Images: 1) F.S.Plaque ©Robert Pankhurst 2) Frederick Sander at Bruges,© Anne Sander 3) 21 George St mock-up ©Robert Pankhurst 4) Sander advertisement
At 3 pm on Saturday 10th June 2023, at 21 George Street St Albans, Hertfordshire, a blue plaque commemorating the life of Frederick Sander, who was a world-famous horticulturist, will be installed at the site of his first shop in St Albans. Frederick's great-granddaughter, Anne Sander, and other members of the family will be present.
The general public is very welcome to attend.
This is the eighth plaque to be installed by Blue Plaques St Albans (BPSA), a voluntary organization, which was established to commemorate famous men and women who have lived and worked in St Albans, by placing blue plaques on buildings associated with their lives. The initiative resembles the well-known blue plaque scheme run by English Heritage in London.
Professor Tim Boatswain, the Chairman of Blue Plaques St Albans, says, Frederick Sander was an exceptional self-made man. He came to Britain as an immigrant, fleeing his native Germany and was to become a leading orchidologist, eventually establishing nurseries in the Camp, St Albans, Bruges in Belgium and New Jersey, USA. His orchids were sought by leading members of European society and beloved by Queen Victoria, who awarded him the Victoria Medal of Honour for his services to horticulture. Probably not known to many Albanians it is most fitting we can draw attention to his remarkable achievements with a blue plaque.
Born Heinrich Friedrich Conrad Sander in 1847, he emigrated to Britain in 1865. Around 1870 He married an English woman Elizabeth Fearnley, who was described by her son as “ a loving soul who had been beautiful when a girl”. She and Frederick had a loving relationship though it is said she had no interest in orchids. In 1875 the family moved to St Albans where he set up a business selling seeds from his shop in George Street. He then acquired four acres of land in the Camp, where he built a family home and established a large number of greenhouses for growing orchids. Constantly looking for new varieties, he at one time employed 23 collectors to search areas in Asia and South America for unknown species of orchids.
In 1885 Sander started work on the monumental publication, Reichenbachia (named after the leading German orchidologist, Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach), which would depict orchids life-sized, with text in English, French and German and was illustrated by Sander’s future son-in-law, Henry Moon.
Though his fortune was at times erratic his eventual commercial success enabled him to expand, establishing nurseries in Bruges in Belgium, then the heart of European horticulture, and New Jersey in America. Anne recalls that “Bruges nursery... was thriving due, mainly to a Swedish gentleman, Milstrom, who Frederick brought in as the General Administrator whilst Fredrick concentrated on the orchids and plants. The Belgium nursery made a profit under Mildtrom thanks to ... the Belgian workforce mainly because some German Generals loved orchids including Hitler and orchids were sent by train to various parts of Germany all through the First World War.” However, after WWI the Victorian and Edwardian love of orchids faded and the business declined. In 1920 on a visit to Bruges Frederick, already not well, fell ill and died but was brought back by the family to be buried in Hatfield Road cemetery.
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If you are interested in becoming involved or want to donate to Blue Plaques St Albans, please contact: blueplaquesstalbans@gmail.com, or +447873 586074
·Blue Plaques St Albans was set up in 2019
·Its aim is to commemorate and celebrate the famous people of St Albans
·Blue Plaques St Albans is made up of representatives from:
·St Albans Civic Society
·St Albans & Hertfordshire Architectural & Archaeological Society
·St Albans City Tour Guides
·St Albans Abbey Cathedral
·St Albans Museum + Gallery
·Conservation 50
·St Albans Business Improvement District (BID)
·St Albans City & District Council
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