February  27, 1896. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
191 
Continuing,  Mr.  Dean  said  that  they  considered  the  above  amount 
most  satisfactory,  but  a  further  sum  of  about  £150  was  required  before 
the  Committee  could  go  on  with  the  preparation  in  real  earnest.  This, 
he  hoped,  would  be  forthcoming,  in  order  that  the  great  Jubilee  of  the 
Chrysanthemum  Society  could  be  made  a  success,  which  he  hoped  would 
be  the  case,  and  that  above  all  a  financial  success. 
The  adoption  of  the  report  and  balance-sheet  was  then  moved  by 
the  Chairman,  seconded  by  Mr.  B.  Wynne,  and  carried  unanimously. 
On  the  motion  of  Mr.  B.  Wynne,  seconded  by  Mr.  C.  Harman  Payne, 
a  vote  of  thanks  was  accorded  to  Messrs.  T.  C.  Ward  and  G.  J.  Ingram, 
who  had  so  carefully  audited  the  accounts. 
The  Chairman  then  moved,  “That  this  meeting  of  members  has 
learned  with  great  gratification  that  Sir  Edwin  Saunders  has  kindly 
consented  to  be  elected  President  during  the  Jubilee  year,  and  thanks 
him  for  his  generous  support  of  the  Society  during  the  time  he  has 
filled  the  presidential  chair.”  Mr.  T.  W.  Sanders  seconded  the 
motion,  which  was  carried  with  acclamation. 
Mr.  G.  Gordon  proposed  that  Mr.  H.  J.  Yeitch  be  appointed  a  Vice- 
President  of  the  Society.  Mr.  R.  Dean  in  seconding  the  motion  spoke 
highly  of  the  services  rendered  by  Mr.  Veitch  both  to  this  Society  and 
horticulture  generally.  Carried.  On  the  proposition  of  Mr.  Waterer, 
seconded  by  Mr.  H.J.  Jones,  Mr.  J.  R.  Starling  was  re-elected  Treasurer, 
and  the  thanks  of  the  meeting  accorded  to  him  for  his  services.  Mr. 
Bevan  moved  that  Mr.  B.  Wynne  be  again  elected  Chairman  and  be 
thanked  for  his  indefatigable  efforts  on  behalf  of  the  Society  in  the 
past.  Mr.  H.  Cannell  seconded  the  motion,  which  was  carried  amidst 
applause.  Mr.  Wynne  briefly  replied,  thanking  those  present  for  the 
honour  they  had  done  him,  and  assured  them  so  far  as  he  was  able  he 
should  do  all  in  his  power  for  the  Jubilee  effort,  and  he  took  this  oppor¬ 
tunity  of  urging  every  other  member  to  render  all  possible  assistance 
in  order  that  in  after  years  it  might  be  looked  back  on  as  a  great  success. 
Mr.  Taylor  moved  the  re-election  of  Mr.  T.  W.  Sanders  as  Vice- 
Chairman  of  the  Committee,  which  was  seconded  by  Mr.  Whitty  and 
carried.  Mr.  Moorman  moved  that  Mr.  R.  Dean  be  re-elected 
Honorary  Secretary  of  the  Society,  and  Mr.  C.  Harman  Payne  Honorary 
Foreign  Corresponding  Secretary,  and  that  a  hearty  vote  of  thanks  be 
accorded  to  these  gentlemen.  The  proposition  was  carried  with 
acclamation,  and  both  briefly  and  suitably  replied.  Mr.  R.  Dean  moved 
that  Mr.  G.  J.  Ingram  be  re-elected  as  one  of  the  Auditors,  and  that 
Mr.  H.  Cutbush  be  elected  as  his  colleague  in  place  of  Mr.  T.  C.  Ward, 
who  is  unable  to  attend,  this  proposition  being  agreed  to. 
