Discover: The founder of English Gardening History
Auteur :
Kimberly Glassman
Discover Alicia Margaret Tyssen Amherst The founder of English Garden History, author of the first scholarly account of English gardening history, “History of Gardening in England” (1895), and the first woman to receive the Freedom of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners.
Alicia Margaret Tyssen Amherst (1685-1941) was born into a privileged family of seven children in Dorset. Whilst her father was preoccupied with his position as Conservative member of Parliament for West Norfolk, he curated a wonderfully extensive library full of rare books and manuscripts that instilled in the young Amherst a love of history. Her mother Margaret Susan Mitford was an avid gardener and gave Amherst her first gardening plot at the tender age of 10. That same year, she planted her first rose bush. Amherst cared for her very own semi-circular flower bed, which was not small by any means, at 40 feet wide. Since both her parents were keen Egyptologists and the family travelled frequently to France, Spain, and Italy on their way to Egypt.
Amherst became the first scholar to publish on English gardening history and, in so doing, she entered the history books she so loved alongside fellow Victorian horticulturalists Gertrude Jekyll and Ellen Willmott. By the time she was 13, Amherst was collecting exotic plants on family trips to the French riviera. Amherst would go by many names during her lifetime: she took the pen name Mrs Evelyn Cecil after she married, in 1898, at the age of 33; later, when her son was raised to the peerage of Baron Rockley, she took on the name Lady Rockley of Lytchett Heath; and later she became the dowager Baroness Rockley. Though her pen name changed as she became a wife and mother, her work is testament to her strong independent character and academic rigour.
Her first book was published in 1895, before she married, whilst living at Hatfield House, under the name Alicia M. T. Amherst; “A History of Gardening in England, London” featured the first scholarly book on English garden history and illustrations by botanical artist Lady Victoria Manners (1883-1946). Unlike previous practical and design oriented gardening books, “A History of Gardening in England” provided a historical survey of gardening, with a focus on both flower and kitchen gardens and landscapes from the medieval era up to the end of the 19th century. Facilitating her research, Amherst had access to the Salisbury family papers. The book was such a success that a second version was requested within the first month of its release to the public (and Amherst was remunerated ten times more for it than she was for the first edition).
Amherst became the first scholar to publish on English gardening history and, in so doing, she entered the history books she so loved alongside fellow Victorian horticulturalists Gertrude Jekyll and Ellen Willmott. By the time she was 13, Amherst was collecting exotic plants on family trips to the French riviera. Amherst would go by many names during her lifetime: she took the pen name Mrs Evelyn Cecil after she married, in 1898, at the age of 33; later, when her son was raised to the peerage of Baron Rockley, she took on the name Lady Rockley of Lytchett Heath; and later she became the dowager Baroness Rockley. Though her pen name changed as she became a wife and mother, her work is testament to her strong independent character and academic rigour.
Her first book was published in 1895, before she married, whilst living at Hatfield House, under the name Alicia M. T. Amherst; “A History of Gardening in England, London” featured the first scholarly book on English garden history and illustrations by botanical artist Lady Victoria Manners (1883-1946). Unlike previous practical and design oriented gardening books, “A History of Gardening in England” provided a historical survey of gardening, with a focus on both flower and kitchen gardens and landscapes from the medieval era up to the end of the 19th century. Facilitating her research, Amherst had access to the Salisbury family papers. The book was such a success that a second version was requested within the first month of its release to the public (and Amherst was remunerated ten times more for it than she was for the first edition).
- Alicia Amherst, 1902.
Après avoir épousé Cecil en 1898, Amherst a pu associer sa passion pour l'histoire botanique à son activisme politique. Elle s'est impliquée avec enthousiasme dans l'émigration des femmes britanniques et le peuplement de femmes dans les colonies. Sans surprise, elle avait un vif intérêt pour la formation horticole des femmes. En 1907, Amherst et Miss J. S. Turner ont ouvert l'école de formation Arlesey House Country and Colonial Training School for Ladies dans le but d'aider les femmes qui souhaitaient émigrer. La conversation entre les deux dames a été enregistrée dans "The Girl's Realm" en 1907 et a été présentée dans l'Encyclopédie de chaque fille en 1910. Amherst a siégé au comité de gestion de l'école et la marraine de l'école était la militante éminente des droits des femmes, Lady Frances Balfour (1858-1931).
De 1899 à 1941, Amherst a siégé au comité de gestion du Chelsea Physic Garden et a voyagé lors d'expéditions de collecte dans le monde entier, notamment au Mozambique et en Afrique du Sud (1899), en Rhodésie (1900), et à Ceylan, en Nouvelle-Zélande, en Australie et au Canada (1927). En 1935, Amherst a produit un guide de terrain, avec des planches composites couvrant la flore des colonies britanniques, qui est devenu le « Guide Collins ». Amherst est également connue pour son travail en tant qu'artiste botanique à part entière. Elle a fourni des croquis et des illustrations pour la publication de son mari en 1900, « On the Eve of the War: A Narrative of Impressions During a Journey in Cape Colony, the Free State, the Transvaal, Natal, and Rhodesia ».
En commémoration de sa carrière exceptionnelle, Amherst a été nommée membre de l'Ordre de l'Empire britannique en 1918 et est devenue la seule femme à avoir reçu la liberté de la Worshipful Company of Gardeners, une compagnie de livery londonienne (similaire à une association commerciale ou une guilde). Contrairement à l'époque victorienne, Amherst avait plusieurs plantes qui portaient son nom, parmi elles le Hebe 'Alicia Amherst' - une variété à fleurs violettes synonyme de H. veitchii et Kaempferia ceciliae (famille des Zingibéracées).