Robert James Petre, 8th Baron Petre

Robert James Petre, 8th Baron Petre (3 June 1713 – 2 July 1742) was a renowned horticulturist and a British peer.

Lord Petre was the son of Robert Petre, 7th Baron Petre (1689–1713) and his wife Catherine Walmesley (1697 – 31 January 1785), heiress of the Walmesley family of Lancashire. Petre was born three months after his father's death and spent his childhood at Ingatestone Hall, instead of at Thorndon Hall, the family seat, as his grandmother was still in residence there.

He developed an interest in botany and horticulture as a child, and by his teenage years was friends with some of the most eminent botanists, horticulturists and landscapers of the day, including; Philip Miller, Keeper of the Chelsea Physic Garden, Philip Southcote, a leading pioneer of landscape design, and Peter Collinson, the Quaker Haberdasher turned horticulturist who was to remain a lifelong friend and colleague. In 1727, when he was 14, he received, as a Christmas gift from Ralph Howard, one of his mother’s suitors, a specially made pruning knife and saw, which, it is recorded, was “well taken”.

Robert’s interest in botany and horticulture was practical as well as academic. By 1729, it seems that, at least in part, he had taken over the management of his grandmother’s gardens at Thorndon. The old lady herself evidently had a keen interest in horticulture, growing orange trees, ‘jesamines’ and myrtles in her greenhouses. In 1732 released from guardianship, his mother handed over to him by special permission the family estates. Now in complete control of Ingatestone and Thorndon Halls, Robert was able to give full expression to his enthusiasms and immediately embarked on an ambitious plan to remodel both the house and the park, which had been held in Trust for him since his father’s death.

...
Wikipedia