Veitch and Sons
The company Veitch and Sons , also known as "Veitch Nurseries", was probably the largest family-run nursery and tree nursery in Europe in the 19th century .
Company history
The founder of the tree nurseries associated with the name Veitch is the Scotsman John Veitch (1752–1839) from Jedburgh , who probably began growing plants in Killerton near Exeter as early as the 1770s . In 1808 he was employed as a "land stewart" by Sir Thomas Ackland in Killerton, leased land and started the nursery business; he mainly sold trees and shrubs. With business going, he leased more land in 1810. In 1832 he moved the business to Mount Radford , Exeter.
John Veitch's son James (1792–1863) as well as his grandson James junior (1815–1869) proved to be suitable successors. While James was taking over the nursery business in Exeter, James junior was sent to London for nursery training. When he returned from there, he used his new knowledge to help his father James improve and expand the nursery; In 1838 he was made a “partner” of the tree nursery in recognition of his achievements. James junior realized that the Veitch & Sons nursery in Exeter was too small to compete with the major London nurseries. In 1853 he consequently bought the Royal Exotic Nursery on King's Road in Chelsea, London . Under the direction of James junior, the Royal Exotic Nursery grew into the largest of its kind in Europe. Further acquisitions were made in Feltham, Langley and Coombe-Wood.
The joint management of both nurseries (Exeter and Chelsea) turned out to be increasingly difficult; In 1863 the two companies became independent.
James (senior) handed over his tree nursery in Exeter to his younger son Robert (1823–1855), who was henceforth called Robert Veitch & Sons ; Robert's successor was Peter (1850–1929).
The London nursery, which was run by James junior, was called James Veitch & Sons ; James junior's successors were his sons John Gould (1839-1870), Harry James (1840-1924) and Arthur (1844-1880).
James junior handed over the London tree nursery to his sons and retired in 1864. He died in 1869; John Gould died of tuberculosis just a year later . His brother Harry took over the nursery for about 30 years until John Gould's sons John Gould junior (1869–1914) and James Herbert were old enough to take over the business. Harry increased the company's reputation by working on quality and diversity. Among other things, he sent his cousin Peter CM Veitch (1850-1929) to collect plants on Mount Kinabalu in Borneo ; from there several carnivorous plant species of the genus Nepenthes were brought back. The most successful plant collector for Veitch is Ernest Henry Wilson , whom Harry sent to West China in 1899 .
James Herbert, the last of the family's plant collectors to travel, took over the nursery after Harry retired. However, he was not lucky and business deteriorated. After James Herbert passed away at the age of 39, Harry returned from retirement to get the business back on track. However, as the Coombe Wood lease expired and World War I broke out, the Chelsea business collapsed. The operation in Exeter was continued by Peter CM Veitch. Shortly before her death in 1969, his daughter Anna Mildred Veitch , the last of the Veitch "dynasty", sold the remaining company in Exeter to the St. Bridget Nurseries .
Services
The successful business model of the Veitch tree nurseries included employing their own plant collectors (“ plant hunters ”) who only collected for their own tree nursery. Before 1863 the plant collectors were sent from Exeter, from 1863 from London. From 1840 to 1910, 22 plant collectors were sent out. The first of these plant collectors were the two “Lobb brothers” William Lobb , who set out for South America in 1840, and Thomas Lobb , who collected in the Far East in 1843.
By the outbreak of the First World War, the Veitch nursery had brought 1281 new plant species or cultivars into culture, 232 of them orchids.
literature
A five-part essay appeared in Garden History magazine on the history of the Veitch and Sons nursery . The first edition appeared in Volume 16 Vol. 1 (1988), the second in Volume 16 Vol. 2 (1988), the third in Volume 17 Vol. 2 (1989), the fourth in Volume 20 Vol. 1 (Springer 1992, Pp. 57-70).