The Nineteenth Century Garden pt 2 - James Shirley Hibberd

The Nineteenth Century Garden: Part 2. We’re now into the second part of this series looking at Nineteenth Century Gardens and are showcasing some towering figures in the Victorian gardening world, along with the role of trees and parks in the urban landscape.

This ticket is for this individual session and costs £5, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions via the links below, or you may purchase a ticket for the entire course of 6 sessions at a cost of £30 via the link here.

Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards.

.....

Week 1. 28 April: Trees in Towns & Cities. First in a series of 6 online lectures, £5 each or all 6 for £30.

Week 2. 5 May: Kew’s Palm House. Second in a series of 6 online lectures, £5 each or all 6 for £30.

Week 3. 12 May: James Shirley Hibberd. Third in a series of 6 online lectures, £5 each or all 6 for £30.

Week 4. 19 May: Joseph Paxton. Fourth in a series of 6 online lectures, £5 each or all 6 for £30.

Week 5. 26 May: John Lindley. Fifth in a series of 6 online lectures, £5 each or all 6 for £30.

Week 6. 2 June: Great British Parks. Last in a series of 6 online lectures, £5 each or all 6 for £30.

…..

Week 3. 12 May: James Shirley Hibberd with Julia Matheson

James Shirley Hibberd (1825 – 1890) has been called ‘the father of amateur gardening’. He wrote for those he called ‘plain people’ – those who had a town garden or a suburban garden that they looked after themselves It is through his writings that we get a vivid idea of what ordinary Victorian gardens were like.

He wrote books, he edited two magazines simultaneously and started a third towards the end of his life, he lectured all over the country on a wide range of subjects, he was a judge at horticultural shows, he chaired committees and celebratory dinners at which he was always called on to make a speech. Eventually he was involved with improvements at Kew and at the RHS Chiswick Gardens and was advising the Government on possible ways to deal with potato disease.

He deserves to be better known.

…..

Julia Matheson says ‘All my life I have lived in a mid-Victorian suburban semi not far from London. I had always wanted to know what might have been in my own garden when the first owners lived there, and once I had retired I had time to look into the subject. My start in research began at the Garden History Society’s summer school at Ashridge, and my enthusiasm grew until I studied for an M.A. at the Open University with a dissertation on 19th century working class flower shows in London. Not content to stop there, I went on to a Ph.D. with a thesis on East End horticulture 1840-1900. It was in the course of this research that I first encountered Shirley Hibberd – who is now my Number One Gardening Hero'.

…..