Unmounted medium format colour slide of Waterperry Horticultural School head gardener Joan Stokes (1915-1985) planting bulbs at Waterperry Horticultural School. Ink inscription on sleeve on recto: 'Miss Joan Stokes VMH 45 years at Waterperry – Planting bulbs for forcing'; 'She grew all the strawberries for Chelsea each year'; '558'. Ink on recto crossed out: '548'. Address supplied. Contrary to the inscription, Joan Stokes was awarded the RHS Associateship of Honour not the RHS Victoria Medal of Honour. Beatrix Havergal took over the lease of Waterperry estate from Magdalen College, Oxford in 1932, and eventually bought it in 1948. She ran the estate as the Waterperry Horticultural School for ladies as headmistress until her retirement in 1971. Valerie Finnis attended as a student from 1942 and stayed on to teach until her marriage to Sir David Scott in 1970. The school closed and the estate was purchased by the School of Philosophy and Economic Science who continue to run it today as a retreat for student residential courses. The gardens are also open to visitors and Waterperry is known for its five orchards, broad variety of snowdrops and two collections of saxifrages accredited with Plant Heritage
Extent
1 slide
Physical description
60 (h) mm x 60 (w) mm, (medium format); 88 (h) mm x 67 (h) mm (sleeve). Image: Square. acetate film. transparency
Is part of
Valerie Finnis photography collection
Copyright
Royal Horticultural Society
Credit Line
Valerie Finnis / RHS Lindley Collections
Usage terms
Non-commercial use with attribution permitted (CC BY-NC 4.0)