Review of his life - written in 1941 by Conrad F Sander

Dedicated to P L E Rawlins, barrister in law, husband of his daughter Evelyn

Sander-pdf - on my Desktop in Spain : sent on email 24/11/2018 at 13.02

Page numbers on this document to not match Conrad's numbers: Conrad has 174 pages, the document just 154. When I say Page xx-C , that is Conrads's numbering!!

The children - an elder sister & 2 younger bros- had little contact with their workaholic father. His sister was the favourite and his father spent much money on her, trying to make her a great harpist, great artist- whatever! His brothers inherited the father's character & capabilities, whereas he took after his mother : she had been a beauty but was not gifted with intelligence, He was a plodder & a dreamer. They were taught at home by a governess until she married, then at a friend/s house with their little girls .Aged 11 he was sent to a private school in Margate with the elder of his brothers- Frederick Kropp Sander, just 1 year younger- the junior part of the school was called Napier Lodge He was a good sportsman at school but a shy boy, a loner. The 2 boys stayed there 3 years- so ~1886-1889

Pages 16-20. Details of holidays.:

1. . Several with his grandfather, James Fearnley, 1807-1894, at Welling, Kent . His unmarried aunt made delicious cakes. His grandfather spent most of his time gardening, played draughts with Conrad, & was stingy with the housekeeping; saved up and bought property in Lewisham, which the grandchildren inherited . No shops in Welling but a small tram wnt to bexley Heath, where the villagers shopped. The small house was on the main road from Bexley Heath to Shooters Hill

2. His only uncle - this James S Fearnley 1844 - lived at St Mary's Cray, not far away. He was a partner in Joynson's Paper Mills. Conrad's whole family went there for Christmas one year

3. Abergavelly

4. Shanklin

5. A cousin of his mother's in Dover , owned a prosperour tailoring business there, and who, on death of his father( actually before!) , became a barrister in the Inner Temple?!! & wrote law books on Torts - -this Wyatt W Paine, who was Conrad's bestman in 1907

6. A great uncle in Deal who had been a missionary in China & spoke Chinese: felt this was Matthew Fearnley, but he certainly the holiday below!. Feel that maybe Conrad's memory had failed him here, and he is confusing different people, as I have not discovered any other great uncles being missionaries, nor living in Deal!

7. An uncle of his mothers, a minister in Birkenhead . Explored the lighthouse with his cousins there - this surely Matthew Fearnley

8. An appartment in Brighton . Here portraits were taken by a leading photographer and a small, terra cotta relief was made of him.

Page 20. 1887. Watched Queen Victoria's Jubilee from a room in Lord Rothschild's residence . Great view of the Mall.

Page 21-24. He and Frederick attended a "Realschule" - a day school with modern education as opposed to the classics - in Bremen for 3 years. Had a 45 minute walk to & from 'home'- I wonder who this was with?? .His brilliant brother obtained the School Leaving Certificate. They were confirmed in the Lutheran church . His reputation as a sportsman was upheld there - examples given

Page 25-29. 1890-1891. 18 months in Suisnes, S of Paris, to learn/master french and be trained in horticulture. With famous rose growers : old man Scipion-Cochet, his old wife and married son & daut, in law. Was well looked after but worked 6 long days, 6 am -7 pm and Sunday mornnings No bathrooms and no electricity. Received a Raleigh bicycle- solid tyres - from his father- a red letter day, but main roads were cobbled and minor ones awful! ( Raleigh only established in 1888!) . He gave German lessons to the son of the local school master. He regularly cycled up to 6 miles on a Sunday afternoon- had ambitions to be a racer.

