Ninian Niven
Ninian Niven (1799 - 18 February 1879) was a Scottish horticulturist and landscape gardener. Early life and family Ninian Niven was born in 1799 in Kelvingrove, Glasgow. His father, also Ninian Niven, was a gardener at Keir House near Stirling, and travelled to the Cape of Good Hope twice collecting plants for George Hibbert and the Empress Josephine of France. Niven was schooled in Glasgow, and was apprenticed as a gardener at Bothwell Castle under Thomas Butler. He planned to become a plant collector, and studied plant drawing and painting after his apprenticeship. He returned to Bothwell for a time, and in 1822 he moved to Belladrum House, Inverness-shire. Niven married Agnes Craig. One son, Francis Wilson, emigrated to Victoria, Australia and became a printer. Another son, James Craig (1828–1881), was a gardener in Belfast Botanic Gardens from 1843 and Kew Gardens from 1846, and went on to become curator of Hull Botanic Garden in 1855. Career Niven was invited to take up the position of head gardener of the grounds of the official residence of the chief secretary for Ireland in the Phoenix Park, Dublin in 1827. Over the course of 8 years he developed his landscaping skills and