September 15, 1881. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
247 
I know, but do not recollect either name or street, 
in any way 1 —R. T. Brotherston'. 
Can you help 
MR. CHARLES LEE. 
Last week it was our melancholy duty to announce the death 
of this gentleman, whose portrait we now submit as that of a kind 
and genial man, an earnest and skilful horticulturist, and for the 
last four years the head of one of the oldest and most important 
nursery lirms in this country. Mr. Charles Lee was, however, a 
partner in the firm for fifty years previous to the retirement of 
his brother, Mr. John Lee, in 1877, so that his term of labour has 
been long, as it has admittedly been honourable ; but that of his 
brother, who we are glad to say is alive and well, was still longer, 
for he had been engaged in the business for fifty-six years at the 
time of his retirement above mentioned. 
The portrait of Mr. James Lee, the founder of the Hammersmith 
Nursery, where Mr. Charles Lee was born on February 8th, 1808, 
appears in vol. xxxii. of this Journal, page 65, January 25th, 1877. 
As is there stated he was born in Scotland in 1715, and was for 
Fig. 42 .—Mr. ciiaui.es lee. 
some time under Philip Miller at the Chelsea Garden, and after¬ 
wards gardener to the Duke of Argyle at Whitton, Middlesex, who 
was a great importer of exotic trees, and for that reason only in¬ 
vidiously nicknamed by Walpole “a tree-monger.” In conjunc¬ 
tion with Kennedy, then gardener to Lord Bolton at Chiswick, 
Lee commenced the business of a nurseryman at the Vineyard, 
Hammersmith. He was patronised by a great many of the 
nobility and gentry, to whom he became known by his extensive 
knowledge of natural history ; and his garden became particularly 
rich in plants from the extensive correspondence he kept up with 
Linnaeus and other contemporary botanists. He died August 25th, 
1795 ; and after an interval of a few years his son, Mr. James 
Lee, became the sole proprietor, and died in 1824. It was stated 
last week that Mr. Charles Lee was the representative of the fourth 
generation of Lees as conductors of the nursery ; what was meant 
was that the firm was first Lee & Kennedy, next Mr. James Lee, 
then John & Charles Lee, and last, Charles Lee & Son—the. son, 
Mr. Wm. Lee, at present occupying his lamented father’s position. 
The Hammersmith Nursery is not what it once was, although it 
is still the head-quarters of the business. The irresistible growth 
of London has effected a marvellous change, and the Addison 
Road railway station, Kensington, now occupies a portion of 
