John Alfred Codrington

Lt Col John Alfred Codrington (28 October 1898 – 25 April 1991) was a career soldier with a life-long interest in plants and flowers.

He was born in London, the son of Lieutenant General Sir Alfred Codrington (1854–1945) and Adela Harriet née Portal (1859–1935).

As a boy aged 6–7 he painted four sets of flowers, nineteen paintings in all. The interest never left him and, while serving, he would write long letters to Wild Flower Magazine.[1]

Educated at Harrow, Christ Church, Oxford and Strasbourg University; he served with the French Red Cross in France, 1915-1916; then attended Royal Military College, Sandhurst in 1916-1917; and was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards, his father's regiment, in 1917. He served on the Western Front with 3 Bn, Coldstream Guards, 1917-1918;and was on garrison duty in Cologne, Germany 1918-1919. In 1920 he was appointed Aide de Camp to Lt Gen Sir Tom Bridges in Smyrna, Turkey, 1920. He served in Turkey, in Syria as British Liaison Officer to French forces; was attached to French Army and the French Foreign Legion; served in the Sudan and Egypt; was Aide de Camp to FM Sir Philip Walhouse Chetwode Commander-in-Chief of the Army in India from 1933-1935; retired in 1937 until 1939 when he was attached to the Foreign Office; Assistant Chief of Staff, Gibraltar, 1942-1943; Special Liaison Officer, Algiers, 1943-1944; Honorary Lt Col in 1948.[2]

In 1936 he married Primrose Harley with a shared interest in gardens and in painting; they divorced in 1942.

In the 1950s and 60s he wrote a set of 'botanical maps and directions' for over 300 scarce and rare plants in England and Scotland.[1]

In 1989, he was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society Veitch Memorial Medal in gold.[1]

He died at his London home in 1991.