John Bain Mackay was a nurseryman based in Clapton, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 noted for his introductions of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n and South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

n plants into cultivation.

He was born in Echt

Echt, Aberdeenshire

Echt is an Aberdeenshire crossroads village in northeast Scotland with a population of approximately 300 people. Echt has a number of prehistoric remains, including the so called Barmekin of Echt which is on a hill to the northwest...

 in Aberdeenshire in Scotland. At his Clapton Nursery

Clapton Nursery

The Clapton Nursery also known as Mackay's Clapton Nursery and later Low's Clapton Nursery was a plant nursery established in the early 19th century by John Bain Mackay in Upper Clapton, London, and noted for its introductions of Australian and South American plants into cultivation.The nursery...

, he propagated plant material sent to him by William Baxter

William Baxter (botanist)

William Baxter was an English gardener who collected in Australia on behalf of English nurserymen and private individuals. He had developed his horticultural reputation as gardener to the Comtesse de Vandes in Bayswater, London, many of the plants he had nurtured being used for illustrations in...

 from Australia and James Anderson

James Anderson

- Arts :*James K Anderson , American actor*James Anderson , British actor*James Arthur Anderson , American writer*James Anderson , American television writer...

 from South America. In addition to his nursery, he had a showroom in King's Road, Chelsea

Chelsea, London

Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...

. His foreman, Hugh Low, took over the nursery in 1831.

Mackay became a Fellow of the Linnaean Society. He died in Totteridge

Totteridge

Totteridge is an area of the London Borough of Barnet in north London, England. It is a mixture of suburban development and open land situated 8.20 miles north north-west of Charing Cross....

, Hertfordshire on 9 August 1888 at the age of 93.