John Davidson was born in Aberdeen, Scotland and graduated from Gordon's College. As botany assistant and later curator of the Botany Museum at the University of Aberdeen from 1893 to 1911, he developed considerable plant classification and general biology skills. In 1911, he was appointed as British Columbia's first Provincial Botanist. Davidson established Canada's first botanical garden at Essondale's Colony Farm near New Westminster. In 1916, the 25,000 plants were transferred to the new Point Grey site of the University of British Columbia, and the garden continued to develop under his supervision. Davidson joined the UBC faculty in 1917 as an instructor of Botany. He remained at the university until his retirement in 1945. He was the founder and, until 1937, president of the Vancouver Natural History Society.