30 A 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, February 19, 1861. 
THE TREDES CANTS. 
JOHN TEEDESCANT THE YOUNGER. 
Ix oar last volume, page 344, we gave a biography of the 
elder Tredescant, concluding with a promise to publish a similar 
memoir of his son, a promise which we now fulfil. 
The date and place of his birth were but recently discovered, 
and their discovery was preceded and attended by a trail of facts 
which may enable our readers to appreciate the interest and 
pleasure antiquaries derive from their pursuits. Searching after 
the unknown, unravelling the intricate, and establishing the un¬ 
certain, constitute the most enjoyable of employments. In 
certain, constitute tiie most enjoyaoie oi employments, in to une junior ireuescant. xnis silence, and his intimacy with 
1851, when attention was re-aroused to the Tredescants, and the j Ashmole, lead to the conclusion that, although fond of plants 
greatest uncertainty existed as to their national derivation, the i and styling himself “gardener.” vet tw iGo __ 
»» “CU ai/ldlLIUU Was «UVA till. 
greatest uncertainty existed as to their national derivation, the 
following anonymous note was published :— 
“ A few days since, in 
looking into a copy of Dr. 
Ducarel’s tract on the sub¬ 
ject, preserved among the 
books in the Ashmolean 
Museum, I found the fol¬ 
lowing note in pencil, not 
very legibly written in the 
margin of the tract, where 
Dr. Ducarel says he has not 
been able to find any ac¬ 
count in the Lambeth Re¬ 
gister of the death of the 
elder Tradescant. ‘ Con¬ 
sult (with certainty of 
finding information con¬ 
cerning the Tradescants) 
the Registers of — apliam, 
Kent.’ Since this note was 
written, the tract has been 
bound and the commence¬ 
ment of several words cut 
off. Amongst them is the 
name of the place of which 
the registers are to be con¬ 
sulted. I imagine it to be 
Meapham (apham is all 
that can be read ”).—(Notes 
and Queries , iii., 469.) 
It was not until after the 
lapse of nearly twelve 
months that this hint 
proved fruitful; but the 
delay had arisen from no 
fault of the pursuer, for the 
editor of the truly useful 
periodical we have quoted 
writes as follows:— 
“ At the close of last 
year [1851] we received a 
communication from a 
learned and much valued 
friend, now, alas! no more 
[Rev. Lancelot Sharpe], 
telling us that Meopham 
was the place referred to, 
and suggesting that we 
should get extracts from 
the register for the infor¬ 
mation of our readers. 
E pon this hint we acted; but our endeavour’s, for reasons to 
" we uee d not more particularly refer, failed; and it was not 
until our attention was recalled to the subject by the endeavour 
nut is making, and we trust successfully making, to procure 
subscriptions for restoring the Tradescant Monument at Lam¬ 
beth, that we applied to another friend resident in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Meopham for his assistance in the business. That 
assistance was (as it has ever been) rendered most cheerfully 
mid most effectually ; and we are now enabled to lay before our 
leaders and the Committee of the Tradescant Monument Res¬ 
olution Fund, the following evidence that John Tradescant the 
j ounger was a Man of Kent. It is extracted from the baptismal 
register of Meopham. 
1608 August the iiij daye John the sonne of John Tra- 
descant was baptized eodem die—’ "—(Ibid., v., 266.) 
Concerning the earlier portion of his life we have no infor- 
mation. At one time we entertained the opinion that he had 
travelled in America, but a further consideration of the autho¬ 
rities inclines us to conclude that we were mistaken Whether 
he was as well skilled as his father in a knowledge of plants is open 
to doubt; for though Parkinson often refers to the elder Tredes- 
cant, both when living and subsequently to his death, yet we do 
not remember to have met with one instance in which he alludes 
to the junior Tredescant. This silence, and his intimacy with 
lllaiAn f lx A .111 i n -m - 
and styiing himself “gardener,” yet that his museum and anti 
quities afforded to linn a more congenial pursuit. 
The next certainty that 
we arrive at is Tredescant’s 
marriage, concerning which 
there is this entry in the 
Register of St. Nicholas Cole 
Abbey, in the city of London. 
“ ‘ 1638. Marriages. — 
John Tradeskant of Lam¬ 
beth, co. Surrey, and Hester 
Pooks of St. Bride’s, Lon¬ 
don, maiden, married, by 
licence from Mr. Cooke, 
Oct. 1.’ 
“This lady erected the 
original monument in Lam¬ 
beth churchyard upon the 
death of her husband in 
1662. She died 1678.”— 
(Ibid, viii., 513.) 
The issue of the marriage, 
so far as we have any re¬ 
cords, were one daughter 
and one son. The daughter, 
Frances, married a Mr, 
Norman, and we know 
nothing more of her than 
will be found mentioned in 
her father’s will. 
The son, an only one, 
died in 1652, and his loss 
was paralysing to his father. 
The latter published the 
catalogue entitled Musceum 
Tradescantianum in 1656, 
audin the preface he states— 
“ ‘ About three years agoe- 
(by the perswasion of some 
friends) I was resolved to 
take a catalogue of those 
rarities and curiosities, 
which my father had sedu¬ 
lously collected, and myselfe 
with continued diligence 
have augmented and hither¬ 
to preserved together.’ 
“ He then proceeds to ac¬ 
count for the delay in the 
publication of the work in 
these words: 
“ ‘ Presently thereupon my 
onely son died, one of my friends fell sick,’ &c. 
“ Again, in Aslimole’s Diary we find the following entry : 
“ ‘ Sept. 11th, 1652. Young John Tredescant died.’ 
“ And, further on, Ashmole states that 
“ ‘ He was buried by his grandfather, in Lambeth Churchyard.’ 
“ The word by, in the quotation, meaning, by the side of, close 
by his grandfather. The burial register of Lambeth parish gives 
the date of the interment, Sept. 16, 1652.” 
The father survived the son about nine years, and we are in¬ 
debted to Dr. Hamel for discovering and publishing his will as 
follows:—• 
“ THE EAST WILE AND TESTMA.NENT OF ME JOHN 
TEEDESCANT. 
“ In the name of God, Amen. 
“The fourth day of April in the yeare of our Lord God one 
