Ian Foster is familiar with the places, plants

and stories from Sloane’s Natural History

of Jamaica, having lived on the island for a
number of years. But he was surprised to
discover his own connection with the intrepid
plant hunter. Here he recounts his personal
story and recent discoveries as he revisits
Jamaica, the land of his ancestors…

CELEBR ATING

from humble beginnings to one

of the world’s greatest collectors

I
t was during a visit to the Natural History Museum in 2007
that I first stumbled across my personal link to the collector,
physician and scientist, Sir Hans Sloane. On beginning my
research on Sloane, I soon realised that while there had been
much written about his collecting, little had been documented
about the personal details of his long life – he lived until he was 92.
So I chose to approach my study of Sloane from the lesser-known
aspects of his life and to look into those things that were personal to
him. This led me to Sloane’s Natural History of Jamaica, published in
two volumes in 1707 and 1725.

Family connections
In the centre of this book I found a map of the island. To my surprise
I noticed my last name – Foster – given to an area on the map, which
turned out to be a plantation. Its location was in the same area I had
heard described by my father and grandfather as the place in Jamaica
where my family had originated from.
I had been taught that I’m descended from Maroons – a group of
Africans who had escaped slavery on the plantations and lived in
a remote location in defiance of colonial rule. The map seemed to
confirm that story, and as I read the text further I discovered that
Sloane was acquainted with the owner of the plantation – he had
brought specimens to Sloane in London from his father, who was
Sloane’s personal friend. Further research revealed that the father

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 In the centre of this book I found a map
Overleaf The Sloane I also found the ruined church of Peter
Sloane in Jamaica Herbarium in the
Museum’s Darwin Martyr, which was already a ruin when
Centre. Right The name Sloane visited it, having been abandoned
>> In 1687, Hans Sloane was a
young man just beginning a career
of the island. To my surprise I noticed Jamaica originates from
the language of the
indigenous Taino people
by the earlier Spanish settlers who fled the
north of the island for reasons the ever
in medicine. He was invited to go
to Jamaica as personal doctor to
the island’s new English governor,
my last name, Foster … and means land of wood
and springs. Below
The map from Natural
curious Sloane was keen to find out. It is one
of the oldest existing remnants of European-
the 2nd Duke of Albemarle. History of Jamaica styled buildings in the Americas and Sloane’s
showing Ian Foster’s last record of it is a clear indication of his
His journey would have huge name in red.
influence on his life and indeed understanding of its historical value.
the nation. On my return to London, I spent the
>> Sloane stayed in Jamaica for anniversary of Sloane’s birth in the Museum’s
15 months and spent all his free Sloane Herbarium. Among his thousands of
time exploring the island collecting specimens was a large leather bound folio
hundreds of specimens. He
book with the name Barham boldly displayed
continued collecting throughout
on the spine. Inside were the dried and
his life and his collection formed
the basis of the British Museum, pressed plants collected by Henry Barham –
from which the Natural History some of which may have grown on the very
Museum was later founded. Among plantation my ancestors were connected to.
the specimens he collected was I felt grateful to Dr Sloane for his curiosity,
the first cocoa plant, Theobroma which enabled me to solve mysteries about
cacao, regarded as the oldest type my own past, an unexpected bonus while
specimen in existence. studying this great man’s life.
>> Back in England, he made a
careful list of all his plants. Later
he wrote about his discoveries
in his book called Voyage to the
Islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves,
St Christophers and Jamaica, with
the Natural History of the Herbs
and Trees, Four-footed Beasts,
Fishes, Birds, Insects, Reptiles,
&c. Of the last of those ISLANDS,
otherwise known as Natural
History of Jamaica.
>> When Sloane arrived in
Jamaica, the island had been a
British colony for fewer than 20
years. Before that, it had been a
Spanish colony for more than 250
years. The Spanish invaded the
island in 1509 and more or less
wiped out the island’s first people,
the Tainos (or Arawaks) who came about the author
from South America.
>> The Spanish brought people
from Africa to Jamaica as slaves to Ian is currently involved in a number
was the man described by Sloane as the for a number of unique achievements that a rare and dangerous adventure from which employer is remembered in Monk Street. of projects in Jamaica. These include
work on plantations of tobacco,
‘ingenious Dr Barham’ and was a major have influenced the modern world. Yet his many would not return, but Sloane was I located Sixteen Mile Walk, the property
coffee and sugar cane. Many DNA analysis of cocoa specimens
escaped when the British arrived contributor to the second volume of Natural name remains hardly known outside Chelsea keen to take the opportunity to do so, even he visited often and which was once known
History of Jamaica. Sloane nominated him in London, where many street names bear though he already had good prospects as a as the finest plantation on the island. His
and an overview of Jamaica’s cocoa
and lived as free people, but the
for election to the Fellowship of the Royal witness to his influence on the area. budding young physician in London. Many friend, the adventurer William Dampier, crop in collaboration with Reading
British brought in thousands more.
>> Sugar was in great demand in Society and was his host when he visited Now, in this 350th anniversary year, of the things he described and observed are had been employed there as a labourer in University. He is also working with
Europe, but growing and making it Chelsea in 1717. there is an opportunity to explore his still very relevant today and his work is a earlier times and after Sloane’s marriage to conservationists to preserve and
was very hard work. Local people This discovery was hugely exciting – like achievements. The most effective way to valuable point of reference in the study Elizabeth Rose, Sloane became part-owner protect animal and plant species
often refused to do it, so the finding the proverbial treasure map – and as highlight the relevance of Sloane’s work of ecology and nature. of the estate, although never returned to see referred to by Sloane, including the
British filled the labour gap by I began to understand Sloane and the time is by using his data and observations to it. It is now divided into smaller prosperous endangered Jamaican iguana and
continuing the trade in enslaved
he lived in, I was encouraged to pursue my continue his work today on sustainability, In his footsteps farms and nearby I found cocoa plants yellow boa, both of which Sloane
people from West Africa. Jamaica
research in the knowledge that this was no ecology, conservation, climate change, food I recently returned to Jamaica to trace growing ‘as if sponte’ – to mean feral and attempted to bring back to England.
became the sugar capital of the
world, and many British people longer simply history… but also my story. value and cultural and social development as some of Sloane’s movements and visit the uncultivated in living memory according Ian has almost completed a biography
made vast fortunes. Sloane well as the arts, design and science. places he talked about in Natural History to locals. It was fascinating to think these
of Sir Hans Sloane, which he hopes to
himself later married the wealthy Sloane the adventurer Unlike many of his contemporaries, Sloane of Jamaica. plants may be related to Sloane’s original
From humble beginnings in Ireland, Sloane had journeyed to new countries and seen The house where he lived in Spanish Town 300-year-old cocoa specimen that he
publish in the near future.
widow of a plantation owner.
rose to great acclaim and was responsible things for himself. A voyage to Jamaica was is long since gone, but the name of his collected in the area.

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