detail from Thomas Rowlandson, The Old Bailey, from The Microcosm of London, 1808. © London Lives
This post is a continuation of last week’s, and is the second half of the account of the trial of Charles Fairfield in 1795 on charges of the theft of rare plants from Daniel Grimwood’s nursery in Kensington…. and then I’ve also taken the liberty of adding some modern plant theft counterparts.
Witnesses testified Fairfield had been seen going into the hothouses shortly before some rare exotic plants were discovered to be missing. Yet even though the missing plants had apparently been found in his greenhouse was that enough to convict him or could his lawyer find a way of getting him acquitted?
They certainly tried. Expert witnesses debated whether a gardener could recognize a plant they had grown, and for how long, to determine if the plants found in Fairfield’s garden could be identified with complete certainty. Were these particular plants rare enough to make them distinctive and recognisable?
Read on to find out…and to discover whether the jury thought Fairchild was a plant thief>
The Garden History Blog 
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