Thomas Blaikie (11 February 1750 – 19 July 1838) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

botanist and gardener born on Corstorphine Hill, which was at the time just outside

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Career

Between 1775 and 1776 he was tasked by John Fothergill and

William Pitcairn William Pitcairn (9 May 1712 – 25 November 1791) was a Scottish physician and botanist. He was born in Dysart, Fife, the second son of the Revd David Pitcairn. A younger brother was John Pitcairn, who became a British Marine officer and was ...

with travelling the Alps to collect and record rare species of plants. Whilst there he met

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

and travelled with Michel-Gabriel Paccard, who received later fame for achieving the first ascent of Mont Blanc. After briefly returning to Britain, Blaikie worked on the gardens of the Comte de Lauraguais in Normandy, before a failure to pay Blaikie ended his employment. From 1778 Blaikie passed into the employment of the Comte d'Artois, younger brother of Louis XVI and later to become Charles X. Blaikie designed the gardens of Bagatelle, modified by François-Joseph Bélanger to suit French tastes, and oversaw their planting. Whilst continuing to work for the Comte d'Artois, Blaikie created a garden for Sophie Arnould, the renowned opera singer and a lover of Bélanger. In 1780 the

Duc de Chartres Originally, the Duchy of Chartres (''duché de Chartres'') was the ''comté'' de Chartres, a County. The title of comte de Chartres thus became duc de Chartres. This duchy–peerage was given by Louis XIV of France to his nephew, Philippe II ...

, who was later to become the Duc d'Orléans and finally Philippe Égalité, commissioned Blaikie to design some of his gardens including the Winter Garden at the Parc Monceau. The French Revolution financially ruined Blaikie with his previous employers unable to pay him, contracts drying up, his loss of money from rentes on the Hotel de Ville, and in 1792 his house being robbed with 50,000 francs worth of property lost. As a result, he was forced to return to work as a bailiff for the Comte de Lauraguais, whose successor he had similar disputes over pay with following the Restoration. In 1826 Blaikie received a royal pension of 600 francs per annum secured by the new Duc d'Orléans, the future Louis Philippe I. Blaikie died in 1838 in his house on the rue de Vignes in Paris.

References

External links

* http://www.gardenvisit.com/biography/thomas_blaikie {{DEFAULTSORT:Blaikie, Thomas 1750 births 1838 deaths Scientists from Edinburgh Scottish gardeners 18th-century Scottish botanists 19th-century Scottish botanists

Career

See also

References

External links