LILIES - RHS Lily Group

The 1932 Conference Show Schedule comprised over two dozen classes. The
first fifteen were for a single stem of lilies including (as then listed) LL. canadense,
croceum, Duchartrei var. Farreri, martagon, pardalinum, Philippinense var.
Formosanum, regale, Szovitsianum, x testaceum, and umbellatum followed by
classes for lilies in pots up to 12 in. in diameter, one for three lily species suited to
rock garden or alpine house, and two classes for substantial table arrangements
featuring lilies. Sadly the available records do not show the number of entries in
what might seem today an impossibly ambitious schedule.
Following the Conference, two entries in the Committee minutes bring to mind
the changes in social structure and attitudes which have taken place since 1933. First
Dr Stoker criticised Conference Regulation 37, the second part of which read:
“Prize money is paid to the exhibitor’s gardener (when known) unless the
exhibitor has informed the Secretary that he prefers some other arrangement.”
In reply to Dr Stoker, Sir William Lawrence said that such an arrangement was
common to all shows where money prizes were given. A matter of such fundamental
importance as this was duly referred to the Council but there is no record in the
minutes of the Lily Committee of the result of Council’s deliberation upon it!
Secondly, in the minutes of the same day’s meeting, it was simply reported
that the President (of the RHS) and the Chairman (of the Lily Committee) were to
meet to discuss “the advisability of publishing a list of the President’s guests at the
dinner which he gave on the first evening of the International Lily Conference”.
At the Council meeting of 25 October 1932, Stern had presented a memorandum
calling for the formation of a lily group: “Many members of the RHS and others
have asked me during the past year how to join the Lily Society! The Council will
remember that the Lily Committee was created primarily to avoid another new
Society being formed, but there is no doubt that there is a want among member
and the public to join some body devoted to lilies and their culture, where they
can air their views and hear other views on their especial subject”.
The objects of the Lily Group were to be: “to encourage the cultivation of lilies,
fritillaries and nomocharis by holding meetings for lectures and discussions, by
visiting gardens where these plants are well-grown, and by holding an annual
dinner for those interested in the three genera.” It was open to all Fellows and
Associates of the Society who wished to join with no extra subscription. The
inaugural meeting took place in the Old Hall on 21 March 1933. The first Group
visit was to the gardens of E.A. Bowles and Fred Stoker in July 1933.
An important feature of the Lily Committee’s activities during the immediately
pre-war years was its Lily Research Sub-Committee consisting of Stern, Cotton,
Stoker, Daniel Hall and Lawrence Ogilvie, who had reported to the Conference
on lily mosaic disease. The first scientific activity of the Lily Committee was to
31