Sir Frederick Claude Stern (18 April 1884, Knightsbridge, London – 10 July 1967) was a botanist and horticulturalist, known for developing the gardens at

Highdown Gardens Highdown Gardens are gardens on the western edge of the town of Worthing, close to the village of Ferring and the National Trust archaeological site Highdown Hill, in West Sussex, England. Overlooking the sea from the South Downs, they contain a ...

, for creating several cultivars of garden plants and for his publications on peonies, snowdrops and gardening. He also tried to promote the interests of the Jewish community.

Life

Frederick Stern was born into the wealthy Stern merchant banking family, the son of James Julius Stern and Lucie Stern-Biedermann, and the brother of Henry Julius Joseph Stern, Elsa Stern, Violet Stern and Sir

Albert Gerald Stern Sir Albert Gerald Stern (24 September 1878 – 2 January 1966) was a banker who became the Secretary of the Landship Committee during World War I, where his organisational ability assisted the Committee in creating the first British tank. Durin ...

. He studied at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

, and at Christ Church, Oxford. He bought

, an estate near

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Ho ...

, Sussex, in 1909 and lived there for the remainder of his life. In 1919 he married Sybil, daughter of Sir Arthur Lucas, a portrait painter.

Professional career

Stern joined the Second Company of the London Yeomanry and served during the First World War. He was Group Commander of the West Sussex

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting w ...

. He was active in Gallipoli and Palestine and received the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...

in 1917. He eventually attained the rank of colonel. He was present at

Paris Peace Conference, 1919 Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, where he supported the British prime minister

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during ...

as private secretary.

Botanical and horticultural achievements

Stern collected plants between 1900 and 1910, working with

Reginald Farrer Reginald John Farrer (17 February 1880 – 17 October 1920), was a traveller and plant collector. He published a number of books, although is best known for ''My Rock Garden''. He travelled to Asia in search of a variety of plants, many of wh ...

Frank Ludlow Frank Ludlow OBE (10 August 1885 – 25 March 1972) was an English officer stationed in the British Mission at Lhasa and a naturalist. Life He was born in Chelsea, London and studied at West Somerset County School and Sidney Sussex College, Ca ...

Joseph Rock Joseph Francis Charles Rock (1884 – 1962) was an Austrian-American botanist, List of explorers, explorer, geographer, linguistics, linguist, ethnographer and photographer. Life Josef Franz Karl Rock was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of a s ...

, and

George Sherriff Major George Sherriff (1898–1967) was a Scottish explorer and plant collector. Biography Born in Larbert, he was educated at Sedbergh School and attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. In 1918 he took a commission in the Royal Garrison ...

. In 1914 he financially participated in a

plant collecting Plant collecting is the acquisition of plant specimens for the purposes of research, cultivation, or as a hobby. Plant specimens may be kept alive, but are more commonly dried and pressed to preserve the quality of the specimen. Plant collecting i ...

expedition by Farrer and

William Purdom William Purdom (10 April 1880 – 7 November 1921) was a British plant explorer. After being apprenticed as a gardener aBrathay Hallin the English Lake district, he traveled to London to work at the Hugh Low, Enfield Nursery, then onto the Veitch ...

to Yunnan and Kansu. He cultivated some of the novelties collected in Yunnan and Gansu in his garden at Highdown. Other plant hunters sent new plants to Stern, and he acquired an extensive collection of plants from Veitch & Son in 1912. Over the years, Stern introduced many new plants to the garden and created new hybrids of ''

Berberis ''Berberis'' (), commonly known as barberry, is a large genus of deciduous and evergreen shrubs from tall, found throughout temperate and subtropical regions of the world (apart from Australia). Species diversity is greatest in South Amer ...

'', ''

Eremurus ''Eremurus'' is a genus of deciduous perennial flowers in the family Asphodelaceae. They are also known as the foxtail lilies or desert candles. They are native to eastern Europe in (Russia and Ukraine), and temperate Asia from Turkey to China. ...

'',

hellebore Commonly known as hellebores (), the Eurasian genus ''Helleborus'' consists of approximately 20 species of herbaceous or evergreen perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, within which it gave its name to the tribe of Helleboreae. ...

lily ''Lilium'' () is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. They are the true lilies. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. M ...

, ''

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...

'',

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

and

snowdrop ''Galanthus'' (from Ancient Greek , (, "milk") + (, "flower")), or snowdrop, is a small genus of approximately 20 species of bulbous perennial herbaceous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae. The plants have two linear leaves and a single sm ...

, among which ''Magnolia'' 'Highdownensis' (probable cultivar of '' M. wilsonii''),

rambler Rambler or Ramble may refer to: Places * Rambler, Wyoming * Rambler Channel (藍巴勒海峽), separates Tsing Yi Island and the mainland New Territories in Hong Kong * The Ramble and Lake, Central Park, an area within New York City's Centr ...

roses 'Coral' (a triploid ''R. sinowilsonii'' hybrid), 'Weddingday' (1950, ''R. sinowilsonii'' hybrid), and ''Rosa'' ×''highdownensis'' (1928, '' R. moyesii'' hybrid). He is also the author that first described the snowdrop '' Galanthus rizehensis''. Herbarium specimens of some of the plants from Highdown Gardens are kept at the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

, London. He was awarded the

Victoria Medal of Honour The Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH) is awarded to British horticulturists resident in the United Kingdom whom the Royal Horticultural Society Council considers deserving of special honour by the Society. The award was established in 1897 "in per ...

by the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

in 1941. In the same year, he was awarded by The British Iris Society, the Foster Memorial Plaque (named after Sir Michael Foster). He was chairman of the John Innes Horticultural Institute from 1947 to 1961, vice-president of the

in 1962 and vice-president and treasurer of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

from 1941 to 1958. Stern was knighted in 1956 for his services to horticulture. Several plants species have been named in his honour, such as ''Buddleja sterniana'' (now '' B. crispa''), '' Cotoneaster sternianus'', ''Helleborus'' ×''sternii'' ( = '' H. argutifolius'' × '' H. lividus'') and ''

Paeonia sterniana ''Paeonia sterniana'' is a perennial, herbaceous peony of approximately 45 cm high in cultivation, with white or sometimes pinkish flowers. It grows in the wild in southeastern Tibet. This peony is very rare in cultivation. It produces blue ...

''.

Publications

* * ''The Tibetan form of Paeonia lutea'' (1947). Royal Horticultural Society, London * ''Snowdrops and snowflakes: a study of the genera Galanthus and Leucojum'' (1956). Royal Horticultural Society, London, with E.A. Bowles and

Margaret Stones Elsie Margaret Stones (28 August 1920 – 26 December 2018), was an Australian botanical illustrator. Life Stones was born on 28 August 1920 in Colac, Victoria, Australia. Stones worked as principal contributing artist to ''Curtis's Bota ...

* ''A Chalk Garden'' (1960) Faber, London

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Frederick 1884 births 1967 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford British Army personnel of World War I British Jews English botanists Victoria Medal of Honour (Horticulture) recipients English knights Stern family (banking) Burials at Golders Green Jewish Cemetery