i2 ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW 
London,” writing of the gardens of Kew House as he saw them in 
1691, says that Sir Henry Capel “ has four white striped hollies about 
four feet above their cases, kept round and regular, which cost him 
five pounds a tree this last year ; and six laurustinuses he has, with 
large round equal heads, which are very flowery, and make a fine 
show. . . . His flowers and fruits are of the best.” Sir Henry 
Capel, who ultimately became Lord Capel of Tewkesbury and 
Lord Deputy of Ireland, died in 1696. As he had no children, the 
Kew property descended to a grand-niece, Lady Elizabeth Capel, 
daughter of the second Earl of Essex. She married Mr. Samuel 
Molyneux, and came with her husband to reside at Kew House. 
Mr. Molyneux, besides being a politician and secretary to the 
Prince of Wales (afterwards George II.), had a taste for astronomy. 
Dr Bradle conver ^ e( ^ eas t w i n g °f Kew House into an 
observatory and erected a telescope ; and here it was, 
in 1725, that Dr. Bradley, subsequently Astronomer-Royal, made 
two important discoveries — the aberration of light and the nutation 
of the earth’s axis. The sundial which now stands on the lawn in 
front of the present Kew Palace was erected there in 1832 by 
William IV. to commemorate these discoveries and to mark the 
spot on which they were made. 
Mr. Molyneux died in 1728, and his death was followed, two years 
later, by that of his wife. It was then (1730) that Frederick, Prince 
of Wales, whose father, George II., had succeeded to 
the throne in 1727, obtained a lease of Kew House 
from the Capel family. Thus was inaugurated the long 
and intimate association of Kew with the Royal Family, which only 
ceased with the death of the Duke of Cambridge in 1904. Frederick, 
with the aid of Kent, the celebrated landscape gardener and architect, 
as soon as he had acquired Kew House, re-laid out its grounds and 
made additional plantings. He, however, died in 1751, and it is 
not to him but to his consort, Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, that 
the honour of establishing a botanical centre at Kew is due. It had 
hitherto been held in high repute as a place where advanced and 
refined horticulture had long been practised. But it was not long 
now before it began, under the auspices of the Dowager Princess of 
Wales, to acquire a scientific character and reputation. 
Whilst no particular date can be fixed on as marking the absolute 
beginning of Kew as a botanical garden, the year 1759 is notable 
Prince of 
Wales, 1730 . 
