Publications

The Garden
February 2004

A brief history of the Society

Since its founding, the ‘Society for the Improvement of Horticulture in all its branches’ has met with some failures as well as with innovation and success. Brent Elliott charts its progress

Archive images courtesy of the Lindley Library

Many might assume, based on its current standing, the history of the RHS to be a catalogue of horticultural firsts and great gardening successes. Yet the inception of the Society was not without its difficulties (see pp92 - 5) with the bickerings and rivalries of its founders. The life of the Horticultural Society of London has been troubled financially on several occasions, and at one point it seemed it might meet with an untimely demise.

In the late 1850s the Society faced possibly its greatest challenge - survival in the face of impending financial ruin. The debts it had faced for several decades worsened, the cost of maintaining its garden at Chiswick, losses incurred in the running of exhibitions, together with poor administration and competition from the Royal Botanic Society’s garden at Regent’s Park, all combined to jeopardise the existence of the Society. Drastic measures were taken to raise funds, culminating in the selling off of its library.

It was with the patronage of Prince Albert, the opening of a new garden in London and the granting of a Royal Charter in 1861 that fortunes of the RHS improved. The Society’s progress from then until today has been eventful, but it has prospered and survived to celebrate its Bicentenary.

The Royal Horticultural Society: A History 1804 - 2004, by Brent Elliott (ISBN 1860772722) will be available from The Wisley Bookshop in March, price £50.
Tel 01483 211113. For RHS Mail Order enquiries, Tel: 01483 211320; mailto:mailorder@rhs.org.uk

1804
Founding of the Horticultural Society of London. Founder members were John Wedgwood, Sir Joseph Banks, James Dickson, William Forsyth, William Townsend Aiton, Richard Anthony Salisbury and Charles Greville

1809
The Society receives its first charter

1811
The Society strikes its first gold medal

1815
Joseph Sabine becomes Vice President of the Society; he is later Secretary 1816 - 1830

1818
The Society acquires its first garden, in Kensington, to temporarily house plants it has been sent. It closes in 1822

1820 The Banksian Medal issued to commemorate Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society

1820 - 1846
The Society sends plant collectors overseas: John Potts, John Damper Parks and Robert Fortune to China, George Don and John Forbes to Africa, David Douglas and Theodore Hartweg to North America, and James McRae to South America

1821
The Society leases 33 acres of the Duke of Devonshire’s estate at Chiswick to serve as an experimental garden

1823
Joseph Paxton employed in Chiswick garden

1826
George Cruikshank’s cartoon satirising the affairs of the Society is published

1827 The Society holds its first ‘fêtes’. By 1829 they were an established part of the London ‘season’, although in that year they were disastrously rained out

1830
Ladies first admitted as Fellows of the Society

1833 The Society starts holding shows with competitive classes at Chiswick

1836
Examinations for gardeners introduced at Chiswick

1836 The Knightian Medal commemorates Thomas Andrew Knight, President of the Society 1811 - 38

1841 - 6
The Chemical Committee conducts pioneering research into plant nutrition and fertilisers

1857 - 9
Financial crisis: the Society sells its herbarium, a quantity of plants from its garden, and finally its library

1858
Fruit Committee (later Fruit and Vegetable) founded. First- and Second-Class Certificates introduced for plants

1858 - 61 Prince Albert is President of the Society

1859
Floral Committee founded

1861
New charter granted as the Royal Horticultural Society.

The Society’s new garden opens in Kensington, London. England’s first flower-arrangement competition held as part of the festivities. The site, with Kensington Gardens in the distance, was just south of where the Royal Albert Hall now stands. It is now occupied by the Royal College of Music, Imperial College and the Science Museum

1862
First Great Spring Show held at Kensington

1865
First national examinations in gardening held

1866
Publication of The Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society begins

Proceeds from the International Horticultural Exhibition are used to buy the library of the late John Lindley. The former Secretary is commemorated with the Lindley medal in that year

1867 - 73
Annual provincial shows held by the Society in Bury St Edmunds, Leicester, Manchester, Oxford, Nottingham, Birminghan, Bath

1883
National Apple Conference is held by the Society at Chiswick

1885
A new cultivar of pear is named ‘Conference’ in honour of the National Pear Conference

1888
The Society’s garden at Kensington is vacated

1888
The Great Spring Show is moved to Temple Gardens

1893
The RHS General Examination is founded as a basic qualification for gardeners

1897
The Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH) instituted to allow the Society to honour outstanding British horticulturists

1901
Publication of Mendel’s paper on heredity in the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society

1903 The late George Fergusson Wilson’s garden at Wisley is bought by Sir Thomas Hanbury, who presents it to the Society as a new experimental garden

