James Wiles, son of the gardener Henry Wiles and Mary Pitts, was a gardener to the botanist R.A. Salisbury on an estate near Leeds. He was recommended by Sir Joseph Banks* to serve as botanist on the second voyage to the Pacific Ocean of the Providence under Captain Bligh during 1791-1793. On the outward journey from Britain they visited the Cape of Good Hope from 5 November to 23 December 1791, during which time Wiles collected some plants. His specimens, which included a species of Erica collected on Table Mountain, were sent to Sir Joseph Banks and eventually ended up in the herbarium of the Department of Botany of the British Museum (Natural History).

The expedition brought many young breadfruit trees from the Pacific region to Jamaica in February 1793 and planted them in the Liguanea botanic garden. Wiles remained there and was appointed Island Botanist in 1803. In 1805 he was appointed Vestryman in the parish of St Andrews and promoted to captain in the Militia. The next year he published a revised edition of the catalog of plants in the botanic garden, Hortus Eastensis. He remained on the island for the rest of his life. He and his wife Eliza had two sons.

List of sources:

Britten, J. Some early Cape botanists and collectors. Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany), 1920-1922, Vol. 45, pp. 29-51.

FamilySearch: James Wiles. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/MLZC-95Y/james-wiles-1768-1851

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2026-03-12 09:40:24