Eye - 17 May 2024
From Simple, formal, beautiful to Well-loved phrases
Simple, formal, beautiful
Wendy Edwards, of Warwick Meeting, made a discovery in the March edition of a green-fingered publication. She writes: ‘I was delighted to read an article in a gardening magazine, Garden Answers, about Richard Sudell. I am sorry to say I had never heard of him despite me being connected with Quakers for forty years.’
Richard Sudell was a new name to Eye too, so the article made fascinating reading, describing him as it does as: ‘The pioneer of suburban gardening, a Quaker activist and Kew graduate who led the garden transformation of the London County Council estate.’
The article roots his work in a flora-based social revolution a hundred years ago, where the small patch of land that accompanied the Homes Fit for Heroes house building programme after world war one gave many access to outdoor space and gardening they’d not had before.
Richard Sudell was a gardener who became a prolific writer, reaching a huge audience through the Daily Herald, Ideal Home magazine, and nearly fifty practical instruction books.
He pioneered labour-saving gardening, and his gardens are described as: ‘…simple, formal but colourful, involving straight lines, delineated spaces… immaculate small lawns and, always, space at the back for growing fruit and vegetables. This was hugely important in a time of rationing. They were places to enjoy, away from the considerable stresses and strains of everyday interwar life.’
He was also one of the nine original Fellows when the Institute of Landscape Architects was founded in 1929.
The article was prompted by the work done by another Friend, Michael Gilson, on his new book Behind the Privet Hedge: Richard Sudell, the Suburban Garden and the Beautification of Britain.
In this book, being launched this month, Michael Gilson explores the history of how Britain became a nation of gardeners, how suburban gardens took shape, and their role in social change in the early twentieth century. As he does so, he unearths the story of the seemingly-forgotten figure of Richard Sudell.
Interest piqued? You can listen to an interview with the author on the New Books Network, where he talks in more detail about Richard Sudell’s work, faith and background: https://newbooksnetwork.com/behind-the-privet-hedge.
In 2019 Westminster City Council rejected a redevelopment of an apartment complex at Dolphin Square in Pimlico, partly due to the need to preserve the courtyard garden. This garden is the last wholly intact example of Richard Sudell’s work, and campaigners succeeded in getting it registered as a Grade II landscape by Historic England.
A working-class gardener, manifesting his values in living landscapes of everyday beauty… Eye has certainly been inspired! How about you Friends?
Well-loved phrases
Eye invites you to contemplate well-loved phrases from Quaker texts by picking up a pen or pencil and colouring, doodling… whatever moves you! This week, the phrase is from Quaker faith & practice 19.32.
