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Robert Fortune (1812-1880)
Born in Berwickshire, Scotland, on the 16th of September,
1812, Robert Fortune was typical of many plant hunters in his day;
a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a surly personality. Little
is known of Fortune's early years, and in his life he made no effort
to share this information.
It is known that after his regular schooling he apprenticed in a nearby
garden under a one Mr. Buchan. He proved to be an excellent student
and eventually secured a position at the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh
in 1840 where he trained under the formidable William McNabb. Known
as a hard taskmaster McNabb was nonetheless impressed with Fortune
and in 1842, when Fortune applied for the position of superintendent
of the Hothouse Department at the Horticultural Society's garden at
Chiswick, London, it was McNabb's support that secured the position
for him.
A few months later Fortune applied for, and was granted, the position
of the Society's Collector in China. He was sent on his journey with
little pay and an interesting list of requests. He was to find any
blue flowered peonies, to find tea plants, and to investigate the peaches
growing in the Emperor's private garden, among other things.
On July 6th, 1843 Fortune arrived in Hong Kong after four
months at sea and immediately set about looking for plants to fill
his Wardian cases with. Over
a period of three years, Fortune made many excursions to the northern
provinces in China and encountered many harrowing adventures along
the way. From angry mobs caught up in a xenophobic frenzy, to killer
storms in the Yellow Sea, to pirates on the Yangtse River, he managed
to survive them all.
He eventfully became proficient enough with speaking Mandarin that
he was able to adopt the local dress and move among the populous largely
unnoticed. By shaving his head and adopting a ponytail, this rather
gruff Scotsman was able to effectively blend in. So well in fact, that
he able to enter the forbidden city of Souchow (now Wuhsien) unchallenged.
Fortune made several shipments back to England during the three years
of his first mission, proving the great value of Dr
Ward's invention.
Upon his return to London in May 1846, Robert Fortune published his
journals in the book 'Three Years' Wanderings in the Northern Provinces
of China'.
 His
second journey to China was for the East India company to obtain the
finest tea plants to establish plantations in India. Once again he
disguised himself as Chinese 'from a distant province', hired an interpreter,
and headed into the tea growing regions of the country. His efforts
resulted in the shipment of well over 20,000 plants and seedlings,
in Wardian cases, to the Himalayas. Thus was established the tea industry
in India.
Fortune made two more trips to China (1853-56, 1858-59) and one trip
to Japan (1860-62), and was responsible for the introduction of over
120 species of plants to western gardens. His publications include:
- 'Three Years' Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China' (1847)
- 'A Journey to the Tea Countries of China' (1852)
- 'A Residence Among the Chinese' (1857)
- 'Yedo and Peking' (1863)
He lived comfortably on the proceeds of his book sales and enjoyed
a long retirement. He died in 1880.
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