Grave of Sir Robert Sibbald

Greyfriars Cemetery, Candlemaker Row, Edinburgh EH1 2QQ

Sir Robert Sibbald was a graduate of the University of Leiden, then the foremost centre for medical education in Europe. In 1685 he became the University of Edinburgh’s first professor of medicine, although as far as we know if never actually gave any lectures. He was a founder of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and, along with Sir Andrew Balfour, established the city’s first botanical gardens in 1670. He was a keen collector natural history specimens, which he left to the university in his will. These formed the original core of the University Museum’s famous natural history collection.

Sir Robert Sibbald (1641–1722).

Find out more

• University of Edinburgh, People: Sir Robert Sibbald
• Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh: Sibbald, Sir Robert (1641–1722)