Letter from Robert Fortune to the secretary of the Horticultural Society [Alexander Henderson], 21 Regent St, London and 'List of plants in cases No 19, 20, 21, 22, shipped on board the Helen Stewart, Shanghae Jun 18, 1844'

Title

Letter from Robert Fortune to the secretary of the Horticultural Society [Alexander Henderson], 21 Regent St, London and 'List of plants in cases No 19, 20, 21, 22, shipped on board the Helen Stewart, Shanghae Jun 18, 1844'

Record type

Archive

Original Reference

RHS/Col/8/2/8

Date

18 Jun 1844

Scope & content

Written from Shanghae [Shanghai, China]

Postmarked ('JM 11NO11 1844'). The letter includes an opened seal. Written on onion-skin paper. Annotated on the reverse: 'Via Southampton'

Letter No 8

He left the tea district shortly after his previous letter and stayed in Ning Po [Ningbo, Zhejiang, China] for a few days before continuing to Shanghae to see the numerous azaleas in flower: 'I was just in time to see the whole of them in bloom, as to make a valuable selection for the Society'; he has travelled much further inland than last year, and managed to reach the hills about 30 miles from Shanghae: 'as yet no complaints have been made against my proceedings by the Chinese mandarins to the British authorities at any of the ports'; he is unexpectedly able to send a few cases of plants to England by the Helen Stewart, which is transporting tea to London; he encloses more seeds of the Daphne he sent previously, a bill of lading [shipment receipt] and a duplicate of his last letter [enclosures not present]; he acknowledges receipt of a letter of 31 Jan with letters of introduction from Mr Reeves [John Reeves, naturalist, former East India Company tea inspector in China]

Fortune's expenses for 1-31 May 1844, including 'landing expenses in Ning Po, coolies [indentured workers] hire &c' $1, 'present to priest' $5, 'personal expenses during my stay' $24, 'paid to Chinese art [artist] for drawing of plants to send to the secretary' $4.50 and 'small present to Chinese for attending to my plants' $2 [here the list includes 16 more items], with the total of $106.50

Enclosed is a list of the contents of four boxes sent to the Horticultural Society from Shanghai. The list is numbered (specimens 1-28, boxes 19-22) and includes Azalea ('large light purple, very fine'), Azalea ('probably a little different from No 2'), rose ('small anemone, flower white, very pretty'), Daphne ('Chusan [Zhoushan, Zhejiang, China] hills, sent before') and moutan [Paeonia suffruticosa] ('very dark, nearly black') [here the list includes 23 more plants]

Enclosed is a separate sheet entitled 'Plants in glazed cases'. This list is a copy of the list in Fortunes previous letter, 10 May 1844: see RHS/Col/8/2/7 for a description of the contents

Extent

5 page letter (3 sheets)

Is part of

RHS archive: plant collector papers

Repository

Royal Horticultural Society Lindley Library

Copyright

Royal Horticultural Society

Credit Line

RHS Lindley Collections

Usage terms

Non-commercial use with attribution permitted (CC BY-NC 4.0)