Talk:Harold Frederick Comber

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The following was posted to Harold Frederick Comber:

HAROLD FREDERICK COMBER A.L.S

Harold was the eldest child and only son of James Comber and Ethel Annie, ne Lambert. James and Ethel Annie had met when he was employed at Drinkstone Park and she was a pupil teacher about to go to Norwich Diocesan Training College where she passed with Honours in English and gained 100% marks for needlework. She studied Botany and interested James in the subject, giving him a copy of John’s “Flowers of the Field”. I [i.e. V.A.Charman] possess her copy dated 1891. They were married in August 1896 and H.F.C was born on 31st December in the following year at Nymans Gardens in the parish of Staplefield, Sussex. H.F.C. grew up in a botanical atmosphere while the gardens at Nymans were being made (Mr. Messel had bought the estate in 1895) and planted with specimens from all parts of the world. Educated at Handcross Council School until I think 12 years of age, then Ardingly College for two years. He gained a form prize for French, but failed his Oxford Locals. The school fees were paid 50% by Mrs Messel Senr., and the remainder by his father’s journalistic effort edited by his mother. Except in height, he favoured his mother’s family in features and short sight. His mother was meticulous in all she did. She was loving, patient and forgiving and a wonderful teacher. I think it was from her that he inherited the ability to interest others and to teach. His father was a keen disciplinarian - he expected and even exacted our [i.e. the three children’s] best effort and both encouraged us in achievement. Keen observation and retentive memory are qualities he probably derived from his grandmother Jane Comber, nee Browne. H.F.C. won both the Handcross 1st Prize (5/-) and the Cuckfield 1st Prize (7/6) for Wild Flower Collections, 14 years and under, in the last year they were open to him. He had spent a holiday with his Mother in Suffolk botanizing and found several “new” plants. After leaving Ardingly he was employed under his father for a year or possibly two, during which time he visited other gardens with his father, amongst them Leonardslee. The owner, Sir Edmund Loder, recommended him to his friend Mr. Henry Elwes of Colesbourne Park, Gloucestershire (Co-author of Trees of Great Britain) Harold pleased his employer by growing one of his favourite plants well. This was Cerepagia, a stove plant. Mr. Elwes suggested that Harold should write an article for the Gardener’s Chronicle, saying “Bring it up to me before you send it off.” It was accepted and published: He was then seventeen. He attested in Gloucester under Lord Derby’s scheme, and passed A1. When he received his calling up papers he transferred to Sussex, came home, jumped over the hedge by The Clover Patch, landed on a sandstone boulder in the lane and put his knee out. The result was that he was downgraded to C1. He was then directed to work of national importance, namely hardening and tempering parts of Lewis guns at Lanston Monotype Works, Earlswood. After the war he went to Bletchingly Castle Gardens, Surrey. He was next sponsored to Edinburgh Botanic Gardens by Sir Edmund Loder and Mr. Elwes (1921 or possibly earlier - this could be checked with Sir George Taylor). There was an early photograph taken at the Botanics, dated May 1921. Whilst there he wrote an article on the sterility of Rhododendrons - a copy of which was given by Mrs.V.A.Charman to R.Comber [who still has it]. There was also a photograph taken at Malta House, Edinburgh, in 1922. H.F.C. went on plant - hunting expeditions to the Andes in 1925 and 1926. He married Lilian Bertha Boughtwood in March 1928. He was employed at Galloway House Gardens, and went on a plant - hunting expedition to Tasmania in 1930. He worked on papers at Edinburgh Botanic Gardens while living at Blackhall, Edinburgh. Mary Clover Comber was 4 months old and weighed 14 lbs. at the time [i.e. May/June 1933] [H.F.C. later managed Burnham (Bucks) Lily Nursery for W.A.Constable Ltd., of Tunbridge Wells. He took many lily photographs for the catalogues. During the 1939-45 war a minimal stock of lilies was maintained while the nursery became a market garden producing food to help the war effort. Crops grown included onions, sweetcorn, squashes and pumpkins (for the nearby Canadian hospital), tomatoes, lettuces and other salad crops. After the war he moved for a short period to Exbury Gardens for Edmund de Rothschild and then for another short period to R.H.Bath Ltd. at Wisbech in the Isle of Ely. He then went to work (again in lilies) for Jan de Graaf at the Oregon Bulb Farms in Gresham, Oregon. He died in 1969.] [This note was written by H.F.C’s sister, Mrs V.A.Charman. It has been transcribed with very slight editing by R.Comber, who has added those parts which are in square brackets]

If HFC was only at Ardingly for 2 years these must have been 1911 - 1912 - 1913 since a bill is dated April 1911 and a report is dated December 20th 1912. Presumably if his school fees were paid 50% by Mrs Messel Senr., and the remainder by his father’s journalistic effort edited by his mother, this would only have been for the two years he was at the
 * Note added in 1995 by R.Comber

Copy-pasting here and deleting there. —Justin ( koavf ) ❤T☮C☺M☯ 18:23, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

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