CHAPTER I 1 



BOYHOOD AND EDUCATION 

 1831-1854 



WILLIAM HENRY FLOWER, third son of Edward 

 Fordham and Celina Flower, was born on the 3Oth 

 November 1831 at his father's house in Old Town, 

 Stratford-on-Avon. 



His father, who was born at Hertford in 1805, 

 was the youngest son of Richard Flower of Marden 

 Hill in Hertfordshire. Much of his early life was 

 passed in America, where he took a keen interest 

 in sport, and a still keener interest in the struggle 

 for the suppression of the slave trade. After his 

 marriage he settled at Stratford-on-Avon, where 

 he founded the brewery which his sons afterwards 

 extended into the most important industry in the 

 place, and was well known for the active part he 

 took in all local affairs, especially in organising the 

 Shakespeare Tercentenary celebrations in 1864. In 

 1871 he moved to London, where his strikingly- 



1 Chapters I. and II. were compiled by Mr. Victor Augustine Flower, 

 Sir William's youngest son. 



I B 



