PARK AND CEMETERY, 
69 
ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW, SURREY, 
ENGLAND, IL 
To be more lucid, it may be well to trace each of 
these estates separately. 
Richmond Gardens: — The “Old Manor House” at 
Sheen, was made a Royal Palace by Edward I. After 
destruction by fire, it was rebuilt and named “Richmond” 
by Henry VII, who died there in 1507, as did also Queen 
Elizabeth in 1603. It was soldiu 1650. The “Old Park” 
extended to the north of the Palace and its gardens corres- 
pond to the western half of the present gardens. The Rich- 
mond Gardens property was granted to the Duke of Or- 
mond by King William III, as a reward for military ser- 
vices. On the Duke’s attainder, it devolved to the Crown 
(King George I) who in turn confirmed it to Queen Caro- 
line. The latter was an earnest lover of gardening and lav- 
ished enormous sums of money on her gardens. Queen 
Caroline died in 1737 and King 
George II in 1760. Richmond Gar- 
dens were extended during Queen 
Caroline’s time and eventually ab- 
sorbed land and buildings almost to 
Brentford Ferry. They had a great 
popularity long before Kew Gar- 
dens scarcely had a reputation. 
Kew Gardens: — The eastern 
half of the Royal Gardens, as they 
now are, was virtually the grounds 
of Kew House, and the Gardens of 
this domain are the ones that were 
exclusively known as Kew Gardens. 
In the Richmond Public Library 
hangs a sectional map of the vicin- 
ity of London designed by Jean 
Rocque in 1 741-5 clearly depicting 
the two distinct domains, separated 
by Love Lane — a bridle path, which 
was eventually closed in 1802 by 
the original wish of George III. 
Kew House was the property of 
Richard Bennett, Esq., in the mid- 
dle of the seventeenth century. His 
daughter married Sir Henry, later 
Lord Capel of Tewkesbury, one of 
the most distinguished horticulturalist s during the reign 
of Charles II. His wife survived him, died in 1721, 
and Kew House was subsequently occupied by Mr. 
Molyneaux, who married the grand neice of Lord Capel, 
Lady Elizabeth. Frederick, Prince of Wales, obtained 
a long lease of Kew House from the Capel family in 
1 73 °- 
The Prince died in 1751, but his wife survived him 
and continued to reside at Kew. She died in 1772. By 
purchase, Kew House and domain, came into the hands 
of George III, and it was he who gave impetus and sup- 
port to the botanical side of the Garden’s development. 
In 1768, Sir John Hill published “Hortus Kewensis" 
a catalogue of the plants cultivated in the garden of II. 
R. H., the Dowager Princess of Wales at Kew, an octavo 
volume of 458 pages. 
Wrn. Aiton, generally spoken of as the “elder” Aiton, 
was engaged in 1759, by the Dowager Princess to estab- 
lish a “Physick- Garden.” John Haverfield was chief 
gardener under Aiton, and was transferred to the Rich- 
mond Gardens in 3760, on the death of George II. In 
1784, Haverfield died and Aiton then directed both gar- 
dens. Kew House was taken down in 1803 and a Sun 
dial marks the location of one of its rooms, used as an 
observatory. John Stuart, third Earl of Bute, was an 
enthusiastic botanist. He was Lord of the Bedcham- 
ber, to the Prince of Wales, son of George III. In 1761 
his office was Secretary of State, and in 1762 and 1763, 
Prime Minister. Lord Bute assiduously developed the 
scientific phase of Kew while Aiton cared for the gar- 
den in a practical sense. In 1761, the “Great Stove” 
was erected [this is now obliterated], a structure 1 10 
feet long and said to have been, at that time the largest 
hot-house in England. 
In 1762, “all the Duke of Argyles trees and shrubs 
were removed (from his seat at Whitton, near Houns- 
low) to the Princess of Wales’ Garden at Kew, which 
now excels all others, under the direction of Lord Bute.” 
Sir William Chambers was architect of Somerset 
HoHse, and in 1763 published at the expense of Princess 
Augusta the work, “Plans, Elevations, Sections and Per- 
spective Views, of the Gardens and Buildings at Kew, 
in Surrey, the seat of H. R. H. the Princess Dowager of 
Wales,” Sir William travelled to China in his youth, 
and amid the subsequent orgies in any new idea in land- 
scape gardening, opportunely launched his views in a 
work entitled “Desertations on Oriental Gardening.” 
He planned the Pagoda, a brown brick structure 163 
feet high, octagonal in shape with a base diameter of 49 
feet, that was built in 1761-2; “Orangery” built in 1761 
and now known as Museum No. 3, “Ruined Arch,” built 
in 1759 ai ‘d still remaining in part, over one of the main 
walks; Temples of the Sun, Arethusa and Bellona. 
These are a few of the remaining structures, illustrating 
the capricious ideas he propagated. 
George London and Henry Wise were nurserymen 
at Brompton in the latter part of the 17th century. 
They were made Royal Gardeners and were religious ad- 
herents to a formal style of Landscape Gardening. 
(Stephen Switzer, was a pupil of theirs, but initiated a 
slight departure from their geometrical garden designs 
towards a more natural type.) 
Bridgeman succeeded London and Wise in the 
Fig. 1. — Museum No. 1, Across the Pond near the Palm House. 