1903 - 4
Chiswick site is abandoned. The only survivors are trees in back gardens and the street name ‘Horticultural Place’

1904 New headquarters and exhibition hall built at Vincent Square, London for the Society’s centenary and opened by Edward VII

1908
Publication of the first register by the RHS: Classified List of Daffodil names

1911
Work begins on introducing the National Diploma in Horticulture (the first exam is held in 1915)

1912
The Great Spring Show in the Temple Gardens cancelled in order that the Royal International Horticultural Exhibition may be held in Chelsea

1913
The first Chelsea Flower Show (as the Great Spring Show) is held in the grounds of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea

1914 - 18
First World War: the Society provides seeds and plants for allied civilians interned in Berlin. It encourages domestic food production and lobbies the Government to increase sugar rations to allow jam-making. Chelsea Flower Show cancelled after 1916 for duration of war.

The Society holds a number of events during the First World War as part of the RHS War Relief Fund

1917
Women gardeners employed at Wisley for the first time

1922
National Fruit Trials begun at Wisley

1928 A second exhibition hall (New Hall, now known as Lawrence Hall) opened in Westminster. Revolutionary in design, it was constructed of reinforced concrete and featured parabolic arches

1929 - 31
Publication of the Index Londinensis, the standard bibliography of botanical illustrations, which the Society began compiling in 1909

1935
The RHS becomes the supplier of the first biological control agent, Encarsia formosa, for the treatment of glasshouse whitefly

1939
The RHS Colour Chart first published to standardise the descriptions of plants

1939 - 45 Second World War:the RHS collaborates with the Ministry of Agriculture on the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign (left) to help promote domestic food production. The Society organises inspections of glasshouse plant collections to determine which are important enough to get extra fuel rations to keep them alive. Female gardening students are accommodated at Wisley after Swanley College of horticulture is bombed

1940 Sales around the country, which include donations from the Royal family, raise money for the Red Cross

1941
The Vegetable Garden Displayed first published by the RHS

1943
The Society sends out examination papers for 50 candidates in prisoner-of-war camps in Germany

1945
The RHS takes over the Rhododendron Association

1947 The Vegetable Garden Displayed is translated into German to help with the reconstruction of the German domestic economy

1950 - 52
At the Botanical Congress of 1950, the RHS proposes a Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants. The first version is agreed and published at the 13th International Horticultural Congress in 1952, convened by the RHS

1951
The Fruit Garden Displayed published by the Society

1955
Establishment of International Registration Authorities for plants. The RHS now acts as Registrar for nine categories: daffodils, delphiniums, rhododendrons, lilies, orchids, dahlias, dianthus, conifers and clematis

1958
Long-Service medal instituted. Awarded to any British subject who has completed 40 years of continuous service as a gardener or in some other horticultural capacity

1960 An RHS Council meeting includes the Hon Sir David Bowes-Lyon and Lord Aberconway

1966
The Great Autumn Show is held for the first time at Alexandra Palace

1968
Frances Perry becomes the first female member of RHS Council

1975 The Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society is relaunched as The Garden. The building of a new Information Centre at Wisley is anticipated

1978
‘Fellows’ of the RHS are replaced by ‘members’ of the Society

1979
National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG) formed as a result of an RHS conference on conservation. The NCCPG is best known for the National Plant Collections and their protection of cultivated plants

1979
The Plantsman, a quarterly scholarly journal, is launched under the editorship of Elspeth Napier

1984
Institute of Horticulture established to serve the interests of professional horticulturists
An acclaimed television series, Gardeners’ Calendar, features RHS gardeners and Wisley

1985
Master of Horticulture (RHS) Award replaces the National Diploma as one of the premier horticultural qualifications in the UK

1986 Inauguration of RHS Japan branch

1987
Rosemoor Garden presented to the Society

1990
Schools Gardening Competition instituted (later to become the Greenfingers Challenge)

1992
Award of Garden Merit established to recognise garden plants of excellence

1992
Publication of the New RHS Dictionary of Gardening

1993
Hyde Hall garden donated to the RHS.
The RHS releases its first video Wisley through the Seasons.
The Society takes over organisation of the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

1995
The Society takes over the administration of Plant Finder, an authority on tracking down plants in cultivation

1997
RHS website launched

1999
First RHS show held at Tatton Park, Cheshire

2000
Wisley gardeners take part in a pageant to celebrate the HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother’s 100th birthday

2001
Northern Horticultural Society amalgamated with the RHS; Harlow Carr becomes the fourth RHS garden

2002 RHS hosts conference on biodiversity in association with the RSPB and Wildlife Trusts. Britain in Bloom competition (left) held for the first time under RHS management

2004
Designated the Year of Gardening as the RHS celebrates its Bicentenary

Brent Elliott is RHS Librarian and Archivist

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