The language of flowers has recently attracted so much attention, that an acquaintance with it seems to be deemed, if not an essential part of a polite education, at least a graceful and elegant accomplishment. A volume furnishing a complete interpretation of those meanings most generally attached to flowers, has therefore become a desirable, if not an essential part of a gentleman’s or a lady’s library. In the manual now offered to the public, an attempt has been made to comprise all that is important in the way of interpretation in a reasonable compass, and to adorn this part of the work with such quotations from the best poets of our language, both native and foreign, as have a direct and graceful reference either to the peculiarities of the flowers, or to the sentiments which they are made to express. The outline of Botany placed at the end of the volume will be found to contain a sufficiently clear exposition of the Linnean system to explain fully the scientific terms and the classification used in the body of the work.
On the occasion of her marriage to Prince William, in April 2011, the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, used the traditional language of flowers to select the combination of flowers and herbs for her bouquet. The main component of the bouquet, lily of the valley, represents that which is “trustworthy.” Myrtle, another flower selected for the bouquet, has traditionally been included in royal wedding bouquets since Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Victoria carried it in her wedding bouquet in 1858. The myrtle in Kate Middleton’s bouquet was picked from a tree planted by Queen Victoria at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight in 1845. Myrtle represents “hope and love.” And the sweet william in her bouquet? I think we can guess why she chose that!
Although we still use certain flowers to express emotions—red roses, for example, being the ultimate expression of love—the language and meaning of flowers has largely been forgotten. Where we might now go to the florist’s shop and select a bouquet based on color preference or how a particular flower looks, the Victorians selected their flowers so very carefully. In an increasingly hectic world where social media is such a dominant form of communication, there is a part of me that mourns the loss of the hopelessly romantic notion of floriography. Through writing A Memory of Violets and sharing the meaning of the flowers hidden among the pages of Flora’s journal illustrated so beautifully at the start of each “part” of the novel, I hope that I have reawakened a little piece of history and have given the flowers a chance to speak once again.
Some popular flowers and herbs and their meanings:
Pink carnation—I will never forget you
Red carnation—my heart breaks
Daffodil—new beginnings
Daisy—innocence
Purple hyacinth—please forgive me
White hyacinth—beauty
Ivy—fidelity
Lavender—mistrust
Lilac—first emotions of love
Lily—majesty
Lily of the valley—return of happiness
Mignonette—your qualities surpass your charms
Michaelmas daisy—farewell
Moss rose—confession of love
Oregano—joy
Pansy—you are in my thoughts
Peony—anger
Primrose—I can’t live without you
Red rose—love
Pink rose—grace
Yellow rose—infidelity
Rosemary—remembrance
Snowdrop—consolation; hope
Stock—you will always be beautiful to me
Violets—faithfulness
Extract from Flora’s Lexicon taken from Catharine Harbeson Waterman, Chatsworth Vintage (Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co., 1852).
Flower meanings from Mandy Kirkby, A Victorian Flower Dictionary: The Language of Flowers Companion (Ballantine Books, 2011).
The Story Behind the Book
WAY BACK IN 2010, I had a notion to write a book about flower sellers in London. Perhaps it was driven by my love of Eliza Doolittle (I did, after all, play Eliza in the school production of My Fair Lady at the tender age of seventeen). Perhaps it was those lazy Sunday afternoons spent pottering around Covent Garden when I lived in London. Whatever the reason, I was drawn to the lives of the flower sellers—but it took a while to discover my story.
After dabbling in some research books and online sites about everything Victorian, I discovered the work of the social researcher Henry Mayhew. I found extracts from his writings online and was immediately drawn to his transcribed interviews with London’s street sellers. I picked up a copy of London Labour and the London Poor and found myself folding down the corner of every page because I wanted to go back to it and read more. As I read the account of two orphan flower sellers—sisters—my heart leaped. I knew immediately that it was their story I wanted to tell.
From there, I followed the trail of bread crumbs to the fascinating life of the Victorian philanthropist John Groom and his incredible work to support the watercress and flower sellers who worked around his Clerkenwell home by giving them an occupation that would remove them from the streets. Discovering the history of Groom’s “Crippleage” and the blind and disabled girls and women who produced artificial flowers for a queen was like finding buried treasure.
