Beatrix Havergal

Last updated

Beatrix Havergal
Cecil Beaton Photographs- Women's Horticultural College, Waterperry House, Oxfordshire, 1943 DB251.jpg
Havergal in 1943
Born
Grace Beatrix Helen Havergal

(1901-07-07)7 July 1901
Roydon, South Norfolk
Died8 April 1980(1980-04-08) (aged 78)
Woolton Hill, Hampshire
Occupationhorticulturalist

Beatrix Helen Havergal MBE (born Grace Beatrix Helen Havergal, 1901-1980) was an English horticulturist.

Contents

In 1932 Havergal founded Waterperry School of Horticulture, a residential horticultural college for women. When she retired as principal in 1971, Waterperry School of Horticulture closed, though there remain gardens and a nursery there. [1]

Early life and education

Grace Beatrix Helen Havergal was born at Roydon Manor House in 1901, the second of three children born to the Revd. Clement Havergal (1854-1941) and his wife Eveline. She was also the great-niece of composer Frances Ridley Havergal. [2]

The children had a peaceful upbringing despite the fact that their parents' relationship was often strained. In 1902, the family moved to Inkberrow near Redditch, then to Paris where the Rev. Havergal was assistant chaplain to the British Embassy for two years. Then, after a brief period spent at Bagthorpe in c. 1905, he became rector of Brent Eleigh in Suffolk. Havergal, together with her elder sister Frances, attended St Katherine's boarding school in Walmer after 1912, but after her parents divorced in 1914, she and her siblings moved with their mother to Bedford, where they lived at number 13 Sidney Road, and the children attended Bedford High School.

Havergal began working in horticulture after leaving school in 1916, taking on local gardening jobs under the auspices of the Women's War Agricultural Committee. Soon after, her father rejoined the family, and their finances improved sufficiently to allow Havergal to consider training. She ultimately chose to pursue horticulture over music. She subsequently attended the Thatcham Fruit and Flower Farm near Newbury, wherem she graduated in 1920, obtaining the Royal Horticultural Society's certificate with honours.

Horticultural career

Havergal's first professional challenge was to design and create a garden at Cold Ash in Berkshire, where the high quality of her work brought her to the attention of Olive Willis, the headmistress of the nearby Downe House boarding school. Willis invited Havergal to become the school's head gardener, an offer which she accepted. She created six tennis courts at Downe House, which later became known as the Havergal Courts. [2]

Havergal was inspired by Willis to gravitate towards education. Whilst at Downe House, she met the school's housekeeper, Avice Sanders, with whom she would remain partnered for the rest of the latter's life. In 1927, they moved to a cottage in the grounds of Pusey House, Oxfordshire and first began to teach students. [3] With less than £250 at the outset, the school supplemented its income by growing produce, which was sold at Swindon Market. The courses combined theory and practical instruction with high standards of efficiency. This training (radically new at the time), ensured that Havergal's reputation grew substantially.

After Havergal's death Roald Dahl wrote to Quentin Blake describing how Blake's drawing of the character of Miss Trunchbull from his children's novel 'Matilda' should be based on Havergal's stature and dress sense. A copy of this letter is held at the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. The photo Dahl was describing is also there, having been found in his filling cabinet in his writing shed. Dahl and Havergal are likely to have known one another due to their love of horticulture.

Waterperry

In 1932, the school moved to Waterperry House, a small manor house in Waterperry, Oxfordshire, which originally was rented from Magdalene College. Havergal and Sanders purchased it in 1948. [4] All students paid their own fees until 1958, when scholarships were granted by some county councils following recognition by the Board of Education. [2] Havergal's diploma was accepted by the Institute of Parks Administration as one equal to those issued by Kew and Edinburgh. In 1962, it became an appropriate qualification for associate membership of the institute. Havergal was awarded an MBE [5] in 1960 and the Royal Horticultural Society Veitch Memorial Medal and Victoria Medal of Honour in 1965. [2] For many years Havergal won gold medal for her exhibit of Royal Sovereign strawberries at Chelsea Flower Show. [2]

Later life and retirement

Avice Sanders died in 1970. In 1971, with her health waning, Havergal sold the estate, leading to the closure of the school. She lived from then on in a cottage in the grounds. She died at Tower House, Woolton Hill, in 1980, while visiting her brother. She was buried in the churchyard of St Mary's Church in Waterperry on 14 April. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beatrix Potter</span> British childrens writer and illustrator (1866–1943)

Helen Beatrix Potter was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit, which was her first commercially published work in 1902. Her books, including 23 Tales, have sold more than 250 million copies. An entrepreneur, Potter was a pioneer of character merchandising. In 1903, Peter Rabbit was the first fictional character to be made into a patented stuffed toy, making him the oldest licensed character.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roald Dahl</span> British writer and poet (1916–1990)

Roald Dahl was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide. He has been called "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beatrix Farrand</span> American landscape architect (1872–1959)

Beatrix Cadwalader Farrand was an American landscape gardener and landscape architect. Her career included commissions to design about 110 gardens for private residences, estates and country homes, public parks, botanic gardens, college campuses, and the White House. Only a few of her major works survive: Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden on Mount Desert, Maine, the restored Farm House Garden in Bar Harbor, the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden, and elements of the campuses of Princeton, Yale, and Occidental.

