An apology from Trail

Later in 1911, Davidson received a letter from Trail, his former mentor, apologizing for having taken all the credit for their preservation work back in 1908. Trail admitted that Davidson had been “far more of a fellow worker than many people would suppose an ‘attendant’ could be.” As an apology, Trail nominated Davidson as a fellow of the important Linnean Society. In another letter, Trail said the following to Davidson: “You knew Botany much better both in practice & in theory than I did when I was appointed here, for, as I think you know, all the instruction in it I had was obtained in the morning class attended twice, as was then the custom.”

For John Davidson, it came down to timing. He had tried to get an academic job in an era when Scottish universities were changing. By relocating to Canada, Davidson was able to escape both his working-class background and his lack of formal university education.