Área de identidad
Código de referencia
Título
Fecha(s)
- 1769 - 1890 (Criação)
- 1769 - 2018 (Agregación)
Nivel de descripción
Colección
Volumen y soporte
Five boxes, including:
2 printed volumes
3 vellum bound notebooks
17 pieces of correspondence and handwritten notes
4 prints
2 photographs
Área de contexto
Nombre del productor
Historia biográfica
Thomas Blaikie was born in 1751 in Corstorphine, the son of a market gardener. It is suggested he may have been a student gardener at RBGE and possibly then worked at Kew, the Hammersmith nursery and Upton House in East Ham for Dr John Fothergill. He was engaged jointly by Dr Fothergill and Dr William Pitcairn to undertake a plant collecting trip in the Swiss Alps from April to December 1775. In September 1776 James Lee of the Hammersmith Nursery engaged Blaikie to provide plants for the Comte de Lauraguais and he was subsequently employed to work on the Comte’s garden in Normandy. From 1778 he was employed in the gardens at Bagatelle by the Comte D’Artois, the youngest brother of Louis XVI and future Charles X. He also worked at St Leu, Monceau and Le Raincy for the Duc de Chartres (who later became Duc D’Orleans and then Philippe Égalité) and undertook a number of private commissions. It is also thought that he was involved in making alterations to the gardens at Malmaison.
Blaikie is credited with introducing the English style of gardening and British gardeners to France, where his method of grafting came to be known as ‘graffe Blaikie’. He died at his house on the rue de Vignes in Paris in 1838. His diaries covering the period 1775 to 1792 were published in 1931, entitled ‘Diary of a Scotch Gardener at the French Court at the end of the Eighteenth Century’.
Institución archivística
Historia archivística
Blaikie's wife is known to have passed items to a friend, who in turn passed them to the Baynham family (source: 'Thomas Blaikie: The 'Capability' Brown of France 1751-1838' - Taylor, Patricia, 2001)
Origen del ingreso o transferencia
Cynthia Baynham, July 2018
Área de contenido y estructura
Alcance y contenido
The collection dates between 1769 and c2003 and comprises:
- 3 notebooks including financial records, language studies and diaries;
- 17 pieces of correspondence and handwritten notes;
- a printed compendium of Swiss flora;
- a copy of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress;
- 4 prints of notable 18th century French figures; and
- two photographs of items which belonged to Blaikie's family.
Valorización, destrucción y programación
Acumulaciones
Sistema de arreglo
GB 235 BLT 1 – Notebooks
GB 235 BLT 2 – Correspondence
GB 235 BLT 3 – Text books
GB 235 BLT 4 – Images
Área de condiciones de acceso y uso
Condiciones de acceso
Material is open for consultation on appointment with the archivist. (right click, open link in new tab:) https://www.rbge.org.uk/science-and-conservation/library-and-archives/visiting-the-library/
Condiciones
Permission for reproduction is required from RBGE.
Idioma del material
- inglés
- francés
- latín
Escritura del material
Notas sobre las lenguas y escrituras
Características físicas y requisitos técnicos
The material is very fragile, requiring careful handling and the use of gloves for photographs.
Instrumentos de descripción
Área de materiales relacionados
Existencia y localización de originales
Existencia y localización de copias
Unidades de descripción relacionadas
Área de notas
Notas
The collection also includes two frames that previously held two of the images, but have been damaged in transit. There is also a University of West Virginia baseball cap included by the donor.
Identificador/es alternativo(os)
Puntos de acceso
Puntos de acceso por materia
Puntos de acceso por lugar
Puntos de acceso por autoridad
- Lee, James, 1754-1824, gardener (Materia)
Tipo de puntos de acceso
Área de control de la descripción
Identificador de la descripción
Identificador de la institución
Reglas y/o convenciones usadas
Estado de elaboración
Minuta
Nivel de detalle
Parcial
Fechas de creación revisión eliminación
May 2019
Idioma(s)
- inglés
- francés