The  next  business  was  that  of  electing  the  Committee  for  the 
ensuing  year.  All  the  retiring  members  being  eligible,  they  were 
nominated  together  with  nine  others  whose  names  were  handed  in.  A 
poll  therefore  being  necessary,  Messrs.  Sanders,  Needs,  Bevan,  and  Taylor 
were  appointed  scrutineers,  and,  after  counting  the  voting  papers,  the 
following  twelve  were  declared  duly  elected,  the  number  of  votes  polled 
in  each  being  also  given  : — Messrs.  H.  J.  Jones,  6G  votes  ;  R.  Ballantine, 
63  ;  G.  Gordon,  62  ;  D.  B.  Crane,  57  ;  G.  Stevens,  57 ;  E.  Beckett,  56  ; 
N.  Davis,  56  ;  C.  Gibson,  53  ;  W.  Davy,  50  ;  J.  Wright  (Inner  Temple 
Gardens),  45  ;  J.  McKerchar,  36  ;  and  G.  Walker,  28.  As  no  other  business 
was  forthcoming  a  hearty  vote  of  thanks  to  the  Scrutineers  and  the 
Chairman  brought  a  most  harmonious  meeting  to  a  close. 
THE  LATE  MR.  JOHN  CHEAL. 
On  page  163  last  week  we  announced  the  death  of  this  well-known 
veteran  in  horticulture.  In  doing  so  we  inadvertently  printed  his 
Christian  name  incorrectly,  and  in  doing  so  apparently  misled  some  of 
our  contemporaries.  John  Cheal,  not  “  Joseph,”  was  born  at  Crawley 
in  1800.  The  “  Sussex  and  Surrey  Courier  ”  tells  us  that  his  father 
who  was  also  named  John,  established  a  thriving  grocery  business,  to 
which  “  young  John  ”  succeeded  about  1830.  To  this  business  he  added 
seed  stores,  which  formed  a  provincial  dep6t  for  farmers  and  gardeners. 
Eventually  he  bought  a  portion  of  Lowfield  Common,  and  engaged  in 
farming.  In  course  of  time,  to  quote  from  our  contemporary,  his  two 
sons,  Joseph  and  Alexander,  were  growing  to  manhood,  and  in  seeking 
to  make  provision  for  them  he  considered  he  saw  an  opening  for  a  first- 
class  firm  of  horticulturists.  Thus  it  was  that  in  1871  the  Lowfield 
Nurseries  were  opened.  The  acreage  was  in  a  small  way  at  first,  but  the 
idea  took  so  well  that  there  was  a  marked  increase  in  a  few  years.  This 
one  fact — if  we  had  no  more — would  surely  justify  the  claim  the  late 
Mr.  Cheal  had  of  being  a  far-seeing  man.  Before  his  eyes  closed  finally 
on  the  things  of  this  world  he  saw  around  him  one  of  the  finest  estab¬ 
lishments  of  its  kind  in  England.  True  it  is  that  for  some  years  he  had 
not  taken  an  active  part  in  the  management,  but  in  crediting  his  sons 
who  have  shared  this  responsibility  the  guiding  hand  should  not  be 
forgotten. 
Mr.  Cheal  was  always  of  a  shy  and  retiring  disposition,  and  rarely 
was  he  to  be  found  mixed  up  in  any  undertaking  outside  his  home.  He 
waB  a  prominent  member  of  the  Crawley  branch  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society — a  creation  of  his  father’s.  But,  more  than  all, 
he  loved  to  help  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  till  infirmity  compelled  him 
to  desist  he  was  a  regular  attendant  at,  and  a  zealous  supporter  of,  the 
little  meeting  house  at  Ifield. 
It  all  seems  so  long  ago  now  that  we  are  unable  to  appreciate  those 
stirring  events  amidst  which  John  Cheal  was  brought  up.  Nelson  was 
scouring  the  seas,  Bonaparte  was  scheming  the  invasion  of  England. 
Then  came  boyhood  and  school  life  at  Ackworth,  in  Yorkshire.  Till  he 
was  fifteen  years  of  age  the  world  was  in  the  thick  of  the  Napoleonic 
wars.  Those  who  lived  in  Sussex,  as  young  Cheal  did,  may  have  been 
more  than  usually  interested,  for  history  tells  us  there  was  a  current 
rumour  that  Napoleon  intended  to  land  somewhere  on  the  shores  of  this 
southern  county.  One  reminiscence  of  those  days  Mr.  Cheal  has  often 
brought  to  mind.  When  returning  from  Ackworth  school  in  1815  he 
saw  from  the  top  of  the  coach  the  long  white  flag  (about  24  feet)  flying 
from  the  Tower  of  Crawley  Church  signalising  the  victory  of  Waterloo. 
