The Orchid King

It is possible that you have joined one of the groups attending Hatfield Road Cemetery on one of the popular Laid to Rest story walks, organised by the local history group Fleetville Diaries.  If so you will have seen, because we have told the story of the families Sander and Moon, a rather forlorn and overgrown family plot.  Brambles and Buddleia are not really representative of one of the country's foremost orchid hybridisers of the 19th century!

Henry G Moon, artist

If you now take a walk in the cemetery you will discover an impressive plot; the offending brambles and other invasive plants have been coaxed out of the ground, the granite stonework has been cleaned, restored and re-set, fresh topsoil and weed inhibiting matting laid – and there is now fresh green grass growing inside the kerbing.  The grave is along a curved path from the main avenue opposite the chapel, leading towards the Cemetery Manager's office.

Orchid Laelia Goldiana

The work was undertaken by a team from Fleetville Diaries, having become temporary guardians under the Adopt-a-Grave process, and of course with the full blessing of today's members of the Sander and Moon families.  J J Burgess carried out much of the stonework.

Frederick Sander, informally known as the Orchid King, had his nurseries in Camp Road from the 1880s, and in-law and artist Henry Moon produced slightly under two hundred stunning paintings of orchids.  So, there are members of both families buried in the plot.  The full story of the Orchid King can be found on the Frederick Sander & Henry Moon Tribute section of www.fleetvillediaries.org   During the course of the project it was discovered that Moon had also undertaken similar paintings for Peter Barr, a daffodil hybridiser in Streatham.  Peter, rather appropriately, had been known as the Daffodil King.  So representatives of Barr's Streatham research group also joined the Tribute Day.

Before the restoration project began

On a very hot day this week Fleetville Diaries invited some eighty guests, including the current generations of the Sander and Moon families to a special Tribute Day, firstly around the grave in Hatfield Road Cemetery, and then to refreshments and an exhibition at St Paul's Church.  This was an occasion for some members of these two impressive families to meet each other for the very first time, and it is clear that they were overwhelmed by the recognition bestowed on them by the occasion.

The project on completion

It's All in a Bag

This year's Larks in the Park on Fleetville Rec attracted the usual friendly crowd of visitors; locals in the main, although it included  many families from across the city.  To greet them were the usual collection of stalls, entertainments and stands representing such charitable organisations such as Highfield Park Trust.  And the bold new marquee charting the latest progress of the proposed new Community Centre building.

Relevant to this story was the bric-a-brac stall, the place where you hope to sell items of a miscellaneous nature, and perhaps pick up treats for a grandchild or two.  Standing on the ground was one of those very ordinary bags you might use to carry a small amount of shopping home from the supermarket or greengrocer.  One visitor carefully investigated its contents and pulled out – a photograph!

A large school photograph, mounted, but without any information of any kind either on the front or back.   Our visitor knew exactly where this picture belonged and walked over to the Fleetville Diaries stand with it.  Apologies to anyone else also at the stand who, at that moment, felt rather left out, but the arrival of the image was rather exciting, as you may gather from the version shown below.

It had been taken at Camp Elementary School around 1930, as evidenced by the back rows who were clearly senior pupils; in fact the whole class of 42 pupils are probably eleven years or over. The school lost its seniors to Priory Park and Hatfield Road schools to enable Camp to become a JMI school.  Mr E Richmond, who lived in Windermere Avenue, was its teacher; he is seen in Camp School  football team photos of the time.  As to where the class was arranged, it certainly wouldn't be possible today.  The space was part of the playground between  the headmaster's house (right) and the main school building; Royston Road is behind.  Today waste bins, parked cars and a modern building occupy the space where the house once stood.

A senior class at Camp Elementary School c1930.

But where has this photograph – still in very good condition – been since the fresh faces lined up c1930?  Not every family would have been able to purchase a copy, or even would have wanted to.  Maybe it was stored in the home of a former member of staff.  If not, it probably spent most of its lifetime in the successive homes of one member of the class shown, though interestingly there is no pencilled circle or extra finger marks around any of the faces shown as is often the case!  To make identification even more difficult – and this is a common issue – no names or dates have been written on the reverse.

Questions therefore remain: who were these children of Camp district, who would today be between 100 and 105 years old.  How did the photo in a bag reach Fleetville Rec in June 2019?  Was it the result of a house clearance, or younger family members having a sort out?  The story of this class photograph remains largely hidden from us throughout the past ninety years.

But if you have information to add please get in touch: the email address is saoee@me.com

And if you would like similar photographs to reach a safe and permanent home – even if it is only a copy of the original – then do use the same email address.  Far too many historically important images of life in our city are being lost because their guardians just don't know what to do with them.