There are a good many market gardeners, growers and agriculture workers buried at Heene, some of whom played an important role in the successful Worthing horticultural industry. From the vineries and cucumbers grown under glass in the care of George Beer and William Sams, to the commercially grown strawberries of William Magness and his business partner, Barnwell. The Magness nursery also grew a cut flower crop in much demand, the eternally popular buttonhole, Dianthus caryophyllus. The pink carnation, already grown in America, was worn at the races, at weddings or just to top off a gentleman’s suit. Though some varieties can tolerate the English winter, most were grown under glass.
William Sams and George Beer were pioneers in the use of greenhouses, glasshouses as they were then called and glasshouses changed what could be grown. They let in the maximum of light whilst giving more control over pests and weather fluctuations. Coal fired ovens called stokeholds heated water that ran in pipes around the inside of the houses allowing a wider range of crops to survive the winter and the long, often interminably cold, spring months. Glasshouses also made possible the controlled use of insecticides, notably the smoke from burning small piles of nicotine-rich tobacco, something the gardeners probably had in good supply for their own personal use.
It was because of his 130,000 square feet of glasshouse in Manor Road that William Sams could produce grapes that served Buckingham Palace and the highly prized cucumber, a sub-tropical vegetable native to Asia and synonymous with the infamous cucumber sandwich so essential to Victorian afternoon teas. Likewise, the crowds at Wimbledon Tennis tournament would have felt hard done by without their sweet, plump glasshouse grown strawberries, 40,000 in pots at the peak of production at the Magness nursery on Lansdown Road.
The Worthing glasshouse trade and its vineries were some of the most famous and successful in the county. In 1901, in this optimistic atmosphere William Young and his brother Dan bought the freehold to Wallace Nurseries in what was then Elm Grove (now Wallace Avenue). The nurseries were just north of Pevensey Road and consisted of 20 glasshouses including 8 vineries containing 750 vines.
The grapes were for table eating not wine, and one variety that was chosen was ‘Black Hambro’, known as Black Muscat today. In the first part of the 20th century 70% of glasshouse plants in Worthing were vines. Post-war this luxury product fell out of favor to be replaced numerically by ribbed varieties of tomatoes, mushrooms and cut flower chrysanths.
There is one florist recorded in the cemetery, a Mr Edward Holden, one listed Chrysanthemum grower, a Charles Teesdale, one amateur gardener, Cyrus Elliot, who used glass left over from the Crystal Palace to build a vinery at his home and one botanist, John Duthie, who was the Superintendent of Saharanpur Gardens in the North-Western Provinces of India and produced scientific papers on orchids and fodder grasses. With failing health, Duthie returned to England in 1903 and worked at Kew Botanic Gardens. He is in the cemetery by chance as he died at Puckaster, 69 Grand Avenue, Worthing, while visiting a friend.
Philippa Matthews