FLOWERS

See Also: GARDENS & PLANTS; MENU

Julia Clements

In 1947 Britons were limited with what they could do with regard to clothing, furnishings, and food. Julia Clements responded to the situation by talking about flower arranging. She had a more formal style than Constance Spry.

'Buster' Edwards

Buster Edwards (1931-1994) was a member of the Great Train Robbery gang. He was released from prison in 1975. He became a flower seller, having a stall close to Waterloo Railway Station.

Location: The Arches, Waterloo Road, SE1 8SE

Eliza

Betsy Paine (or Kidd) was a flower seller on Villiers Street. The playwright George Bernard Shaw modelled the accent of Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion on hers.

Location: Villiers Street, WC2N 6NG (red, blue)

Valerie Eliot

Valerie Eliot (n e Esm Fletcher) (1926-2012) was married to the poet T.S. Eliot. After he died, she continued to live in their marital home, a flat in Kensington. Every Monday a large and expensive bouquet was delivered to her. This was because he had left a posthumous instruction to his solicitor that such happen.

Location: 3 Kensington Court Gardens, W8 5QE (red, grey)

Eliza

Betsy Paine (or Kidd) was a flower seller on Villiers Street. The playwright George Bernard Shaw modelled the accent of Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion on hers.

Location: Villiers Street, WC2N 6NG (red, blue)

Pulbrook & Gould

Pulbrook & Gould was founded in 1956 by Susan Lady Pulbrook (n e Susan Waites) (1906-2011) and Rosamund Gould, who had trained with Constance Spry.

Gould left the business in 1967.

People who have trained with the firm include Jo Malone.

Location: 42 Buckingham Palace Road, SW1W 0RN (blue, red)

Website: https://pulbrookandgould.co.uk

Constance Spry

During the First World War, she worked for the Ministry of Munitions. She worked for H.E. Shav Spry. She was appointed as the headmistress of a school in Hackney.

In 1927 Constance Spry (1886-1960) came to known the cinema impresario Sidney Bernstein and the theatre designer Norman Wilkinson. She did the flowers for the perfumery Atkinsons on Bond Street; her display literally stopped the traffic. She opened her first shop in Pimlico. She established a good working relationship with the interior designer Syrie Maugham. Her views on floristry were so strong that they both commissioned flower arrangements from her. She led to her becoming the foremost florist of the era. She developed a taste for using old roses.

In 1932 she did an all-white flower arrangement for the artist Hannah Gluck Gluckstein. They embarked upon an affair. It lasted for four years. Gluck dropped Spry. She returned to Shav .

In 1937 Spry did the flowers for the wedding in France of the Duke of Windsor to Wallis Simpson. The duke was enthralled by the sodden British newspapers in which the flowers had been wrapped. Cecil Beaton, a guest, viewed the arrangement to be far too grand for the venue and the small number of guests.

As a result, she was out of favour during the reign of King George VI. During the war, the flower business fell off. Spry focused her attention on food and cooking. She and Rosemary Hume established a Cordon Bleu cookery school. In 1953 following the monarch's death, she was invited to do the flowers for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

#

Kenneth Turner

Kenneth Turner was the doyen of British florists.

David Backhouse 2024