'She changed the face of London': statue to be unveiled of suffragist gardener

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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/may/01/she-changed-the-face-of-london-statue-to-be-unveiled-of-suffragist-gardener

‘She changed the face of London’: statue to be unveiled of suffragist gardener

Fanny Wilkinson designed 75 parks in the capital, the first UK female landscape gardener to be paid for her work

Donna Ferguson
Thu 1 May 2025 12.00 EDT

She was a proto-feminist pioneer who blazed a trail for female gardeners and changed the face of London by creating “green lungs” in the capital for Victorians suffering from pollution and overcrowding.

Now a charity is seeking to shine a light on Fanny Wilkinson, the UK’s first professional female landscape gardener, by unveiling the first ever statue of the suffragist at one of the 75 London parks she designed more than a century ago.
“Fanny was an incredibly important figure in her time – and she was really inspirational,” said Nicola Stacey, the director of Heritage of London Trust. “She trained as a gardener when women did not do so, and led the way for other women in being paid for her work, opening up opportunities for women in the profession of landscape design and gardening that, of course, many generations have since benefited from.”

In 1882, Wilkinson became the first female pupil of the newly formed Crystal Palace School of Landscape Gardening and Practical Horticulture: all her fellow students were male.

After graduating, she took an unpaid position as an “honorary” landscape gardener for the Metropolitan Public Gardens, Boulevard and Playground Association (MPGA), a new organisation founded by the philanthropist Lord Brabazon to facilitate the creation of public gardens and children’s playgrounds in London.

Two years later, in 1886, she had the courage – and self-belief – to write to Brabazon to say: “I feel it would be better for me to drop the ‘hon’ and make a charge which would fully cover all expenses.”

At this point, “she became the first professional female landscape gardener who was paid for her services, as opposed to advising for free”, Stacey said. “She then took on female employees and was a pioneering figure in the campaign for equal pay.”

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[Figarosmom]

1. Thought this was going to be

About Gertrude Jekyll.

Thank you for the interesting article. I love Great Britain for their gardens. It seems to be a part of their makeup, too have a garden.