Fanny Wilkinson

Fanny Wilkinson was born in 1855 in Manchester, the daughter of Matthew Eason Wilkinson, a prominent doctor in the city and a president of the British Medical Association, and his wife, Louisa. She was educated ‘privately and abroad’, but by the end of 1883 she had completed an 18-month course at the Crystal Palace School of Landscape Gardening and Practical Horticulture in London, at a time when such classes were intended only for men. She later said that 'I was always fond of gardening as a child, and I took it up because I felt it suited me, and I wanted to do something …’. She may have been inspired by the grounds of Middlethorpe Hall, the family residence in Yorkshire.[2]

In 1884 she was elected as honorary gardener to the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association but two years later this was changed to a professional position for which she was paid a fee. In an interview in 1890 she commented that ‘I certainly do not let myself be underpaid as many women do. … I know my profession and charge accordingly, as all women should do.’[2] Among the many public gardens across London that she planned and that were laid out under her supervision were Goldsmith’s Square, Hackney; Myatt’s Fields Park, Camberwell;[3] Paddington Street Gardens, Marylebone; Meath Gardens, Bethnal Green; and the churchyard of St John, Smith Square, Westminster.

In 1887 Fanny Wilkinson was also working as a landscape designer to the Kyrle Society, which aimed to ‘bring beauty to the lives of the poor’.[4] Through the society she was commissioned to design Vauxhall Park, opened in 1890.[5] This was created on land saved from development and purchased by Henry Fawcett and Millicent Garrett Fawcett; the latter, along with her sisters, became good friend of Fanny.[6] Fanny's sister Louisa married Millicent’s brother.

In 1902 she also became the first female Principal of Swanley Horticultural College and in that post she encouraged other women to enter the profession. She was also a founder member of the Women’s Agricultural and Horticultural International Union (1899), through which women were recruited to sustain agriculture and food production during the First World War.