Chantal Sophia "Tessa" Dahl is a British author and former actress. She is the daughter of British-Norwegian author Roald Dahl and American actress Patricia Neal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roedean School</span> Girls school in Roedean near Brighton, East Sussex, England

Roedean School is a private boarding and day school founded in 1885 in Roedean Village on the outskirts of Brighton, East Sussex, England, and governed by Royal Charter. It is for girls aged 11 to 18. The campus is situated near the Sussex Downs, on a cliff overlooking Brighton Marina and the English Channel. It is widely regarded as the "Eton College" of all-girls boarding schools in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waterperry</span> Human settlement in England

Waterperry is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Waterperry with Thomley, in the South Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire and close to the county boundary with Buckinghamshire, England. It is beside the River Thame, about 7 miles (11 km) east of Oxford. The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin is partly Saxon and has notable medieval stained glass, sculptural memorials, Georgian box pews and memorial brasses. In 1961 the parish had a population of 161. On 1 April 1994 the parish was abolished and merged with Thomley to form "Waterperry with Thomley".

The Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH) is awarded to British horticulturists resident in the United Kingdom whom the Royal Horticultural Society Council considers deserving of special honour by the Society.

Frances Mary Perry MBE VMH was an English gardener, administrator, writer and broadcaster.

Penelope Hobhouse MBE, née Chichester-Clark, is a British garden writer, designer, lecturer and television presenter.

Olive Margaret Willis was an English educationist and headmistress. She founded Downe House School and was its head for nearly forty years, from 1907 to 1946.

Valerie Finnis (1924–2006) was a well-known British photographer, lecturer, teacher and gardener.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellen Willmott</span> English horticulturist (1858–1934)

Ellen Ann Willmott was an English horticulturist. She was an influential member of the Royal Horticultural Society, and a recipient of the first Victoria Medal of Honour, awarded to British horticulturists living in the UK by the society, in 1897. Willmott was said to have cultivated more than 100,000 species and cultivars of plants and sponsored expeditions to discover new species. Inherited wealth allowed Willmott to buy large gardens in France and Italy to add to the garden at her home, Warley Place in Essex. More than 60 plants have been named after her or her home, Warley Place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Domoney</span> Horticulturist and TV gardening presenter

David Martin Domoney, C Hort. FCI Hort is an English Chartered Horticulturist and celebrity gardener. He co-presents the TV gardening programme Love Your Garden, alongside Alan Titchmarsh, and is the resident gardener on ITV1's This Morning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Spiller</span> English horticulturist and teacher (1924–2019)

Mary Rose Spiller was an English horticulturist and teacher who devoted her life to the dissemination of successful horticulture, particularly by women, in Britain. She wrote two gardening books: Growing Fruit (1980), and Weeds, Search and Destroy (1985).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waterperry Gardens</span>

Waterperry Gardens are gardens with a museum in the village of Waterperry, near Wheatley, east of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England.

Pamela Schwerdt MBE was the joint head gardener at Sissinghurst Castle Garden from 1959 to 1990, and a pioneering horticulturalist.

William Gregor MacKenzie ALS VMH (1904–1995) was a gardener and horticultural curator born in Scotland, where his father was head gardener at Ballimore, near Loch Fyne in Argyllshire.

Olivia Twenty Dahl was the oldest child of the author Roald Dahl and the American actress Patricia Neal. She died at the age of seven from encephalitis caused by measles, before a vaccine against the disease had been developed. Roald Dahl's books James and the Giant Peach (1961) and The BFG (1982) were dedicated to Olivia. As a result of her death, her father Roald became an advocate for vaccination and wrote the pamphlet "Measles: A Dangerous Illness" in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Ballard</span> British horticulturist

Grace Helen Ballard, also known as Grace Helen Wilson and born Grace Helen Ranken, was a British horticulturist known for her hellebore hybrids.

Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse is a Sky original made-for-television drama film inspired by the true story of a six-year-old Roald Dahl meeting his idol Beatrix Potter. It was written by Abigail Wilson and directed by David Kerr starring Dawn French as Beatrix Potter, Rob Brydon as William Heelis and Jessica Hynes as Sofie Dahl.

References

  1. ↑ 'Waterperry Gardens, Oxfordshire', in Julia Brittain, Plants, People, and Places, 2006.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Havergal, (Grace) Beatrix Helen (1901–1980), horticulturist and teacher". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48828 . Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  3. ↑ "About - Waterperry Gardens | Beatrix Havergal | Horticultural". Waterperry Gardens. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  4. ↑ "Unmounted slide of Beatrix Havergal and Waterperry students". RHS Digital Collections. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  5. ↑ "No. 41909". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1960. p. 17.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.