James Kelway ? Happy 200th Birthday
James Kelway, the founder of Kelways Nurseries, was born on 2nd November 1815 in Pilton, Somerset.
His father William was Head Gardener on the Westholme estate, which was owned by Major Thomas Clerk, a senior figure in the East India Company. James was probably born in the gardener’s cottage, which is still there.
He was the third of four children. His older brother John became Mayor of Wells, and his sisters Sarah and Mary both married and settled down with local men. He was the only one to follow in his father’s footsteps.
After leaving school at the age of 13 he worked alongside his father for the next 5 years, learning his trade and getting to know the competitive world of flower shows. Then, at the tender age of 18, he was taken on by John Lee Lee, who had just inherited the Dillington estate, and had ambitious plans for redesigning the gardens. James became Head Gardener there and built up his experience over the next 17 years.
In January 1851 he bought a small nursery in Langport, and in May he left Dillington and moved to Langport to set up on his own. The rest is history!
What's New at Kelways
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Chelsea Update August 5th
September Flower Show Update - August 5th 7 Weeks to go! ''It’s been a few weeks since our last update charting the progress...
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Chelsea Update June 16th
We are growing plants for 6 show gardens at the new September Chelsea Flower Show. Two of the gardens are brand new and we will announce these in due...
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Chelsea Update June 2nd
Chelsea September 2021 Latest Update! We announced in our last update that we are growing plants for 6 show gardens at the new September Chelsea...
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Chelsea Flower Show Update 27th May
Chelsea Flower Show Update 27th May We are excited to announce that we are growing plants for 6 of the Show Gardens at the new September Show....
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Chelsea 2021 update November 19th
RHS Chelsea 2021, Gardens Revealed! Finally, we can announce some of the Show Gardens that we will be involved with for the 2021 Chelsea Flower...
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Chelsea 2021 Update October 21st
At the time of writing there is still nothing confirmed about the nature of the 2021 Chelsea Flower Show, other than the RHS saying that it will go...
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James Kelway ? Happy 200th Birthday
James Kelway, the founder of Kelways Nurseries, was born on 2nd November 1815 in Pilton, Somerset. His father William...
Read more