Orchid grower!

[laroc]

Hello all,
I have an ancestor who is listed as an orchid grower on the census and I have been trying to find out a little bit more about him and his profession? Would he feature in any of the directories for the county and if so under what heading?
To my mind back in the 1890's orchids would have been difficult and expensive to grow and buy so where would I find more information on him?
I have tried emailing a current grower of orchids and an orchid society found via the internet to see if there is or was a directory of orchid growers from the 1890/1900's but have not had any replies. I have also looked at the RHS web- site but they do not seem to have a general question email only dedicated emails for those members with horticultural problems.
He lived in the Twickenham area all his married life and despite looking at all the censuses for the time scale he does not seem to have had children but trained up one of his nephews to become an orchid grower.
Any help and advice would be welcomed.
Many thanks
Carol

[AnnB]

Hello Carol
You may find that Kew might be able to help you. I found part of their site dedicated to orchids (including brief history and a dedicated e-mail link) at
http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/scihort/orchids/history.html It may be that they are only concerned with orchids at Kew, but they may be able to point you in the right direction.
That area of South London/Surrey was home to a lot of market gardens. Some of my husband's ancestors were market gardeners in the Chiswick/Hammersmith area for many years.
Best wishes
Ann

[laroc]

Hello Ann
Thankyou so much for the advice I have had a quick look at the web-link you gave me and it looks promising and certainly worth an email to see if they may have some lists of former orchid growers.
Thankyou once again.
Carol

[AnnB]

Glad to be of help :)
Best wishes
Ann