Anne Cocker on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Anne Cocker (born Anne Gowen Rennis; 25 May 1920 – 21 November 2014) was a Scottish rose breeder from
In the early 1960s, the Cockers decided to specialise in the breeding and growing of new rose varieties. Their early rose breeding successes include, 'Morning Jewel' (1968), 'Rosy Mantle' (1968) and 'White Cockade' (1969). The bright red hybrid tea rose, 'Alec's Red' (1970), won the Royal National Rose Society's (RNRS) President's International Trophy in 1970. In 1976, Alec was granted a Royal Warrant as supplier of the Queen's bare root roses. Alec's most famous new rose variety, 'Silver Jubilee', was named with permission of the Queen to celebrate her 25-year reign. Cochran introduced the new rose variety in 1978, the year after Alec died of a heart attack. After Alec's death, Cocker assumed sole ownership of the nursery, later expanding the business. She continued to develop new rose varieties well into her eighties.
Cocker won awards for her successful new rose varieties. She inherited Alec's Royal Warrant, and later served as president of the Aberdeen Association of Royal Warrant Holders. Cocker earned an international reputation for her roses, including 'Remember Me' (1979), 'Braveheart' (1993), and 'Heart of Gold' (2001). Cocker specialised in unusually coloured and patterned rose varieties. Her work had a major influence on
Rosa Alecs Red 2019-06-06 9203.jpg, 'Alec's Red' (1970)
Rosa_sp.124.jpg, 'Gloriette' (1979)
Rosa_sp.46.jpg, 'Berliner Luft' (1985)
Fyvie_Castle_Rose._(14678386117).jpg, 'Fyvie Castle' (1985)
Rosa_sp.142.jpg, 'Honey Bunch' (1990)
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
, Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
. Cocker and her husband, Alexander Morison Cocker, were owners of the nursery, James Cocker & Sons. From the 1960s to the 2000s, the Cockers introduced more than 100 new rose varieties. Cocker continued to breed roses until her eighties, winning multiple horticultural awards.
Early life
Cocker was born on 25 May 1920, in atenement
A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...
in Aberdeen, Scotland, the daughter of John and Barbara Rennie. Her father worked as a granite mason and draughtsman. Cocker attended Aberdeen Grammar School
Aberdeen Grammar School is a state secondary school in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is one of thirteen secondary schools run by the Aberdeen City Council educational department.
It is the oldest school in the city and one of the oldest grammar school ...
, while also working at Milne's licensed grocers. After graduating from school, she was hired full-time at the grocers. At the beginning of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, Cocker joined the Civil Defence Service
The Civil Defence Service was a civilian volunteer organisation in Great Britain during World War II. Established by the Home Office in 1935 as Air Raid Precautions (ARP), its name was officially changed to the Civil Defence Service (CD) in 1941. ...
, serving as an ambulance driver. Through her volunteer work, she met Alexander Morrison Cocker, a fellow Civil Defense Service volunteer, and the owner of James Cocker & Sons, an Aberdeen nursery. They later became engaged, and after the war formed a new nursery business using Cocker's £80 war grant. The couple delayed their marriage until 1952, waiting until their new company was thriving. Cocker and Alec expanded their business in 1959, when they bought a larger property on the outskirts of Aberdeen.
Rose breeding
In the early 1960s, the Cockers decided to specialise in the breeding and growing of new rose varieties. Their early rose breeding successes include, 'Morning Jewel' (1968), 'Rosy Mantle' (1968) and 'White Cockade' (1969). The bright red hybrid tea rose, 'Alec's Red' (1970), won the Royal National Rose Society's (RNRS) President's International Trophy in 1970. In 1976, Alec was granted a Royal Warrant as supplier of the Queen's bare root roses. Alec's most famous new rose variety, 'Silver Jubilee', was named with permission of the Queen to celebrate her 25-year reign. Cochran introduced the new rose variety in 1978, the year after Alec died of a heart attack. After Alec's death, Cocker assumed sole ownership of the nursery, later expanding the business. She continued to develop new rose varieties well into her eighties.
Cocker won awards for her successful new rose varieties. She inherited Alec's Royal Warrant, and later served as president of the Aberdeen Association of Royal Warrant Holders. Cocker earned an international reputation for her roses, including 'Remember Me' (1979), 'Braveheart' (1993), and 'Heart of Gold' (2001). Cocker specialised in unusually coloured and patterned rose varieties. Her work had a major influence on Tom Carruth
Tom Carruth is an American rose hybridizer, who has created more than 100 rose varieties, including eleven All-America Rose Selections (AARS). He is currently the E.L. and Ruth B. Shannon Curator of the Rose Collections at the Huntington Library ...
, an American, award-winning rose hybridizer.
Cocker was appointed Burgess of the Guild of Aberdeen in 1983. In 1995, the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society awarded Cocker the Scottish Horticultural Medal for outstanding services to Scottish horticulture. In 1999, Cocker was the recipient of the RNRS's most prestigious award, the Dean Hole Medal. In 2001 she was awarded the Queen Mother's Royal Warrant, thought to be the last Royal Warrant granted by the Queen Mother. In 2009, Cocker was awarded the People's Choice Award, at the Glasgow International Rose Trials, for her hybrid tea rose
Hybrid tea is an informal horticultural classification for a group of garden roses. The first hybrid tea roses were created in France in the mid-1800s, by cross-breeding the large, floriferous Hybrid Perpetuals with the tall, elegant Tea roses. ...
, 'With All My Love'.
Cocker died 21 November 2014, at the age of 94, in Banchory
Banchory (, sco, Banchry, gd, Beannchar) is a burgh or town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is about west of Aberdeen, near where the Feugh River meets the River Dee.
Prehistory and archaeology
In 2009, a farmer discovered a short cist bu ...
, Scotland. Her son, Alec Cocker Jr. and wife are the current owners of the family rose business.
Selected roses
* 'Coronation Gold' (1978) * 'Remember Me' (1979) * 'Golden Jubilee' (1981) * 'Copper Gem' (1983) * 'Duftes Berlin' (1988) * 'Honey Bunch' (1990) * 'Myriam' (1991) * 'Braveheart' (1993) * 'Alison' (1996) * 'Evita' (2000) * 'Heart of Gold' (2001) * 'With All My Love' (2005)Rose gallery
See also
* Garden roses *Harkness Roses
Harkness Roses (a trading name of R. Harkness & Co. Ltd) are rose breeders based at Hitchin, Hertfordshire in England. The nursery was founded in 1879 in Yorkshire by brothers, John and Robert Harkness. Early varieties include 'Mrs. Harkness', ' ...
*Sam McGredy
Sam McGredy refers to four generations of Northern Irish rose hybridizers. Sam McGredy I founded the family nursery in 1880. Sam McGredy II focused the nursery on roses in 1895. Sam McGredy III took over in 1926, and was the first to name rose ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cocker, Nan Rose breeders People from Aberdeen 1920 births 2014 deaths Civil Defence Service personnel