John Wedgwood (horticulturist)


John Wedgwood, the eldest son of the potter Josiah Wedgwood, was a partner in the Wedgwood pottery firm 1790–1793 and again 1800–1812.

Life

Wedgwood was educated at Warrington Academy and the University of Edinburgh. Wedgwood had an interest in botany and horticulture, particularly the cultivation of tropical fruit and other exotic plants. He was a founder of the Royal Horticultural Society having suggested the idea in a letter to William Forsyth, head gardener to King George III, written 29 June 1801 and chairing the first meeting of the society on 7 March 1804. He lived in Abergavenny, Wales, and at Kingscote, Gloucestershire.
He was a partner in the Davison and Co. bank in Pall Mall. The Bank failed in 1816, after which time he retired.
Wedgwood married Louisa Jane Allen in 1794. He died in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, in 1844, having had six children, one of whom died young: