THE SCIENTIST OF ROSES

The family of Dr Charles Chamberlain Hurst, who was born in 1870, ran a family nursery in the Leicestershire village of Burbage. It had been found as a general nursery by his grandfather, Benjamin Snr, in 1773, before his father, Benjamin Jnr, took over the reins of running the family nursery. At this time they only grew a few roses. It was at this time that George Geary, who later bought the nursery off Dr Hurst arrived on the scene as an apprentice to Benjamin Jnr.

After assuming control of the nursery about 1900, with the help of Geary, Dr Hurst started conducting experiments with roses. These included dividing a piece of land into 10 rows of 100 roses. The roses planted in these rows varied in height and included Lady Hillingdon, a tea rose, and Hugh Dickson, a hybrid perpetual rose. Unfortunately, the outbreak of the First World War brought the end at that time of his research. Other research included the hybridisation of orchids and the breeding of poultry, rabbits and horses.

Micrugosa Alba - is the only rose he is known to have bred while at Burbage. A hybrid roxburghii rose, it was bred about 1910 and has white flowers with a mild fragrance. It grows to about 5' by 4'.

Having been in the 5th Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment, at the outbreak of the First World War he joined the Royal Observer Corps as Major Hurst.

Having returned to civilian life in 1922, he married his cousin, Rhoda, and they moved to Cambridge to continue his studies and research. At which time he sold the nursery to Geary. During his time in Cambridge, in which he and Rhoda had a son, John Gilbert Hurst (who became an eminent archaeologist) he bred/discovered a number of roses:

Cantab - a hybrid nutkana rose with deep pink flowers that have a white centre and grows to about 8 feet tall.

Cantabrigienes - is one of the two roses of his that are in our garden. It grows to about 17 feet tall and is a species cross rose that has yellowish white flowers. This variety is still commercially available from a number of specialist dealers.

Coryana - was named for a major benefactor of the Cambridge University Botanic Gardens, Richard Cory, and is was discovered by him in 1926. It grows to about 13 feet tall and has deep pink flowers that have a mild fragrance. It is the other of his roses in our garden. Still commercially available from specialist rose growers.

Doncasterii - has carmine-pink flowers and was named for Ernest Doncaster, who then ran J. Burrell & Co of the How House Nursery who introduced it. It grows to about 10 feet by 4 and is a hybrid moyesil rose.

Having been badly affected by finanical slump, he left Cambridge for Horsham in 1933 and was to die with his lifetime work uncompleted on December 27th 1947. Fortunately his wife, who was 27 years younger than him, was able to complete it for him. During his lifetime he had written a number of papers including one on the evolution of roses.