He studied surgery under Dr Alexander Monro and learnt botany under John Hope.

[8][9] Roxburgh began work in the Carnatic region from 1781 and replaced Patrick Russell as the Company Botanist in Madras in April 1789.

He also studied the prospects of introducing sago and other food crops to help alleviate the effect of famine.

[11] He was invited to fill the position of Superintendent at the Calcutta Botanical Garden where the death of Colonel Robert Kyd had created a vacancy.

[9] He had begun collecting detailed meteorological data as soon as he set foot in India, at Madras, and is known to have taken measurements three times a day, using Ramsden barometers and Nairne thermometers, made by then reputed scientific instrument makers, Jesse Ramsden and Edward Nairne.

Such detailed measurements over many years led him to form an opinion on widespread famine and climate change in the empire.

[15] To recuperate from his illness before continuing his voyage to Scotland, he stopped at Saint Helena island on 7 June 1813 and left on 1 March 1814.

Despite his poor health he produced an annotated list of Saint Helena plants during his stay.

[16] He appears to have lived in, or close to, his original Edinburgh lodgings, then known as 4 Park Place or Street on the Meadows.

On 31 May 1814, he was presented, in the presence of a large assembly, a third gold medal by the Duke of Norfolk (then, the president of the Society of Arts).

In 1820, at the Mission Press in Serampore, William Carey posthumously edited and published vol.

2 of Roxburgh's Flora Indica, including extensive remarks and contributions by Dr. Nathaniel Wallich.