The origins of Glasgow Botanic Garden can be found in the city's college ‘physic’ garden in 1704. A new garden, the Royal Botanic Institute of Glasgow replaced it in 1818 at Sandyford in the city. Thomas Hopkirk’s collection formed the basis of the garden. When a larger garden was needed, the Glasgow Botanic Garden was set up in its present location in 1840. William Jackson Hooker made a significant contribution to the development of the garden in the first half of the nineteenth century. As editor of Curtis’s Botanical Magazine for thirty-six years and Director of Kew Gardens, he was a major figure in the field of botanical science. This article details the history of the gardens with particular reference to Hooker. It also reflects on the cacti and other succulents in the early gardens and details lists produced between 1813 and 1825.