Of these premises, containing three acres, one rood, the first lease was taken by the Company in the year 1673, for the term of 61 years, at a ground rent of £5 per annum. Mr. Evelyn thus mentions a visit he paid it:—“1685, August 7th, I went to see Mr. Watts, keeper of the Apothecaries’ garden of simples at Chelsea, where there is a collection of innumerable rarities of that sort particularly; besides many rare annuals, the true-bearing Jesuits’ Bark, which had done such wonders in quartan agues. What was very ingenious was the subterranean heat, conveyed by a stove under the conservatory, all vaulted with bricks, so as he has the doors and windows open in the hardest frosts, secluding all the snow.” Mr. Watts was succeeded by Mr. Doody, who enjoyed considerable eminence as a botanist, and he continued to superintend it till 1717, when the celebrated Petiver was appointed, who had officiated as demonstrator of plants since 1709. He accumulated so large a collection of natural history, that, some time before his death, Sir Hans Sloane is said to have offered him £4000 for it. After his death, Sir Hans Sloane purchased it, and it went eventually to the British Museum.
Sir Hans Sloane granted the freehold of these premises, in 1722, upon conditions that the Company should pay a quit rent of £5 per annum for ever, and employ the same as a Physic Garden; that the Company should deliver to the Royal Society fifty specimens, the growth of the garden, till the number should amount to three thousand.
It was here that Sir Hans Sloane first studied his favourite science; and he continued a friend to this establishment, continually enriching it with scarce and curious plants, besides contributing largely towards the building, &c. As a tribute of gratitude the Company of Apothecaries employed the celebrated Rysbrach on a marble statue of their benefactor, which stands in the middle of the garden. He is represented in a Doctor’s gown, with a full-bottomed peruke, and a roll in his right hand. It displays much dignity, and conveys a most pleasing impression of the learned person whom it represents. On the north side of the pedestal is the following inscription:—“In honour and perpetuation of the memory of Sir Hans Sloane, Bart., an eminent physician, and great encourager of the science of botany, this statue was erected by the Company of Apothecaries of London, 1733.” On the west side, “They being sensible how necessary that branch of science is to the faithful discharging the duty of their profession, with grateful hearts and general consent, ordered this statue to be erected in the year of our Lord 1733, that their successors and posterity may never forget their common benefactor. Placed here in the year 1737.” There is another inscription, similar in purport, on the south side of the pedestal.