Allman, William (1776–1846), physician and botanist, was born 7 February 1776 at Kingston, Jamaica, son of Thomas Allman, described as a ‘gentleman’; from the age of four he was brought up in his mother's native Waterford. He entered TCD on 2 April 1792, graduated BA (1796), MA (1801), and MB and MD (1804), and eventually moved to Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, to practise as a physician. His main career was as professor of botany at TCD (1809–44). His publications include Analysis . . . generum plantarum quae in Britanniis, Gallia et Helvetica sponte sua crescunt (1828) and papers on the application of mathematics to botany. His friend Robert Brown, botanist to Sir Joseph Banks, named after him a genus of plants from tropical Asia belonging to the cockscomb family. William Allman died in Dublin on 8 December 1846. With his wife Anne (d. 1831) he had at least two sons: William Allman (1819–95), rector of Kilmacrenan, Co. Donegal, and George Johnston Allman (qv), professor of mathematics at QCG.
Sources
Alumni Dubl.; Trinity College record volume (1951), 67; Desmond (1977); ODNB