Dr Robert Uvedale (1642–1722) was an English cleric teacher and horticulturist. He ran a grammar and boarding school north of London, took part in botanical exchanges, and published as a classical scholar.

Life

Son of Robert Uvedale of Westminster, he was born in the parish of St. Margaret's, Westminster, on 25 May 1642. He was educated at St. Peter's College, Westminster, under

Richard Busby Richard Busby (; 22 September 1606 – 6 April 1695) was an English Anglican priest who served as head master of Westminster School for more than fifty-five years. Among the more illustrious of his pupils were Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke, Rob ...

, having probably as contemporaries

John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism". Considered one of ...

John Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the p ...

and Leonard Plukenet. At the funeral of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three ...

in 1658 Uvedale is said to have snatched one of the escutcheons from the

bier A bier is a stand on which a corpse, coffin, or casket containing a corpse is placed to lie in state or to be carried to the grave.''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' (American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., New York, ...

, which was preserved in his family. In April 1659 Uvedale was elected queen's scholar of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, his name being then registered as Udall. He was elected Fellow of Trinity College in 1664, and is said to have been first a divinity fellow, and afterwards a law fellow. Between 1663 and 1665 Uvedale became master of

Enfield Grammar School Enfield Grammar School (abbreviated to EGS; also known as Enfield Grammar) is a boys' Comprehensive school and sixth form with academy status, founded in 1558, situated in Enfield Town in the London Borough of Enfield in North London. Histor ...

Enfield, Middlesex Enfield is a large town in north London, England, north of Charing Cross. It had a population of 156,858 in 2018. It includes the areas of Botany Bay, Brimsdown, Bulls Cross, Bullsmoor, Bush Hill Park, Clay Hill, Crews Hill, Enfield High ...

, and took a lease of the manor-house commonly called Queen Elizabeth's Palace (later the Palace School), in order to take boarders. During the Great Plague of 1665 the whole of Uvedale's household escaped the disease, owing, it was thought, to their inhaling the vapour of vinegar poured over a red-hot brick. In 1676 it was made a ground of complaint against Uvedale that he neglected the grammar school for his boarders, his opponents making the further charge against him of having obtained an appointment as an actor and comedian at the Theatre Royal from the lord chamberlain to protect himself from the writ of execution. Among his pupils were

Henry Hare, 3rd Baron Coleraine Henry Hare, 3rd Baron Coleraine FRS; FSA (10 May 1693 – 1 August 1749) was an English antiquary, peer politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1730 to 1734. Life Born in Betchworth, Surrey, 10 May 1693, he was the eldest son of ...

; Francis Hastings, 10th Earl of Huntingdon; Robert Needham, 8th Viscount Kilmorey, who died at the school in 1717; Sir Jeremy Sambroke, William Sloane, and another nephew of

Sir Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector, with a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British Mu ...

. Uvedale, who had proceeded M.A. in 1666, became LL.D. of Cambridge in 1682. In 1696 his neighbour, Archbishop

John Tillotson John Tillotson (October 1630 – 22 November 1694) was the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury from 1691 to 1694. Curate and rector Tillotson was the son of a Puritan clothier at Haughend, Sowerby, Yorkshire. Little is known of his early youth ...

, appointed Uvedale to the rectory of

Orpington Orpington is a town and area in south east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross. On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, with the chapelry of

St Mary Cray St Mary Cray is an area of South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. Historically it was a market town in the county of Kent. It is located north of Orpington, and south-east of Charing Cross. History The name C ...

, but he appears not to have resided. He died at Enfield on 17 August 1722, and was buried in the parish church.

Horticulture

As a horticulturist Uvedale earned a reputation for his skill in cultivating exotics, being one of the earliest possessors of hothouses in England. In John Nichols's ''Literary Illustrations'' are sixty letters from Uvedale to Richard Richardson of North Bierley, dated between 1695 and 1721, mainly referring to the exchange of plants.

Works

Uvedal was invited to contribute the life of Dion to the translation of

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

, edited by Dryden, Somers, and others, published between 1683 and 1686. Uvedale's portion appeared in 1684.

Legacy

After his death Uvedale's growing plants were mostly sold to

Sir Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leade ...

for his collection at

Houghton Hall Houghton Hall ( ) is a country house in the parish of Houghton in Norfolk, England. It is the residence of David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley. It was commissioned by the ''de facto'' first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Wa ...

. His herbarium, in fourteen thick volumes, forms vols. 302–15 of the Sloane collection. It contains plants not only from Sherard, Richardson, Petiver, Plukenet, Robart, Rand, Dale, Doody, Sloane, and Du Bois, but also from Tournefort, Magnol, Vaillant, and other continental botanists, labelled by Uvedale. Petiver founded a genus Uvedalia in Uvedale's honour, which, however, became Polymnia Uvedalia of Linné, and Robert Brown gave the same name to a genus, '' Uvedalia'', of Australian plants, merged by De Candolle into the genus '' Mimulus'', and resurrected in 2012.

Family

Uvedale married Mary (1656–1740), second daughter of Edward Stephens of Charrington,

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

, granddaughter of

Sir Matthew Hale Sir Matthew Hale (1 November 1609 – 25 December 1676) was an influential English barrister, judge and jurist most noted for his treatise '' Historia Placitorum Coronæ'', or ''The History of the Pleas of the Crown''. Born to a barrister an ...

. By her he had five daughters and three sons: * Robert Uvedale, D.D., fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, vicar of Enfield from 1721 till his death in 1731; *James Uvedale, M.A., rector of

Bishop's Cleeve Bishop's Cleeve is a large village and civil parish in the Borough of Tewkesbury in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham. The village lies at the foot of Cleeve Hill, the highest point in the Cotswolds. Bishop's Cleeve ...

, Gloucestershire; and *Samuel Uvedale, B.A., rector of Barking, Suffolk, and father of Admiral

Samuel Uvedale Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bib ...

, who served with

Lord Rodney Baron Rodney, of Rodney Stoke in the County of Somerset, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1782 for the naval commander Sir George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baronet. He had previously been created a Baronet, of Alresford in ...

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Uvedale, Robert 1642 births 1722 deaths Heads of schools in London 17th-century English botanists 17th-century English educators 18th-century British botanists