Letter from John Parkinson [British consul in Mexico] to John Lindley, honorary secretary of the Horticultural Society

Title

Letter from John Parkinson [British consul in Mexico] to John Lindley, honorary secretary of the Horticultural Society

Record type

Archive

Original Reference

RHS/Col/7/1/2/45

Date

30 Nov 1838

Scope & content

Written from British Consulate, Mexico [Mexico City, Mexico]

He acknowledges receipt of a letter dated 13 Sep regarding the Horticultural Society's surprise at the detention of the plant boxes at Tampico [Mexico]; 'humble co-operator as I was in the Brazil, I may receive credit from the Society for zealous goodwill in the present emergency', and he will assist the Society as far as he can; he has written an 'explanatory' letter to Commander Croke [Wentworth Parsons Croke, captain of HMS Express], about to sail from Vera Cruz [Veracruz, Mexico] to Tampico, and to Messrs McAlmont [sic] & Co [Messrs McCalmont Lyall & Co, merchants in Mexico] and Mr Crawford [Joseph Tucker Crawford, British vice-consul in Mexico] in Tampico: 'under these circumstances, I indulge the agreeable hope that this, my letter explanatorial, will be the harbinger of the desiderata'; he thinks that had he been contacted earlier, he might have been able to prevent the situation, but the HM packets [ships] have been busy carrying bullion [gold and silver] and other 'precious merchandise' due to the blockade; the packets have occasionally accepted botanical collections he has sent to Mr Lambert [Aylmer Bourke Lambert, British botanist] and the Duke of Bedford [John Russell, 6th duke of Bedford]; the collector [Theodor Hartweg] should contact Parkinson or the pro-consul [vice-consul]; he will assist Messrs Munoz [Messrs Munoz, Matfield & Co, merchants in Mexico] at Vera Cruz, where the vice-consul Mr Francis Gifford has been in charge of shipments to the Duke of Bedford; 'humble amateur as I am, it may appear idle and ostentatious to tender my aid to the Society', he offers his assistance, as he has a 'widely-branched botanical correspondence in this paradise of all plants [and] I am told that I have 'done some good service' to the state of flora' and requests instructions as a non-professional collector with limited time

Extent

4 page letter (1 sheet)

Is part of

RHS archive: plant collector papers

Repository

Royal Horticultural Society Lindley Library

Copyright

Orphan work

Credit Line

RHS Lindley Collections

Usage terms

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