Doncaster & Huntingdon collector

[Chris Liffen]

If you have a local library card then you can login to the ODNB here
http://www.oxforddnb.com/
scroll down a bit and enter your library card number and then you can search the biographies for Alfred Fryer - it might interest
his obituary in the J of Botany can be accessed here
http://www.archive.org/stream/journalofbotanyb50londuoft#page/105/mode/1up
Regards
Chris

[Sue N]

Many thanks for links to ODNB and Obit for AF- most interesting. Gave me some info about him that I had not found from other research.

[Chris Liffen]

Glad it was of use to you

[oldnick]

Fryer family specimens in H@H, are by:
Clara Fryer, who collected around Brecon between 1882 and 1884 (and so may have lived there);
Rose Fryer, who collected at Aymestry Herefordshire in 1884;
G Fryer, who has a specimen collected with his father Alfred from Mepal Cambs in 1897;
G F Fryer (the same?), who collected a specimen with his father Alfred from Mepal Cambs later in 1897;
Potential Fryer family members?? Are:
Wendy Fryer, who has a specimen from Warwick in 1957;
J H Fryer (Kent DH & Allen DE. 1984. British and Irish Herbaria. London.)and Mr S J Fryer, who have no specimens.

[Guest]

The specimen of Rose Fryer's handwriting (posted by Chris Liffen on 22/12/10) is on paper similar to that used in BM(NH) - cf paper used by Arthur Bennett. I infer that she was using Museum-issue paper. Does that add anything to this inquiry?

[oldnick]

That would then leave the question, was the label written by Rose or by Alfred.....?

[oldnick]

For more info re Rose Fryer, see:
http://herbariaunited.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7428

[oldnick]

Returning to Doncaster / S W Yorkshire, from which there is a huge number of these anonymous ABS sheets, I can at present find no clues; however I believe a local botanist Samuel Appleby was living at the time? around the 1870s

[Chris L]

Samuel Appleby was born in 1806 in Edmonton, Nottinghamshire to parents Hannah and Samuel. He married Mary Ann(e) Crowther on the 25th December, 1828. They had a number of children (1841 census : 5 daughters and a son). The 1861 census refers to him as "Nurseryman, seedsman and teacher of botany", and notes that he was an employer of 5 men. He was based in Carr Lane, Doncaster and then at Balby.

He contributed various articles to the Doncaster, Nottingham and Lincoln Gazette, for example, "Botanical Reminiscences" (1865). He also addressed the Doncaster Philosophical Society on "Botanical features of the neighbourhood of Doncaster". He wrote for "The horticultural register and gardener's magazine", for example on growing of dutch bulbs - see below:

Appleby advertised regularly in "The gardener's magazine', offering services as a florist, nurseryman, ladscape and ornamental gardener.

Samule Appleby is referenced in 'Early Nurserymen' by John Harvey, and is also to be found on the Kew database.

Appleby died on 20th June 1868.

[oldnick]

Sheet http://herbariaunited.org/specimen/251380/ links the 'Easton / Huntingdon / Doncaster' collector(s) and like all the Llandudno specimens this month has the monogram 'F' (?) in the bottom left corner - again seeming to suggest the Fryer family??

[oldnick]

Also 6 specimens from Hitchin, 5/1868

[Roger Horton]

Essex: several unsigned sheets from Easton in Essex 8/1857 to 7/1874, but one (269582) is 'M Cheffins, Easton, 1864' (271491 gives the clue to the name: 'May Cheffins North Wales 7/1879'). A few sheets (e.g. 263418) are even described as coming from Easton Manor Garden, hence 'cultivated'.

'The Manor' Little Easton was built c1840 by (the last) Viscount Charles Henry Maynard of Easton Lodge in order to accommodate his 'Steward of the Household' Henry Cheffins and family. Henry is described as holding this post for over 40 years.

Although the Viscount died about 1865 the Lodge household continued to function and passed to his eldest, three-year-old, grand-daughter Frances Evelyn Maynard, later to become the (in)famous Lady Warwick.

In the 1871 census Frances aged 9 is at the top of the census list for Easton Lodge mansion followed by her sister Blanche (7) both described as 'Scholars the children of the late Hon. Col. Maynard, mother now the wife of Earl Rosslyn', and then three other children of the Rosslyns aged 3, 2 years, and 11 months respectively. Although Lord and Lady Rosslyn must have lived elsewhere the children were well provided for by a house staff of 21. As a budding socialite Frances is recorded as having a sumptuous 'coming out' ball at Little Easton when eighteen, she also had socialist leanings, and encouraged women to take part in agriculture and horticulture. She made a lavish garden at the Lodge.

In the same census the Cheffin family is show as consisting of (other details in paretheses):
Henry Cheffins, Head, 59, Land Agent (b. 1812 Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire - d. 1884),
Mary Cheffins, Wife, 56, (nee Toplis, born 1815),
Mary Toplis Cheffins, Daughter, 26, (b. 1845, d. 24/12/1930 Ivy House, 56 North St, Dunmow, spinster),
Gertrude Emma Cheffins, Daughter, 21, (church memorial to Miss Emma Cheffins, Sunday-school teacher),
Eliza Baker, Cook 29,
Rosa Smith, Housemaid 19.

Mr and Mrs Henry Cheffins have a memorial window in the church 'installed in 1883' [sic].

From her birth until around 1883 it is easy to imagine Mary Cheffins growing up in the protected atmosphere of Easton Manor within the background of a country estate controlled by a woman of independent means and spirit. Was young Mary referred to as May to avoid confusion with her mother, and did she and the housemaid Rosa occasionally go on botanising walks together?! Her connections outside this immediate circle, however, remain to be resolved.

[oldnick]

label at bottom left of http://herbariaunited.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10332 may conceivably be a link with the Fryer family's connections

[oldnick]

(One of) our collector(s) has 4 specimens from Skegness, Lincolnshire, 1887, in ABS

[oldnick]

And the 1868 summer holiday was evidently spent in East Suffolk - Corton (1 specimen) and Lowestoft (18 specimens)