Letter 0873

Rawdon thanks Sloane for all the trouble he took in providing the help she needed with her sister’s plants. She discusses the possibility of selling them. She mentions that Sloane sent her sister a microscope several years before. Brilliana Rawdon (1688-1712) was the Daughter of Sir Gorge Rawdon, 1st Baronet and the sister of Sir Arthur Rawdon of Moira, Ireland. Brilliana and Sir Arthur were two of George’s six children. Sir Arthur inherited the title upon their father’s death in 1683 and was a member of parliament when he inherited the castle at Moira. He rebuilt it and expanded the gardens with the help of his friend Sir Hans Sloane who in 1690 gave him 400 species of seeds from the West Indies with instructions of how to grow them (‘Irish Bomfords 1617-present (1.9.3)’ www.bomford.net/IrishBomfords/Chapters/Chapter1/Chapter1.htm; Rev. Canon C.R.J. Rudd, Moira: A Historical Handbook, from: web.archive.org/web/20110615212410/http://www.lisburn.com/books/moira/moira1.html).