Nathaniel Cantley (1847–1888) was a British botanist and expert in tropical horticulture, agriculture, and forestry.
[1] In 1880 he was appointed superintendent of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, as successor to Henry James Murton.
[3] Cantley continued to improve on the Gardens, and was responsible for building new facilities such as the office (now Ridley Hall), the Plant House, an arboretum in the Economic Garden and plant nurseries.
... An avid botanist, Cantley placed the Gardens on a firm systematic footing and made an extensive collection of herbarium specimens from Singapore and the region, many of which can be found in the SING herbarium today.
[3]In an official report, Cantley estimated that by 1883 about 93 percent of the Straits Settlements' original inland forest had been destroyed.