He  remembered,  too,  the  common  sight  of  the  Georges  (George  III.  and 
George  IV.)  driving  from  London  to  Brighton,  and  would  tell  how  he 
stood  outside  the  George  Hotel  at  Crawley,  where  their  Majesties  always 
lunched,  and  watched  the  changing  of  horses.  The  Coronation  of  Queen 
Victoria  took  place  when  Mr.  Cheal  was  a  young  man,  and  it  must  have 
been  with  a  ripened  scholarly  mind  he  viewed  those  exciting  social 
revolutions  which  have  since  from  time  to  time  taken  place  amongst  the 
English  people. 
Ackworth  School,  Yorkshire,  had  been  opened  about  thirty  years  when 
Mr.  Cheal  went  there  and  it  was  then,  as  it  is  now,  the  leading  school  of 
FIG.  28. — MR.  JOHN  CHEAL. 
the  Society  in  this  country.  In  the  latest  issue  of  the  “  Proceedings  of 
the  Ackworth  Old  Scholars’  Association,”  there  are  some  interesting 
particulars  concerning  the  late  Mr.  Cheal.  The  Secretary,  in  his  report 
for  1894-5,  says  :  “Another  Friend  is  a  real  Old  Scholar,  perhaps  the 
oldest  Ackworth  Scholar  living.  He  says  he  entered  the  school  in  1812, 
three  weeks  after  the  two  Elm  trees  were  planted  at  the  bottom  of  the 
‘  green  ’  to  commemorate  Robert  Whitaker’s  marriage  with  Hannah 
Dumbledon.  It  took  him  three  days  and  two  nights  to  get  to  Ackworth 
by  coach.” 
Further,  we  read  that  at  a  meeting  of  the  London  branch  “  Joseph 
Cheal,  of  Crawley — the  son  of  John  Cheal,  spoke  of  his  father  being 
very  much  interested  in  receiving  a  ‘  List  of  Ackworth  Teachers,’  and  he 
remembered  many  of  the  incidents  therein  related.  It  might  be 
interesting  to  the  meeting  if  he  mentioned  an  incident  connected  with  a 
general  meeting  more  than  half  a  century  ago.  His  father  had  seen  a 
young  Yorkshire  Friend,  to  whom  he  had  taken  a  fancy,  and  wishing  to  see 
her  again  he  set  off  to  attend  the  Ackworth  general  meeting  and 
returned  to  his  own  monthly  meeting  a  short  time  after.  One  of  his 
jocular  friends  at  this  monthly  meeting  whispered  round  to  the  others 
that  John  Cheal  was  to  come  before  the  meeting  for  going  down  into 
Yorkshire  fox-hunting.  When  the  business  came  on  John  Cheal 
‘  appeared  ’  before  the  meeting  to  declare  his  intention  of  taking  one 
Mary  Fox  in  marriage.  He  might  add  that  he  also  had  once  come  to 
attend  a  general  meeting  on  the  same  errand  as  his  father.” 
For  some  time  Mr.  Cheal  had  naturally  been  unable  to  take  an 
active  Bhare  in  the  business.  There  was  no  disease  beyond  the  ordinary 
ravages  of  years.  Since  Christmas  he  seemed  to  fail  more  perceptibly, 
and  Dr.  Martin,  his  medical  attendant,  began  to  observe  signs  which 
gave  him  anxiety.  About  a  fortnight  ago  Mr.  Cheal  caught  a  slight 
cold.  Still  nothing  untoward  was  apprehended  until  about  a  week 
before  the  close.  Yet  all  the  family  were  present  when  the  end  came, 
and  peacefully  and  calmly  the  soul  passed  away. 
Mr.  Cheal  made  no  secret  of  his  belief  that  care  of  the  body  pro- 
