Harry Veitch

Sir Harry James Veitch (24 June 1840 – 6 July 1924) before attending the course of botanical lectures given by Dr. John Lindley at the University College, London, where he learnt the management of the seed business. Shortly afterwards, he joined the staff of the French nursery firm, Vilmorin-Andrieux & Co., Paris, where he managed the seed department.

Veitch's responsibility, energy, enthusiasm, and keenness in business surprised even those who knew him best. He expanded the business, establishing nurseries at Coombe Wood (trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants), Feltham (garden plants, florists' flowers, and seed production) and Langley (tree and bush fruits and, later, orchids). With Harry in control, the firm entered into the most prosperous period of its history.

The gardens at Caerhays Castle, Cornwall, the home of John Charles Williams, (M.P. for Truro), was planted with seeds donated by Harry Veitch from those brought back from China by Ernest Henry Wilson in 1903.

The grounds of Birr Castle, Ireland were planted with trees and shrubs purchased at the sale of Veitch's London nursery in 1914. Included within this collection were a number of Wilson introductions from China; an exceptionally rare Carrierea calycina, specimens of Rhododendron yunnanense and a very fine Magnolia delavayi still survive today.

Honours

For his services to horticulture, King George V conferred the honour of knighthood upon him in 1912; this was the first time a horticulturist had been given a knighthood.

He also received the Order of the Crown from the Belgian King, the French Legion of Honour, the French Isidore Saint-Hilaire Medal, and the United States' George R. White Gold Medal for eminent services to horticulture. Apart from the knighthood, probably the greatest honour accorded Sir Harry Veitch was the award of the Victoria Medal of Honour in 1906, given by the Royal Horticultural Society, with which he had long been associated and of whose Orchid Committee he was chairman for many years.

Death and legacy Lady Veitch died in 1921, and soon afterward Sir Harry left off his horticultural activities and lived in complete retirement at his homes in Kensington and East Burnham Park, Slough, Buckinghamshire, where he died on 6 July 1924, at the age of eighty-four. In his obituary, published in the Gardeners' Chronicle on 12 July 1924 it was stated, "Sir Harry Veitch may be regarded as the most outstanding figure in contemporary horticulture, and during the last fifty years no one has exercised so great an influence on all things pertaining to gardening".

During his lifetime Sir Harry and his wife amassed a substantial art collection, which also included decorative art. On his death he bequeathed the entire collection to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter, including works by Myles Birket Foster (1825–1899) and Kate Greenaway (1846–1901).

At the end of every July, the Royal Albert Memorial Museum holds the "Veitch Memorial Lecture ", a plant-orientated lecture in memory of Sir Harry Veitch.

Sir Harry's name lives on, with the beautiful Masdevallia harryana and Masdevallia veitchiana, which were discovered by Veitchian collectors, being named in his honour. Other plants named in his honour include Oncidium harryanum ("Harry's Odontoglossum"), Viburnum harryanum ("Sir Harry Veitch's Viburnum") and Nepenthes × harryana.