 In 1861, he was working at Burghley House in Peterborough as a servant in the household of Brownlow Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Exeter.Little else is known of Chesterton's early life until early 1870, when, as a valet to a gentleman who was travelling through South America, he wrote to Sir Harry Veitch from Chile stating that he had a passion for orchids and had gathered a substantial collection but needed advice on how to pack them in order to bring them back to England.Veitch replied immediately and arranged for Chesterton to meet one of his shipping agents in South America who would demonstrate the proper methods of packing the plants in order that they could be safely conveyed thousands of miles by sea, through various climates and greatly varying temperatures.