308 
‘“‘ when His Majesty was pleased to appoint Mr. Aiton gardener 
“there likewise” (History of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 
Edinburgh, p. 302). The letter continues, “and Mr. John Aiton 
“has the whole of Windsor Gardens to himself.” Whether this 
means that till the change above referred to took place Mr. John 
Townsend Aiton held charge at Windsor as his brother’s subordinate 
but was from this time placed in independent charge there is not 
clear. But whatever the truth as to this may be it is evident that 
W. T. Aiton did hold charge of Royal Gardens other than those at 
Kew and it is probable that the designation employed in his epitaph 
had reference to this fact. That the designation was in use an 
that it was understood may be gathered from the Report submitted 
to the Treasury in 1838 by Dr. J. Lindley, in which there is a 
specific reference to the exercise by W. T. Aiton of his power as 
Director-general (Kew Bulletin for 1891, p. 321). 
The epitaph makes a distinction between the designation 
‘ Director-general of all the Royal Gardens’ applied to i 
Aiton, and that of ‘ Director-general of the Royal Gardens’ 
applied to his younger brother John Townsend Aiton. We have 
seen that after 1804 J. T. Aiton had charge of the Royal Gardens 
at Windsor. But it appears that at a later date he lived at 
Kensington Palace; he wrote letters dated from there between 
1841 and 1845. He seems indeed to have had charge of the 
Kensington Palace Gardens in 1841, though whether independently 
or as the subordinate of his brother, W. I’, Aiton, is not clear, for 
he wrote thence on 21st September, 1841, informing Sir W. 
death of W. T. Aiton in 1849, J. T. Aiton resided in the house 
which his brother had occupied. But, at the time of his own death, 
which took place in 1851, no portion of what now constitutes the 
oyal Botanic Gardens, Kew, was included in the Director- 
generalship alluded to in J.T. Aiton’s epitaph. 
