AGM and Lecture by Fancesca Murray

The AGM will be held in the Lammas Room at Hill Close Gardens, Warwick followed by a  Lecture with Francesca Murray on the story of the Rothschild family’s passion for orchids at Gunnersbury, Tring Park and at Exbury, based on her book, The Eighth Wonder of the World, Exbury Gardens and The Rothschilds, co written with Lionel de Rothschild. A cream tea will be available. 

‘Those who invest in Orchids judiciously, and employ men of intelligence and skill to grow them, will receive good interest for their capital’. Frederick Burbidge, orchid collector (1874)

The story begins at Gunnersbury (the first Rothschild garden in England) where Baroness Charlotte de Rothschild published a catalogue of her own rare orchids from around the world. Cultivating these strange exotics in the Gunnersbury glasshouses was highly experimental and devoted head gardeners shared their findings between the family estates. Nathaniel de Rothschild and his son – the famous zoologist Walter Rothschild – took up orchidology at Tring Park too. Leopold’s son, Lionel (1882-1942), developed his first garden at the age of 5, and took Gunnersbury orchids and rhododendrons with him to his new garden at Exbury, Hampshire, in 1919. There his experiments in the scientific field of orchid hybridisation resulted in a fine orchid collection of 28,000 plants by World War II. This astonishing story provides a glimpse of how the Rothschilds’ investment in their gardens paid off for the benefit of the wider gardening community and is not to be missed!

Having worked in the design industry for many years including for the historic interiors brands of Cole and Son, Warner and Co and Zoffany, Francesca changed direction and studied horticulture and garden design at Berkshire College of Agriculture, and Capel Manor. She ran her own garden design business for another ten years. Studying garden history at Birkbeck in the evenings led to a Masters in garden history on the Orchids of the Rothschilds at Buckingham University (2015).  esent.  A PhD at Queen Mary University of London researching ‘Nineteenth-century Gardeners, Nurserymen, and the Associations that came to their Aid’ followed in 2021-25.

Francesca has published a number of garden history articles and is a trustee of the Gardens Trust and a member of its Education and Training Committee. She teaches garden history at RHS Wisley and the Lindley Library, London and is a regular speaker for Perennial (formerly the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution).

Photo credit Rothschild Archive London