John Reeves (senior) (May 1, 1774 Westham - March 22, 1856 Clapham), Emglish naturalist, tea inspector in Canton.
[From
British Naturalists in Qing China, 2004, by Fa-Ti Fan, p. 164-5:]
John Reeves (1774-1856). Fellow of the Horticultural Society (FHS), FLS, Fellow of the Zoological Society of London (FZS), Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). Tea inspector at the EIC in Canton, 1812-1831. Collected plants for Joseph Banks and the Horticultural Society. Supervised Chinese artists to draw natural history drawings. Most important British naturalist in China before the Opium War...
[From
History of European Botanical Discoveries in China, 1898, by Emil Bretschneider, p. 256-7:] John Reeves was born May 1st, 1774..of Westham, near London...hina as Assistant and subsequently became Chief Inspector of Tea in the Comp. establishment in Canton. He generally resided at Macao, but during the tea season lived at Canton....From the time of his return to England, in 1831, he resided at Clapham, where he died, 22nd March 1856....From the time of his arrival...he devoted his leisure to investigating the resources of the country and to the pursuit of various branches of science, making it his principal object to procure specimens of the natural productions and transmit them to England...His principal correspondent...was Sir Joseph Banks....he contributed largely to English horticulture and to the Horticultural Society of London in particular: not only by his own direct shipments but also by collecting plants during the spring and summer, establishing them well in pots, previous to the shipping season, and then commending them to the care of the captains of the Comp.'s ships, to whom he was also always able to recommend the most desirable palnts for transportation to England, and to whom he succeeded in communicating the enthusiasm which animated himself.....He was either the immediate or indirect source from which we derived he Chinese Azaleas, Camellias,
Moutans, Chrysanthemums,
Roses and number less other treasures, which have been for so many years the glory of English collections. Not a Company's ship at that time sailed for Europe without her decks being decorated with the little portable greenhouses which preceded the present Wardian cases....The Hort. Soc. of London is indebted to J. Reeves for a fine collection of coloured drawings of Chinese ornamental plants, executed in his own house under his superintendence by Chinese draughtsmen.....
John Russell Reeves...like his father a naturalist and collector of plants...born in 1804, was resident in Canton for thirst years of his life...died at Wimbledon, Surryey, 1 May 1877
[From
Tea-scented Roses, 1975, by Arthur Wyatt, p. 38-39:] Sir Abraham's cousin, Alexander Hume, was in charge of the English "factory", or trading post as we should now term it, at Canton. Through Alexander, and more directly, the East India Company's inspector of tea, John Reeves (1778-1856), the Humes had received several consignments of plants during the first decade of the nineteenth century. The consignment of rose plants which Reeves had procured for them from the Fa Tee Nurseries near Canton in 1808 was probably the most important of all.....Parks set out in 1823, met Reeves and was full of praise for the kindness and advice the experienced plantsman offered.
