June 3, 1906. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
451 
DCCASIONAL 
I NTERVI E WS. 
Mr. W. LEWENDON, F.R.H.S. 
Secretary of the Sheffield Floral and Horticultural Society. 
The fiat of the Editor was that a feature of 
he new series of The Gardening 'World 
Ihould take the form of occasional short inter- 
iews with secretaries or other officers of some 
,f the best known of our London and pro- 
incial horticultural societies. That I went 
o the city of steel for my first subject was, 
Lt me say, no invidious selection, but the 
esult solely of fortuitous circumstances. Mr. 
Lewendon is a busy man, and it was not 
vithout some little difficulty that I at length 
an my quarry to earth; but when I did 
■orner him he was, after some persuasion, 
villing to undergo the process of being inter- 
dewed, and in the course of our preliminary 
of this journal, for Mr. Lewendon has a not 
inconsiderable gift of speech, and when it 
comes to talking about his society he can wax 
eloquent and emulate Tennyson's brook in the 
quality of going on. 
To set the ball rolling for the purposes of 
information, I asked him his age—a question, 
by the way, which of course I shall be de¬ 
barred from putting should I ever be privi¬ 
leged to interview a secretary of the feminine 
gender. 
“ Forty-eight,” he said buoyantly. “ Do 
I look it? And I've put a long life into those 
forty-eight years,” he added reflectively. “ I 
may tell you I'm saturated, as it were, with 
\ 
Mr. W. Lewendon, F.R.H.S., 
.-onversation said things about The Garden¬ 
ing World which tire innate modesty of the 
proprietors thereof would account too flatter¬ 
ing to be reproduced in print. 
The secretary of the Sheffield Floral and 
Horticultural Society has a strong physiog¬ 
nomy. Determination and the faculty for 
lard work are writ unmistakably in every line 
ind feature of his face, while he possesses a 
particularly pleasant manner, and notwith¬ 
standing his absorption in the dry facts and 
Igures of his secretarial and other duties, a 
nappy sense of humour is constantly asserting 
itself to lend bright and jocund intervals to 
the normal trend of his thoughts. We had a 
quite enjoyable chat which, if I were to give 
it verbatim here, would occupy several pages 
the gardening spirit and with gardening tradi¬ 
tions. I was born and reared under these 
influences, for my father was for upwards of 
thirty years in one establishment. My brother 
is at present head gardener at 1 Woodhall,' 
Downham Market; and though I myself am 
not professionally engaged in gardening, being, 
I may mention, occupied in responsible 
Friendly Society work, yet the love of horti¬ 
culture is a ruling passion with me, and the 
fact that I was practically the founder of the 
Sheffield Horticultural Society indicates, I 
think, the bias of my thoughts and tastes. As 
to the Sheffield Horticultural Society-” 
' We’ll come to that directly, if you don’t 
mind. But. first of all, is there nothing more 
you can tell me about yourself?” 
“ Well,” he r„ died hesitatingly, “ not much 
—nothing, .1 fear, which would interest any 
but my personal friends. I don’t much like 
the notion of publicity. But I may tell you 
that I induced the members of our society to 
subscribe towards the Sheffield marriage pre¬ 
sent to the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk, and 
had the honour of being present, with our 
treasurer, Mr. J. H. Gillmore, at the presen¬ 
tation and reception on that occasion. I 
greatly treasure this letter from Her Majesty 
the Queen,” he continued, unlocking a drawer 
and handing me the missive. “ It is an ac¬ 
knowledgment of a resolution adopted by on.* 
society durincr the King’s illness. But there, 
it’s a case with me of Mr. Dick and King 
Charles’ head—I find it difficult to detack 
from the society of which I am secretary any 
recent events of my life in the least worth 
mentioning.” 
Incidentally, during the course of the inter¬ 
view, I learned that Mr. Lewendon is a 
member of, and librarian to, the Sheffield 
Chrysanthemum Society, and also secretary to 
the Benevolent and Convalescent Home Fund 
of that society. Last year he organised a 
popular excursion to the Grand York Gala, 
and this year he is arranging for a big trip at 
cheap prices to the Shrewsbury Horticultural 
Show, to be held in August next. 
A handsome inscribed gold watch and a 
beautiful writing cabinet presented to him at 
different times are evidences of the estimation 
in which Mr. Lewendon’s past services in con¬ 
nection with local Friendly Society work is 
held; and the clock which deliberately 
measures out time in his study was given to 
him by appreciative fellow-citizens as some 
small token of their regard for his successful 
efforts to induce the City Council to undertake 
improvements in the Sharrow Yale district. 
Finally, I may say that Mr. Lewendon has 
been a prolific contributor to horticultural 
journals ; he has addressed many of the horti¬ 
cultural societies in Yorkshire and Derby¬ 
shire. and recently he organised a successful 
meeting in connection with the British 
Gardeners’ Association. Such are a few of the 
activities of the indefatigable secretary of 
Sheffield’s Floral and Horticultural Society. 
Sheffield's Horticultural Society has been in 
existence for some six years only, but probably 
no association of the kind has had a harder 
fight for success or has deserved success more. 
The first show, held on August 27th, 1900— 
less than four months after the idea was first 
mooted—and opened with considerable eclat 
by Mrs. S. Roberts, the then Lady Mayoress, 
was indeed financially a success, and from 
the point of view of exhibits a pronounced 
success; but for two years following the com¬ 
mittee were confronted by awkward, and what 
to a less courageous committee would have 
been naralysing, deficits. The second show 
was almost wrecked by a violent and incon¬ 
siderate storm ; the third show was held in 
bad weather, and irritating obstacles were 
raised by the Parks Committee to add to the 
difficulties of those who were engineering the 
exhibition. But in spite of these opposing 
elements the committee were undaunted, and 
the result of the fourth show was a small 
balance on the right side of the ledger, while 
last year’s show was the most successful of all. 
With certain reservations. Mr. Lewendon 
has not found that the moneyed people of Shef¬ 
field are particularly enthusiastic in matters 
floral, or at any rate in horticultural under¬ 
takings of this character ; hence the building 
up of the society has been correspondinglv 
difficult. But, after much uphill work, -the 
position of the Sheffield Floral and Horticul¬ 
tural Society may be described as satisfac¬ 
tory, and its prospects most encouraging;, for 