In 2012 I visited the London Metropolitan Archives in Clerkenwell, where a vast amount of information about John Groom and Alexandra Rose Day is held. I returned home to Ireland with a head full of stories and characters. It was simply incredible to see photographs of the young children at the orphanage in Clacton and the girls and women in the flower workrooms in Clerkenwell. To see their handwriting on the simple postcards Groom produced to promote their work, to read accounts of their daily routine and their work, to walk the street where they’d lived, to hold one of the pink Alexandra roses that had been made a hundred years earlier—it was all very humbling and hugely inspiring. A Memory of Violets was under way.
With the exception of Albert Shaw, who was based on John Groom, the characters in the novel are fictional. Florrie and Rosie were inspired by the many heartbreaking accounts of street children whose harrowing tales are recorded, in their own words, in Henry Mayhew’s “masterpiece of personal inquiry and social observation” and in numerous other accounts of Victorian street life.
The inhabitants of Violet House are drawn from my imagination and from stories told in two fascinating pieces of work: Reminiscences of a Flower Girl and More Than One Mountain to Climb. Both were written by former flower girls who had lived and worked at John Groom’s Edgeware estate from the 1930s onward. They provide a fascinating insight into how these incredible women lived and worked together.
Way back in 2010, I had a notion to write a book about flower sellers in London. I simply had no idea of the amazing stories that were waiting to be told.
P.S. The name Albert Shaw was derived from Queen Victoria’s much-loved husband, Albert, and the surname of the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, who wrote Pygmalion, in which he created the unforgettable character of Eliza Doolittle, the most well-known flower seller of all.
John Groom: The Real Albert Shaw
MY CHARACTER ALBERT SHAW is based on John Groom, a man who deserves to be acknowledged in his own right.
John Groom grew up in Clerkenwell, London. Raised in a happy Christian home, he had a strong faith and, despite his apprenticeship as a silver engraver, always felt he had another calling.
In the streets and markets around his home, John was regularly exposed to the lives of the young watercress and flower sellers, many of whom were disabled or deformed. Many were born this way as a result of diseases that were rife amid the unsanitary conditions of London’s slum housing. Others had worked in factories as very young children and suffered terrible accidents. Unable to take up other occupations because of their disabilities, the children turned to selling on the streets, as this was the only way to make a living without begging or stealing.
At the age of twenty-one, John started his own engraving business from his home on Sekforde Street, but he
still knew his calling lay in helping the street sellers. When he was invited to become superintendent of a local Christian mission, visiting people in his district and offering practical and spiritual help, his life changed forever.
From the humble beginnings of a hired room at Covent Garden, where he would provide hot cocoa and bread and butter to the street sellers, John’s ambitious plans led him to the idea that the flower sellers could make artificial flowers. From 1866 in small workrooms in Harp Alley, to Woodbridge Chapel Hall, to a dedicated factory on Sekforde Street, the Watercress and Flower Girls’ Christian Mission (initially known as John Groom’s Crippleage) was formed. With the support of patrons such as Lord Shaftesbury, the mission went from strength to strength. In 1890 John’s attention turned to helping London’s orphans, and the Flower Village at Clacton was established.
In 1912 the work and recognition of the flower girls reached new heights when they were asked to make roses for Queen Alexandra Rose Day. On June 26, thousands of society ladies took to the streets carrying baskets of roses. Over thirty thousand pounds was collected for the hospitals from the sale of the roses. This was the first charitable “flag day” of its kind—the forebear to all the familiar events we see today, such as Daffodil Day, Poppy Day, and other charitable collections days.
After his death in 1919, John Groom’s name continued to be associated with assisting the disabled. In 1932 the organization moved to a new premises at a large estate in Edgeware, North London, where the flower girls continued to live and work. During the war years in the 1940s, they even turned their skills to producing munitions and rivets instead of flowers.
John Groom’s legacy continues as the organization Livability, the United Kingdom’s largest Christian disability charity, which aims to provide disabled and disadvantaged people real choice about how they live their lives. Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, is the charity’s patron.
