natural History and Keeper of the University Museum. He died in Edinburgh on 19 April 1854.

William Danset was born in Blandford Forum, Dorset, in 1792, and matriculated from Exeter College, Oxford, in 1810. He was elected a Stapledon scholar of his college in 1811, but resigned the following year. He gained B.A. 1814, M.A. 1817, and Med. Bac. 1818. Ordained in 1819, he was nominated to the rectory of Donhead St. Andrew, Wiltshire, in 1820, and remained until his death in1856.