Pages 29-34. 1891-1892. Moved to Paris to train with the famous firm of Vilmorin Andrieux - seed & grain specialists and leaders of the time in horticulture. He was first- for just 3 months - with the bulb department in Reuilly and then in the offices on the banks of the Seine "Being in France to learn French Commercial Correspondence & to obtain a general horticultural business knowledge I was a volunteer, without salary". His parents thought he would be best looked after at the "Union chretienne de jeunes gens", but that was full so he took a room in a small hotel, inhabited by the lowest & immoral class, in the same street . In Reuilly he spent all day standing, filling bags with bulbs & husks, endless tiring monotony, learning nothing . His father got him transferred to the chief office . Here a decent elderly clerk taught him commercial correspondence, supervised his work and invited him home to dinner. He stayed in Paris for 18 months. He won a racing bike in a lottery at work and eventially got a 5th floor, small, clean & homely room in the hostel, which had ~100 residents, mainly Swisss protestants. He was the only Englisuman and was caller " l'anglais sportive"; never missed the basket ball or the water polo, just the daily Prayer meeting! With a Scot he formed the first association football club in France. . The restaurant there was ridiculously cheap. He visited nearly all the theatres and music halls, the Folies Bergeres and the Moulin Rouge . Also visited museums, churches and parks. His sister, Eliza,1873, had been living with a good, charitable lady, Mademoiselle Arbousset ( daughter of a well known missionary, Thomas Arbousset, in South Africa) ,near the Buttes Chaumant Park, who devoted herself to the local poor, before his arrival in Paris, studying at The Bougerand Art School ( can find no mention of this on Google) . Mademoiselle Arbousset used to invite him to tea or supper, and eventually- 1897- Conrad married one of her nieces! He rambles contentedly about the restaurants: "these are the days never to be forgotten and never to return"

Pages 34-35. After the 3 years spent in Paris he returned home, sending all his possessions in advance in order to cycle home. Starting one August morning he took the Rouen to Dieppe road, & ,passing through a village, his bike broke in two!. But he got a smithy to solder it back together, continued to Newhaven, overnighted at Lewes and finally got back to St Albans, aged 19.

Pages 35-37. Sejourn at St Albans& meeting Freda . 1893 For some months he was put at practical work, potting and basketting orchids, working from 6am to 6 pm. He longed for liberty and to be in the open air. He talks about the technicalities of potting different sorts of orchids. After a few months he was moved to the Office, where le learnt book kkeping and did some correspondence . Talks of the Reichenbachia and his father awarded "Victoria Medal Holder" and "Chevalier de l'ordre de la Couronne" for his work in Bruges . Before breakfast he would take a run, and often cycle in his lunch break, and again during the long summer evenings, describing the beauty of the then unspoilt, and un built upon. countryside. He then talks about the 7 different types of bicycles he has owned. And then of meeting his 2nd wife, or his "first love". They met at a picnic at Hatfield House, then used to play tennis together & met at dances.He often passed the Rev, Waugh's house on his evening walks. He became Captain of the Angolea Cricket Team."This year at St Albans passed very happily on the whole",

Pages 37-42.1894. Land was purchased at Bruges for a new nursery( softer weather was more suitable for some orchids, labour was cheaper and they could more easily supply Continental clients) . He and brother Louis went there, Frederick remaining in St Albans. The numerous English colony in those days was formed of people who came for short periods, for educating their children and cheaper living . There was a large English Boys school and an English Bank. He joined the elite tennis club and helped found the Bruges Football Club. In summer he swam before breakfast in an open air pool near the Nursery; in winter he went for a run. The firm became a huge concern. Between 100 and 120 men were employed . Block after block of greenhouses were erected . Very extensive Orchid importations came from all over the world. In the early days his father had used 20 'collectors'; now Bruges used just 2, one for the East and one for the West. Originally Bruges had the monopoly of importing seed from palms in Lord Howe Island & they had 50 greenhouses just propagating these seeds and palms, but then the Australian Government outlawed this practice! They also imported other palms and dealt with many plants. An up to date laboratory was built for raising orchids . They became the biggest horticultural establishment in the world! All through these years the St Albans establishment was resticted to orchids. The 2 firms were run separately under the same ownership. One as Sanders (St Albans) Ltd and the other, latterly from 1909, as Establissements Horticoles , Sanders et Fils, Societe anonyme, Bruges. My father was specially proud of our Bay tree culture..Conrad became head of the Office there and had many clerks under him. In his spare time he cycled and took a daily walk along the ramparts between noon and one . The reason the firm had been made into a private company was to keep it in the family- most of the shares were in his father's name- and that there would be no opposing interests claiming their share of the business. One of the characteristics of the "Fearnley" family inherrited from far off ancestors was jealousy, so I was given to understand. I have to admit that I have inherited this failing: it has been one of my life long grievances that I was not born with the business acumen of my brothers .This contributed to some extent to jealousy of my brothers' situation. My father judged very rightly our characters & capabilities when we were boys. He put my brothers into buying & selling & making a profit , whereas I was destined to become a bookworm . His brothers got to travel a lot, but, his father trusted him to control the finances: that gave him a certain confidence and pride. He was in fact acting as a chartered Accountant in Bruges.