The Alexandra Rose Charities also still operates today. Since 2013 its aim has been to work with the London Food Board in an attempt to bring about positive change in food-related issues affecting lower-income families. The charity’s patron is Princess Alexandra, the Honorable Lady Ogilvy—great-granddaughter of the charity’s founder, Queen Alexandra.
John Groom’s impact on the lives of the watercress and flower sellers and on London’s orphans was profound. He was a true pioneer in his work to assist those least fortunate in society, and it is testament to his vision and dedication that his legacy continues to this day.
Reading Group Discussion Questions
1. The role of the “little mother” was very common among London’s poor, with the eldest siblings (often no older than six or seven years themselves) taking responsibility for younger sisters and brothers. What was your response to reading about Flora’s life and her relationship with Rosie? What are your thoughts about the lives of child street sellers in Victorian England?
2. The unique relationship between sisters is explored throughout the novel. To what extent do the relationships between Tilly and Esther, and Florrie and Rosie differ? Are there any ways in which they are similar?
3. Marguerite Ingram is determined to raise Violette as her own child. Do you think she is justified in her conviction that this is the best thing for the child? Is she right to keep the truth from Violette for so many years?
4. While Tilly’s mother cannot find love for her in the same way she does for Esther, Marguerite loves Violette almost instantly. Why is this? How have their different experiences of motherhood influenced the two women’s emotions?
5. The novel is written in alternating periods, Tilly’s story in 1912 and that of Florrie, Rosie/Violette, and Marguerite from the late 1800s. In what ways do the two story lines reflect each other and in what ways do they differ?
6. One of the main themes of the novel is forgiveness. Do you think Violette should forgive Marguerite for hiding the truth about her past? Should Tilly be forgiven for her feelings toward Esther? Should Esther forgive Tilly for the accident? Should Tilly forgive her step-mother for her feelings toward her?
7. There are many other themes in the novel—second chances, hope, family bonds, overcoming adversity. Which themes resonated with you the most?
8. Disability was very much a hidden or ignored part of society in Victorian London. The Flower Homes and the orphanage were pioneering approaches to assisting those who were disadvantaged. Now that you have read the novel, what are your thoughts about attitudes toward disability in Victorian England? How have attitudes toward disability changed?
9. The language of flowers was well known among the Victorians, and the flowers hidden within Florrie’s journal convey very specific messages and emotions. What are your thoughts about the “language of flowers”?
10. Landscape plays a large part in the storytelling of the novel, with the settings moving from the cramped streets of London to the mountains of the Lake District and the open seascapes of Clacton. How do these landscapes reflect the emotions of the characters?
11. Through flower making, the girls and women of the Flower Homes were given a way out of hardship and a way to become independent. Why did Albert Shaw insist on the girls working for a living, rather than simply providing them with charity?
Read on
More from Hazel Gaynor
THE GIRL WHO CAME HOME
* * *
Ireland, 1912 . . .
Fourteen members of a small village set sail on RMS Titanic, hoping to find a better life in America. For seventeen-year-old Maggie Murphy, the journey is bittersweet. Though her future lies in an unknown new place, her heart remains in Ireland with Séamus, the sweetheart she left behind. When disaster strikes, Maggie is one of the few passengers in steerage to survive. Waking up alone in a New York hospital, she vows never to speak of the terror and panic of that fateful night again.
Chicago, 1982 . . .
Adrift after the death of her father, Grace Butler struggles to decide what comes next. When her great-grandmother Maggie shares the painful secret about Titanic that she’s harbored for almost a lifetime, the revelation gives Grace new direction—and leads both her and Maggie to unexpected reunions with those they thought lost long ago.
Inspired by true events, The Girl Who Came Home poignantly blends fact and fiction to explore the Titanic tragedy’s impact and its lasting repercussions on survivors and their descendants.
Click here to buy The Girl Who Came Home.
Credits
Cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa
Cover photograph © by Nadja Pollack/Arcangel Images
Author photograph © by Deasy Photographic
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A MEMORY OF VIOLETS. Copyright © 2015 by Hazel Gaynor. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
ISBN 978-0-06-231689-9
EPub Edition FEBRUARY 2015 ISBN 9780062316905
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Hazel Gaynor, A Memory of Violets
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