Text transcribed of the information board (which itself credits the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography):
Thomas Fairchild was born in May 1667. In 1690 he established himself as a nurseryman and florist at Hoxton in the parish of St Leonard, Shoreditch, London. In 1704 he received the freedom of the Clothworkers' Company and he also took up the freedom of the City in the Worshipful Company of Gardeners.
In the 18th century Fairchild’s gardens, known as the City Gardens, were said to have extended from the west end of Ivy Lane to the New North Road {see * below}. They were popular as much for their attractive location, as for the many curious plants growing there. The vineyard was one of the last to be cultivated in England. Fairchild was probably responsible for introducing the catalpa flowering plant and was one of the first to grow bananas in England. He corresponded with the father of modern ecology, Carl Linnaeus, and in 1719 was the first person to produce an artificial hybrid of the Caryophyllaceae family: Dianthus barbatus, a cross between a sweet William and a carnation pink, known as ‘Fairchild’s mule’.
He published ‘The City Gardener’ in 1722, describing the types of trees, plants, shrubs, and flowers which would thrive in London. He stated that pear trees still bore excellent fruit in the Barbican, Aldersgate, and Bishopsgate areas, that in Leicester Fields there was a vine producing good grapes every year, and that figs and mulberries throve very well in the city. He was concerned with smoke pollution and the problems caused by this in London. He suggested flowers suitable for growing in city squares, courtyards, and balconies, and also listed suitable houseplants.
In 1725 he became a founder member of the London-based Society of Gardeners. The Society produce a ‘Catalogue of Exotic and Domestic Trees and Shrubs’, copiously illustrated by Jacob Van Huysum.
Fairchild died on 10 October 1729 in Hoxton. At his wish he was buried in Poor’s Ground, St Leonard’s Churchyard – where you are now standing. This space is called Hackney Road Recreation Ground and is also known as Fairchild’s Garden.
2022: Spitalfield's Life post: "Thomas Fairchild, Gardener of Hoxton".
* We've tried to understand where Fairchild's City Gardens were. The description "from the west end of Ivy Lane to the New North Road" is not a long distance at all, just the length of Mintern Street, 0.2 mile. Ivy Lane is now Ivy Street. New North Road was constructed 1812-1822 so that description has been updated from something else. This 1745 map of Shoreditch shows the whole area mainly fields (owned by "Harvey Esq.") with only the area to the east cultivated as market gardens.
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