Beatrix Havergal

Beatrix Helen Havergal (born Grace Beatrix Helen Havergal, 1901-1980) was an English horticulturist.

In 1932 Havergal founded Waterperry School of Horticulture, a residential horticultural college for women. When she retired as principal in 1971, Waterperry School of Horticulture closed, though there remain gardens and a nursery there.

Early life and education Grace Beatrix Helen Havergal was born at Roydon Manor House in 1901, the second of three children born to the Revd. Clement Havergal (1854-1941) and his wife Eveline. She was also the great-niece of composer Frances Ridley Havergal.

Havergal was inspired by Willis to gravitate towards education. Whilst at Downe House, she met the school's housekeeper, Avice Sanders, with whom she would remain partnered for the rest of the latter's life. In 1927, they moved to a cottage in the grounds of Pusey House, Oxfordshire and first began to teach students. With less than £250 at the outset, the school supplemented its income by growing produce, which was sold at Swindon Market. The courses combined theory and practical instruction with high standards of efficiency. This training (radically new at the time), ensured that Havergal's reputation grew substantially.

After Havergal's death Roald Dahl wrote to Quentin Blake describing how Blake's drawing of the character of Miss Trunchbull from his children's novel 'Matilda' should be based on Havergal's stature and dress sense. A copy of this letter is held at the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. The photo Dahl was describing is also there, having been found in his filling cabinet in his writing shed. Dahl and Havergal are likely to have known one another due to their love of horticulture.

Waterperry In 1932, the school moved to Waterperry House, a small manor house in Waterperry, Oxfordshire, which originally was rented from Magdalen College. Havergal and Sanders purchased it in 1948. All students paid their own fees until 1958, when scholarships were granted by some county councils following recognition by the Board of Education. in 1960 and the Royal Horticultural Society Veitch Memorial Medal and Victoria Medal of Honour in 1965. For many years Havergal won gold medal for her exhibit of Royal Sovereign strawberries at Chelsea Flower Show.

Later life and retirement Avice Sanders died in 1970. In 1971, with her health waning, Havergal sold the estate, leading to the closure of the school. She lived from then on in a cottage in the grounds. She died at Tower House, Woolton Hill, in 1980, while visiting her brother. She was buried in the churchyard of St Mary's Church in Waterperry on 14 April.