Henry Chesterton

Joseph Henry Chesterton (c.1840 – 26 January 1883) was a plant collector who was sent by James Veitch & Sons to search for orchids in South America with much success.

Little is known of Chesterton's early life until early 1870, when, as a valet to a gentleman who was travelling through South America, he wrote to Harry Veitch from Chile stating that he had a passion for orchids and had gathered a substantial collection but needed advice on how to pack them in order to bring them back to England. Veitch replied immediately and arranged for Chesterton to meet one of his shipping agents in South America who would demonstrate the proper methods of packing the plants in order that they could be safely conveyed thousands of miles by sea, through various climates and greatly varying temperatures.

Nothing more was heard of Chesterton for some time, until, he arrived unannounced at Veitch Nurseries' Chelsea, London headquarters. Harry Veitch and John Heal, the head nurseryman, rushed to meet him and were presented with a collection of Orchids,"so carefully packed and well looked after, that they arrived in the best possible condition". Veitch immediately bought all of Chesterton's plants and offered him employment as a traveller in order to obtain more new finds as orchid mania was reaching its height. After a period spent studying and working in the Veitch orchid houses he set off back to South America.

Chesterton was given specific instructions to locate and bring back to England "the much-talked-of and long-desired "scarlet Odontoglossum" (Miltoniopsis vexillaria) which several collectors, including David Bowman, had previously located but had been unable to send live samples back to England, with samples often arriving at Chelsea "dead or in a dying condition". Chesterton eventually located the plant in the northern Cordillera Occidental in Colombia. According to the account in Hortus Veitchii:

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