Julie’s
talk last month gave us a wonderful insight into the lives of
gardeners on the grand estates of the past, the hierarchy of the garden
workforce reflected that of the house servants. The head gardener was
the equivalent to the head butler, this gave the head gardener the best
accommodation. Julie is a freelance author and lecturer with a great
interest and knowledge in historic garden estates, she provided some
amazing old photos of gardeners and their homes, along with some
interesting adverts from newspapers in the 1800s.
Gardening
positions on the estates often required the wives and children to also
do work. Gardening positions were dominated by men during this time, we
were shown one advert which gave details of the weeding which the women
were expected to do along with household chores. A campaigner for women
to be involved in gardening was Frances Garnet Wolseley, the daughter of
Sir Wolseley, she rejected her upper class background in favour of
gardening. One of her famous books is Gardening for Women which contains
brilliant illustrations for the period.
The head gardener’s home was of a high standard with all the mod cons of time, however the junior gardeners were not so fortunate. Junior staff often lived in the Bothy which was very basic and could be cold and damp. Junior staff would keep warm by sleeping in the hot houses during the winter, although their sleep would be interrupted as the boilers needed to be maintained throughout the night. Julie’s talk was a fascinating looking to gardeners of the past.
