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http://www.kewguild.org.uk/media/pdfs/v10s95p881-36.pdf

Born Fife, 1837; died Edinburgh 1882
John Sadler joined the staff of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 1854, working in the propagating department and herbarium before becoming assistant to Regius Keeper Professor J.H. Balfour, a post he held for almost 25 years. He was appointed curator (principal gardener) at the Garden in 1879. An inveterate rambler he gained a great knowledge of the Scottish flora, especially the flora of Perthshire, and discovered many new stations for plants, several of which perpetuate his name. Sadler lectured regularly to the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, which he served as Assistant Secretary from 1858 until 1879. Known as a genial, good natured man his many other professional and social memberships included being a founder member of the Scottish Alpine Botanical Club (1868) and Secretary of the Scottish Arboricultural Society from 1862 to 1879. An all round practical botanist, he was awarded the Neill Prize in 1869 and also lectured in botany at the Royal High School for over 20 years. In 1881 he took charge of the development of the Arboretum, then administered separately from the Garden. While engaged in planting the Arboretum in December snow he caught a chill and died at the age of 45, leaving a widow and 7 children.
Sources: R. Desmond ‘Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturalists; HR Fletcher and WH Brown ‘The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 1670-1970’; (Deni Bown, ‘4 Gardens in One’); obituary folder.
D.W.

Born Edinburgh 1749; died Edinburgh 1819.
Daniel Rutherford (the uncle of Sir Walter Scott) graduated MA from the University of Edinburgh and obtained his MD in 1772 where his inaugural dissertation on ‘mephitic air’ (carbonic acid) established the distinction between carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Though the latter was not named, Rutherford came to be regarded as the discoverer of nitrogen. After travelling in Europe Rutherford returned to Edinburgh in 1775, becoming a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1777. In 1786 he succeeded John Hope as professor of medicine and botany at the university and Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden and King’s Botanist. His interest in botany was limited to the use of plants as objects in chemical experiments and his teaching courses poorly reviewed. Rutherford held office as Regius Keeper at the Garden for 33 years during which time he was assisted by a succession of six Principal Gardeners. In addition to this role, he was elected physician in ordinary to The Royal Infirmary in 1791, fellow of the Philosophical (afterwards Royal) Society of Edinburgh in 1788 and of the Linnean Society in 1796. Not highly regarded as an academic, his publications were few and sometimes considered to be highly derivative.
Sources: Dictionary of National Biography; HR Fletcher and WH Brown ‘The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 1670-1970’; (Deni Bown, ‘4 Gardens in One’); (R. Desmond ‘Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturalists)
D.W.