Thomas Blaikie (gardener)

Thomas Blaikie (11 February 1750 – 19 July 1838) was a Scottish botanist and gardener born on Corstorphine Hill, which was at the time just outside Edinburgh.

Whilst there he met Voltaire and travelled with Michel-Gabriel Paccard, who received later fame for achieving the first ascent of Mont Blanc.

[3] Whilst continuing to work for the Comte d'Artois, Blaikie created a garden for Sophie Arnould, the renowned opera singer and a lover of Bélanger.

The French Revolution financially ruined Blaikie with his previous employers unable to pay him, contracts drying up, his loss of money from rentes on the Hotel de Ville, and in 1792 his house being robbed with 50,000 francs worth of property lost.

As a result, he was forced to return to work as a bailiff for the Comte de Lauraguais, whose successor he had similar disputes over pay with following the Restoration.