The Duke of Devonshire

Sometimes, when I look over our ever-increasing collection of orchids, enjoying the many lovely flowers, I think that all of us – as orchid growers – owe a debt of gratitude to the man who made orchid-growing fashionable. He was William George Spencer Cavendish (1790 – 1858), the sixth Duke of Devonshire. He was born not only with a silver spoon but with a golden one. He was rich and handsome, of the highest nobility, a liberal with a strong social conscience, the English Regent’s best friend, known for giving extravagant parties, a patron of the arts, Lord Chamberlain, Knight of the Garter – the list goes on. However, he had one handicap which grew progressively worse: he was deaf and therefore became lonely.

One of his estates bordered on the property of the Royal Horticultural Society. In his lonely walks, the Duke became interested in horticulture and therefore developed gardening as his greatest solace. He started to collect all the latest discoveries of the plant kingdom, which eventually led him to orchids. He sent out collectors, hired gardeners and built conservatories, the largest of which measured 300’ x 145’ x 50’ high and served as the model for the famous Crystal Palace in London. The duke was the elected president of the RHS and his orchid hobby became the status symbol of the wealthy. His Chatsworth Collection, containing the largest number and the rarest of orchids known at the time, was the model for all other collections. Today we may collect orchids on a more modest scale, but the disease, the bug that infest us, is a noble one, indeed.

Ingrid Schmidt-Ostrander - Canadian Orchid Congress