Pioneer of great women gardeners

3:26pm Monday 9th June 2008

When Frances Garnet Wolseley was born in 1872, her father was becoming one of the most famous men in England.

Field Marshal Viscount Wolseley was a dashing soldier who performed great feats of heroism despite losing an eye and being severely wounded.

He reformed the Army so well the phrase "All Sir Garnet", meaning everything was running smoothly, was popular in late-Victorian times.

Wolseley was also parodied in The Pirates Of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan as being the very model of a modern major general.

He liked the piece so much he used to perform it to his friends but did not admire the Prime Minister, William Gladstone, whom he blamed for the death of his friend General Gordon in Khartoum.

Wolseley kept a statuette of Gladstone turned to the wall and taught his dog to bark whenever anyone mentioned the premier's name.

The family moved to Marine Parade in Brighton in 1897 and by this time Frances had already started a lifelong love affair with the county.

She was also devoted to her father and after he died in 1913, she established the Wolseley Room at Hove Library in his memory.

Frances had early memories of a holiday at Midhurst when she was a child and roamed around the Cowdray estate. Later, while staying near Blackdown in northwest Sussex, she took an interest in gardening.

As a child she met Alfred Lord Tennyson who had a home nearby, at Blackdown. Like him, she enjoyed the long views southwards towards the Downs.

She was encouraged in this by Andrew Lang, a friend of the family. He also took her to cricket matches at Hove.

Another family friend was Charles Kempe, a stained-glass artist whom she visited often at his home in Old Place, Lindfield.

William Robinson, editor of a gardening paper, was impressed by her knowledge and invited her to his home, Gravetye Manor near West Hoathly. She found both the house and its host enchanting.

The Wolseleys rented Glynde Place near Lewes for a few months in 1898 and liked it so much they later took a dower house in the grounds. Frances enjoyed riding, walking and gardening while staying there.

She said of her first visit to Glynde: "It seemed as if all the Downs were calling me, and that they took me that day with a real welcome into their warmth and sunshine."

Frances then had the idea of founding the Glynde College of Lady Gardeners and took her first students in 1903. They paid £6 a year for the privilege.

At first the villagers were hostile, even jeering at the ladies, but once the guests started paying good money to rent lodgings, they changed their tune.

Patrons of the venture included the landscape gardener Gertrude Jekyll and William Robinson. The venture was a success.

As Frances had only an acre of land, it seemed clear more would be needed. She rented five and a half acres nearby, called Ragged Lands. The soil was chalky and the site sloped but it caught the sun and was protected by Mount Caburn.

She handed over the gardening college in 1914 to a former pupil called Elsa More and helped in the war effort. Among her ventures was one running women's work on the land in East Sussex.

Her secretary, Mary Musgrave, become a close friend for the rest of her life and they leased a house called Massetts near Scaynes Hill.

This building proved to be too isolated for Frances to retain staff and she moved to a smaller house nearer a bus route at Ardingly.

She had it built to her own specifications.

She wrote several books on gardening and also contributed a series of articles on country houses to the Sussex County Magazine. Some of these have now been reprinted.

In her final years, a severe muscular illness hindered her mobility. She died on Christmas Eve, 1936, and was buried at Beddingham. She had worshipped in the church while working at Ragged Lands.

She succeeded to her father's title and became a viscountess in 1913. Also at that time she was made a freeman of the City of London to recognise her pioneering work in making gardening a respectable occupation for young women.

• Historic Houses Of East Sussex And Their Owners, by Viscountess Frances Wolseley, is published by Country Books at £20.

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