At the north end of George Place, Queen’s Road West, formerly stood an old white house, called “Queen Elizabeth’s Larder,” which was pulled down to erect the present houses.
THE BOTANIC GARDEN.
On the south side of Queen’s Road West, near to the river, is situated the garden belonging to the Company of Apothecaries. The earliest record that we possess of a Botanical Garden in England, was that of the celebrated John Gerarde, the father of English botany. The next in order of time was that of the elder Tradescant, who, about 1630, established a garden for the cultivation of exotic plants at South Lambeth; this collection was presented, in 1667, to the University of Oxford. The next garden in succession is this at Chelsea.
Of these premises, containing three acres, one rood, the first lease was taken by the Company in the year 1673, for the term of 61 years, at a ground rent of £5 per annum. Mr. Evelyn thus mentions a visit he paid it:—“1685, August 7th, I went to see Mr. Watts, keeper of the Apothecaries’ garden of simples at Chelsea, where there is a collection of innumerable rarities of that sort particularly; besides many rare annuals, the true-bearing Jesuits’ Bark, which had done such wonders in quartan agues. What was very ingenious was the subterranean heat, conveyed by a stove under the conservatory, all vaulted with bricks, so as he has the doors and windows open in the hardest frosts, secluding all the snow.” Mr. Watts was succeeded by Mr. Doody, who enjoyed considerable eminence as a botanist, and he continued to superintend it till 1717, when the celebrated Petiver was appointed, who had officiated as demonstrator of plants since 1709. He accumulated so large a collection of natural history, that, some time before his death, Sir Hans Sloane is said to have offered him £4000 for it. After his death, Sir Hans Sloane purchased it, and it went eventually to the British Museum.
Sir Hans Sloane granted the freehold of these premises, in 1722, upon conditions that the Company should pay a quit rent of £5 per annum for ever, and employ the same as a Physic Garden; that the Company should deliver to the Royal Society fifty specimens, the growth of the garden, till the number should amount to three thousand.
It was here that Sir Hans Sloane first studied his favourite science; and he continued a friend to this establishment, continually enriching it with scarce and curious plants, besides contributing largely towards the building, &c. As a tribute of gratitude the Company of Apothecaries employed the celebrated Rysbrach on a marble statue of their benefactor, which stands in the middle of the garden. He is represented in a Doctor’s gown, with a full-bottomed peruke, and a roll in his right hand. It displays much dignity, and conveys a most pleasing impression of the learned person whom it represents. On the north side of the pedestal is the following inscription:—“In honour and perpetuation of the memory of Sir Hans Sloane, Bart., an eminent physician, and great encourager of the science of botany, this statue was erected by the Company of Apothecaries of London, 1733.” On the west side, “They being sensible how necessary that branch of science is to the faithful discharging the duty of their profession, with grateful hearts and general consent, ordered this statue to be erected in the year of our Lord 1733, that their successors and posterity may never forget their common benefactor. Placed here in the year 1737.” There is another inscription, similar in purport, on the south side of the pedestal.
The garden is laid out in divisions, in which the plants, shrubs, and trees, are arranged systematically. On the south side of the garden, facing the Thames, formerly stood two large cedars of Lebanon. Lysons says, that Sir Joseph Banks made an accurate admeasurement of these trees, in 1793, and found the girth of the larger to be twelve feet eleven inches and a half, that of the smaller twelve feet and half an inch. Upon being measured again, in 1809, they had increased twelve inches in girth since 1793. There is now only one of these trees.
Mr. Philip Miller resided many years in the house at the garden, and rendered himself particularly distinguished by his botanical works. He succeeded to the office of curator of this establishment in 1722, and resigned a little before his decease, which took place in 1771. He was buried in Chelsea churchyard, where a monument has been since erected to his memory by the Fellows of the Linnean and Horticultural Societies of London. He was succeeded in the management of the garden by his pupil, Mr. Forsyth, who, in 1784, was appointed chief superintendent of the Royal Gardens at Kensington, which he held till his death in 1804. Mr. Anderson was subsequently curator, and Mr. Wheeler demonstrator.
Having thus endeavoured to give a brief sketch of the rise and progress of this establishment, it only remains to mention a few particulars in reference to its present condition.
Within the last twenty-five years the garden has been in a great measure remodelled, and in consequence has become better adapted to the purpose for which it is maintained, namely, the instruction of medical students. Several of the old hot-houses and greenhouses have been removed, and new ones erected in their place; new arrangements of medicinal plants have been formed; and groups representing the natural orders of plants have been brought together to facilitate their study. Formerly two cedars of Lebanon, some of the first planted in England, were conspicuous objects from the river, but in 1853 one of these, which had become much decayed, was blown down, the other still remains, but is gradually decaying, being not only injuriously affected by the smoke of London, but like all the other large trees in the garden, more or less damaged by the deprivation of water caused by the construction of the deep sewer in the Queen’s Road. A fine specimen of a rare tree, the Salisburia adiantifolia, the Ginkgo of Japan, with leaves resembling those of the Maidenhair Fern in form, may be seen towering above the wall in the Queen’s Road. The alterations in this garden were commenced in 1846 by Mr. Robt. Fortune, the Chinese traveller, who was succeeded, in 1848, by Mr. Thomas Moore, the present Curator.