Frances Perry

Who was Frances Perry?

Frances Mary Perry MBE VMH was a gardener, administrator, writer and broadcaster.

She was born Frances Everett in Enfield, Middlesex, where she lived most of her life at Bulls Cross. She was educated at Enfield County School and Swanley Horticultural College.

Her mother took her as a child to the Chelsea Flower Show. Her next-door neighbour, E. A. Bowles, Vice-Chairman of the Council of the Royal Horticultural Society, guided her interest in plants and in 1927 recommended her to Amos Perry, a local plant nurseryman. She worked in Perry's Hardy Plant Farm, soon managing his water-plant department and helping with exhibits at the Chelsea Flower Show. She married Perry's son Gerald, an expert on ferns and water plants. Through her work with Amos Perry she became knowledgeable about hardy perennials and is known particularly for her writings about them.

From 1943 to 1953 she was horticultural adviser to Middlesex County Council and later principal organiser for agricultural and horticultural education in Middlesex. In 1953 she was appointed Principal of Norwood Hall College for adult education, a post she occupied until 1967.