On 13th April at 1 pm in the Lady Chapel, St Albans Cathedral, Peter Sander will give a talk about his great grandfather Frederick Sander, the 'Orchid King'.
Last summer a Blue Plaque was installed in George Street to Frederick Sander. Sixteen of his descendants were able to attend and his great-grandson, Peter Sander, kindly agreed to give a talk about his remarkable great-grandfather. The Dean has given permission for the talk to take place in the Lady Chapel, because this is where Lord Grimthorpe commissioned his stone mason, John Baker, to carve some of Sander's orchids.
Born Heinrich Frederick 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.
Tutor: Peter Sander, grandson of Frederick Sander
Cost: £12 to book follow this link:
All the fees from this talk are going to Blue Plaques St Albans (BPSA) for the installation of more blue plaques.
The voluntary organisation, BPSA, was set up in 2019 with the aim of commemorating and celebrating the famous people of St Albans.