News update . . .

The Society’s talks programme will resume after a summer break. We are planning a series of online talks, as matters relating to the pandemic are still uncertain. The first talk will be on 20 September when James Marshall, former manager of Hounslow’s Local Studies & Archives, will speak about the history of the Great West Road. This promises to be very good as he is the expert, and has been working during the lockdowns on updating his long out-of-print book on the subject. Full details will be sent to members in early September with the rest of the Autumn Programme. Speakers are still to be finalised, but the other dates for your diary are 18 October, 15 November and 20 December 2021.

The thirtieth issue of our Journal will be ready to post to all paid-up B&CLHS members in early June and will be added to the bookshop elsewhere on this site soon afterwards.

AN ABSOLUTE PASSION: Rothschild orchid collections, 20 May 2021


This free online talk takes place on Thursday 20 May at 6.30pm. It is being promoted by the Friends of Gunnersbury Park & Museum. The event will last about an hour. There are still some places left – book a ticket here

The speaker, Francesca Murray, has researched the Rothschild family’s passion for orchids. The story begins at Gunnersbury (the first Rothschild garden in England) where Baroness Charlotte de Rothschild published a catalogue of her own rare orchids from around the world. Cultivating these strange exotics in the Gunnersbury glasshouses was highly experimental and devoted head gardeners shared their findings between the family estates.

Nathaniel de Rothschild and his son – the famous zoologist Walter Rothschild – took up orchidology at Tring Park too. Charlotte’s son, Leopold, presented George V with Gunnersbury orchids in a special Fabergé vase at his Coronation. Leopold’s son, Lionel (1884-1942), developed his first garden at the age of 5, and took Gunnersbury orchids and rhododendrons with him to his new garden at Exbury, Hampshire, in 1919. There his experiments in the scientific field of orchid hybridisation had resulted in a fine collection of 28,000 plants by World War 2.

This astonishing story provides a glimpse of how the Rothschilds’ investment in their Gunnersbury gardens paid off for the benefit of the wider horticultural community and is not to be missed!

Annual General Meeting, 7.30pm, 17 May 2021

Our Annual General Meeting will take place on-line on 17 May.  Please save the date!

The agenda and papers will be sent out directly to subscribing members only nearer the time to enable them to book their places. We are hoping to include a short talk after the business has been completed, but details of this have not yet been finalised.

When we met in person this was the occasion for distributing the Journal. We are pleased to report that issue no 30 is nearing completion and will be sent out by post after the meeting. Copies will also be made available for sale on the bookshop pages here by the end of May.

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