Description:The letter above was sent by Mr. Henderson in April 1861 from Trentham Gardens, addressed to the Duke of Sutherland’s Chief Estate Agent George Loch. The letter describes ‘reducing the working expenses of the Garden’, a policy which George Granville William Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1828-1892), the third Duke of Sutherland, had recommended. The letter describes in detail the changes which Loch recommended to cut back expenditure on the gardens at Trentham.
Henderson refers to a reduction in the amount of ‘vegetables’ and flowers being produced for the household and the market. The number of heated stoves in the plant houses was also to be cut back, in order to reduce ‘the quantity of fuel’ being used. Coal was no longer to be carried by horse and cart from Longton, but to be ‘brought by canal’ so the number of horses required could also be reduced.
Loch also recommended reduction in expenditure by cutting back on mowing, ‘drying the lake’ when the family were not at Trentham, reducing the amount of labour by replacing ‘tender plants’ with ‘Evergreens’ and by selling more fruit and vegetables.
Henderson appears to have been opposed to the reduction of expenditure in the gardens which he refers to as ‘unpleasant work’. He comments that an increase in the amount of fruit and vegetables sold commercially would be difficult if there were to be cutbacks in labour, remarking ‘the crops will eventually not be so good’.
Contextual Information featured on pages relating to Trentham Gardens has been provided by Sue Gregory who has been instrumental in the research and selection of documents for this section. Sue has been part of the management team of Staffordshire Gardens & Parks Trust since its creation in 1992 and has over fourteen years of experience researching Trentham Gardens in the Sutherland Papers.