 His gardener James Gordon was the first to introduce camellias to commerce, from the nurseries he established after Lord Petre's untimely death in 1743, at Mile End, Essex, near London.With the expansion of the tea trade in the later 18th century, new varieties began to be seen in England, imported through the British East India Company.The Company's John Slater was responsible for the first of the new camellias, double ones, in white and a striped red, imported in 1792.