Green Fingered In Glynde

A century ago, the prospect of middle-class women gardening was unconventional, but in the village of Glynde a quiet revolution was taking place, as Lindsey Tydeman from The Keep explains

Viscountess Frances Wolseley, with George Funnel and John Levett (right), two men from the local lime pits, 1901 (ref LUS/1/1/5/2)

The year is 1916, and Britain has been at war for two years. The ladies in this photograph (ref LUS/1/1/5/6) obviously feel as though they are contributing to the war effort, but the viewer could be forgiven for wondering how, exactly? The clues are in the trowel, forks, broom and spade. They are the students of Viscountess Frances Wolseley’s College for Lady Gardeners in the village of Glynde, near Lewes, and in 1916 the quasimilitary uniform was very much part of the job. Frances Wolseley (18721936) was never a suffragette but neither did she pine for a husband and children. The gardening bug had taken hold in 1901, when her mother employed a female gardener and two students to work at ‘Farmhouse’, the house which the family were renting in Glynde after her father’s retirement from the army. Frances began supervising their work, and, a year later, issued the prospectus for the ‘The Glynde School for Lady Gardeners’.

It was a bold step. The concept of a middle-class woman not only designing

a garden but working the soil herself was still unconventional. But pupils of the right type applied and in 1906 she rented over five acres of land on the edge of the village at the base of Mount Caburn – Ragged Lands – and built a house, sheds and garden. Bemused men from local lime pits were recruited to landscape the chalk banks and create terraces, arbours and pergolas. It was going to be an Italianate garden. The Long Walk was festooned with roses, and, as one walked gently downhill, the Ouse river valley and Downs provided a beautiful backdrop.

In 1913 one of the school’s more dynamic pupils, Elsa More, was taken on as forewoman. She ran the garden as a naval institution, calling the school ‘HMS Ragged’ and raising and lowering the flag on the roof each morning and evening. Students took the salute with their implements on their shoulders and saluted again before discussing individual progress reports. The correct uniform was enforced, even down to underwear. No corsets here, but, in Frances Wolseley’s words, ‘a plain fitting flannel belt to cover the waist and abdomen… worn next to the skin, whether the usual underwear be merino or not.’

Frances moved out of Ragged Lands in 1918, leaving Elsa More in charge, and retired to Ardingly. In her absence the college continued until 1933 when the final educational seeds were sown. Frances bequeathed her large collection of books on horticulture to The Wolseley Room at Hove Library and is commemorated today by the Ardingly village sign.

These unique images are from the extensive Lusted family archive featuring Glynde village life. They can be viewed at The Keep in the Reference Room.

Ragged Lands by Diana Crook (Dale House Press, Lewes, 2002), a brief account of the school, is also available in our Reference Room. l For more information visit www.thekeep/info

The house and garden from the south, the ‘Long Walk’, with students. Viscountess Frances Wolsely stands in front of house, c 1910 (LUS/1/1/1/30)

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