David Wilkie was a leading authority on horticulture. He was interested in all living plants, but his chief interest lay in plants from mountainous regions of the world. His career started as a student gardener at RBGE in 1906 at the age of 14 - a time when plants new to European horticulture were being introduced to the U.K. from the Himalayan regions - he dedicated a large part of his life to the cultivation and study of these plants, becoming a recognised authority, gaining some of the highest awards in horticulture, including an R.H.S. Associateship of Honour in 1946. In 1933 he was part of the group responsible for the formation of the Scottish Rock Garden Club, of which he became President in 1959. He was also a member of the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society, holding the Presidentship in 1951. Wilkie's book on Gentians was published in 1936. L.P. from Wilkie's obituary in the Scotsman.
(right click, open link in new tab) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1465030/Robb-Anderson.html
(right click, open link in new tab) http://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/FMCollectors/A/AndersonJAR.htm
Bill Steel was born around 1910, probably in Lanarkshire where his family were farmers. At some point the family ceased farming and moved to Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire.
In the mid to late 1920s Bill studied agriculture and horticulture at several locations including the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the West of Scotland Agricultural College.
Theer is some evidence that during the 1940s Bill ran a business from Musselburgh / Edinburgh involved in the supply of plants.
Bill married Eliza (Ella) Macleod Paton in the late 1940s and they eventually moved to Busby in Renfrewshire and ran a market garden and nursery. Around 1960, due to ill health, Bill gave this business up and he and his family moved to Longniddry in East Lothian. He maintained his interest in gardening and established a fine garden there, continuing to keep notes and diaries until close to his death - he died of leukaemia on 5th January 1970, aged around 61. Ella continued to tend their garden until her death in 2002.
The above, and further biographical information is from a biography written by Bill's grandson, Chris Ostler, who acquired Bill's papers on the death of his mother who was Bill's adopted daughter - the papers pertaining to agriculture / horticulture were donated to RBGE by Chris in February 2015.