Richard Anthony Salisbury

Richard Anthony Salisbury (May 2, 1761 - 1829) was a British botanist. He was born in Leeds, England, the son of Richard Markham. He changed his last name to Salisbury following a supposed financial arrangement for support in his studies. This arrangement was claimed to have been made with a Mrs. Anna Salisbury, related by marriage to his grandmother, but this was apparently a fiction.

He married Caroline Staniforth in 1796. Only one child, Eleanor, was born to the couple, in 1797. The two separated shortly thereafter. Apparently Salisbury had misrepresented his finances to Caroline when he had proposed marriage. By the times of his daughter's birth, he was deeply, hopelessly in debt. He was subsequently arrested for his financial misrepresentations. He apparently recovered financially by 1802, when he bought a house.

Salisbury violently opposed the Linnean system, which led others to ignore his work. As a result, he published a manuscript under the name of a friend, but it turned out that the work had nonetheless freely plagiarized the work of yet another botanist (Brown) who was at odds with Salisbury.

Salisbury was known as a man who was difficult to get along with, and was shunned by many botanists of his day. Nonetheless, he was himself a meticulous botanist who contributed significantly to the science.

Published works

Icones Stirpium rariorum, 1787
Prodromus Stirpium in horto ad Chapel Allerton, 1796
Disaertatio botanica de Erica, 1800
Genera of Plants, 1866, edited by J. E. Gray.