Joseph Sabine

Joseph Sabine FRS (6 June 1770 – 24 January 1837) was an English lawyer, naturalist and writer on horticulture.

Life and work

Sabine was born into a prominent Anglo-Irish family in Tewin, Hertfordshire, the eldest son of Joseph Sabine. His younger brother was Sir Edward Sabine.

Sabine practiced law until 1808, when he was appointed Inspector General of Taxes, a position he held until 1835. He had a lifelong interest in natural history and was an original fellow of the Linnean Society, elected on 7 November 1779.

He was honorary secretary of the Royal Horticultural Society from 1810 to 1830, and treasurer, and received their gold medal for organising the accounts left in a state of disarray by Richard Anthony Salisbury. The society's gardens at Hammersmith, then Chiswick, were established under his guidance. He sent David Douglas and others to collect specimens, and initiated local societies as extensions of the society. He contributed around forty papers for their Transactions, on garden flowers and vegetables. His management of the accounts led to large debts, and after a threat of censure by a committee he resigned in 1830.

Joseph Sabine (British Army officer)

General Joseph Sabine (c. 1661 – 24 October 1739) was a British general and Member of Parliament.

Military career

Sabine was commissioned into Ingoldsby's Regiment of Foot (later the Royal Welch Fusiliers) in 1689. He transferred to Charles Herbert's Regiment in 1691.

In 1695, during the Nine Years' War, he fought at the Siege of Namur.

He subsequently served in Flanders throughout the War of Spanish Succession, commanding his Regiment at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704, at the Battle of Oudenarde in 1708 and then at the Siege of Lille later that year.

He was given command of the Citadel at Ghent where he had to put down a mutiny in 1712. Then in 1716 he commanded a Brigade sent to confront the Pretender's Army at Perth. Later that year he became Commander of the British Army throughout Scotland.

In 1719 he was appointed Governor of Berwick and of Holy Island, He entered Parliament in 1727 as member for Berwick-upon-Tweed, representing that constituency until 1734. He was promoted to General in 1730, and was subsequently appointed Governor of Gibraltar; he died there on 24 October 1739.