Memorandum of a conversation between John Lindley and David Douglas

Title

Memorandum of a conversation between John Lindley and David Douglas

Record type

Archive

Original Reference

RHS/Col/5/3/3

Date

16 Apr 1829

Scope & content

Record of a conversation between David Douglas and John Lindley [assistant secretary at the Horticultural Society of London] 'in the library this morning', written by Thomas Goode [clerk at the Horticultural Society of London]; Lindley said he was 'quite disgusted' with the way Douglas had spoken to Mr Sabine [Joseph Sabine, secretary of the Horticultural Society of London], thinking that 'he must either be insane, or that he was conducting himself very ill'; Douglas appeared ashamed of his conduct, saying only, according to Goode's recollection, that he had been supplied with paper only the other day for attending to his specimens, whereas if he had received the paper months ago, his specimens would have been arranged by now

Record of a further conversation on the same day, in the presence of Mr Thomas Goode, originally intended to be in the presence of Dr Hooker [William Jackson Hooker, British botanist, professor of botany at the University of Glasgow and director of the Glasgow Botanic Gardens], who failed to arrive by 11.30am; the meeting took place in the secretary's room; Lindley insisted that Douglas's course was improper, leading to 'inevitable bad consequences'; there could be no reason for his [Douglas's] complaints, but the Council did have reason to complain because of the absence of his long-promised journal, unarranged plants and the refusal to complete his collections; Douglas's remarks that Joseph Sabine, Mr Barnard [Edward Barnard, vice-secretary of the Horticultural Society of London] and other persons were not his friends were unacceptable and would not be tolerated, as they had done everything to assist him; Lindley suspected Douglas had concealed motives for this intimidation; in his defence Douglas 'had nothing of importance to say', but reported that he was not aware of having acted improperly towards Sabine, that he had not refused to complete his papers, and that he had been unable to work after his return and it was not for lack of will or idleness, 'and much more of the same kind'; Hooker arrived afterwards, and Lindley gave him the Council minutes to read and to affirm that 'it ought to be in every respect satisfactory to Mr Douglas'; Lindley accused Douglas of being dissatisfied, and having a distorted view of the situation, with no real reason to be hostile towards Sabine; Hooker agreed that Douglas should be grateful for all the assistance given to him; Lindley 'told Dr Hooker what happened about the specimens etc on Tuesday morning, which Dr Hooker said was very improper'; Douglas, 'who seemed much softened', admitted to having been wrong, and said there should in the future be no further cause for complaint by the Society. Signed by T. Goode

Extent

4 page document (1 sheet)

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)