His father was a hard taskmaster but liked generally. His happiest times were to stand , rain or sunshine, for hours at a time over bricklayers, pipe connectors and mechanics with a long cigar in his mouth. He was always 1st up and last to bed. "For many years we all had to be there until 10pm". He was an absolute autocrat in his own little world, a business genius & a wonderful organiser, but feared by all..Conrad once quarelled furiously with his father, then applied for a job with Cook & Co as a travelling interpreter: then better and wiser thoughts prevailed!

Page 42-45.His 1st wife. He met his first wife on 23/8/1895 as she was travelling from school in Skipton , overnighting with his parents, on her way home to Avignon. He accompanied her to Waterloo station the next morning: 'love at first sight'. A year later he cycled from Bruges to Avignon in the summer holidays and propsed to her on 23/10/1896. They did not meet for another year but corresponded regularly. Then married on 9/12/1897. His father in law had been the Protestant Pastor of the Reformed Church of France and conducted the double wedding- Marguerite's sister marrying a Jersey pastor called Guilliene. And her 2 brothers were pastors . The reception and dinner were at the Hotel de l'Europe in Avignon. In the evening the mother was weeping! They spent their honeymoon on the Riviera and in Paris, returning to St Albans for Christmas. Then settled in Bruges, his wife becoming mistress of his father's house, his brother, Louis, living with them : not ideal. Several yearss later they got their own little house and that was one of the happiest days of his life- free of the family members who were often dissatisfied & tended to grumble . Conrad was dependent on his father, who spent half his time in Bruges, half in St Albans. His mother came to Bruges for the summers. They had 3 girls in the first house, and then a boy in their new house. His wife never got used to the cold climate of Bruges and spent a month each year back in Avignon, but she was fairly happy, made good friends & mothered the workmen . On 25/11/1905, Marguerite died during a miscarriage & an operation. He engaged a Huguenot elderly lady, Mlle Hugon, as housekeeper. His wife had begged him to bring up the children rigorously in her own faith & creed ,& to take especial care of the eldest Magali, a difficult child.

Pages 45-48. He overcame his doubts about marrying a fervent R C, proposed to and, after some months, married 1907 Freda Waugh in the RC Church Weybridge, 2nd cousin Wyatt W Paine being his best man . The reception was at the Railway Hotel on the Heath He had had a motor cycle whilst widowed, rode it recklessly and his health suffered from it.; he sold it before remarrying . Freda settled well in Bruges and loved his children. She gave him 3 boys, then a girl, and finally another boy. The boys went to the Xaverian College in Bruges, and then onto the Xaverian Mayfield College . Wonder where Roger 1904 - protestant? -went? Mary 1912 went to the Convent School in Bruges & then to the Sacred Heart Nuns near Tonbridge Wells. Talks of a very attractive photo of the 9 children sitting in a row according to age . Talks of his dreams for his children & of their names. Have recorded the reason for their naming on their individual pages. he dreamt that they would all become great & well known & that the girls would marry well - daydreams of a proud father never to be realised!!

Page 63-C Origen of his father's family : his ggrandfather - this Johann H F Sander 1772-1851 - possibly of Danish extraction being a landed yeoman in Schleswig, then part of Denmark & later on subdued by Germany. His grandfather emigrated to Elze and then became a farmer at Lauenstein near Elze then ??? ~1830???in the kingdom of Hanover, then under the rule of our George 2. One of our ancestors fought under him when he led his Hanoverian battalions at the battle of Dettingen - 1743.The family then emigrated to the then free port of Bremen, later made an integral part of Germany by Bismarck. The eldest son Conrad founded a wholesale cask & barrel business there, his 2 brothers emigrating to Chicago. This Conrad had no children & thus this Sander line became extinct in Germany - surely this Ernst Friedrich Conrad 1818?? . My father. HFC Sander 1847, came over to England as a young man, was naturalised -1889- & became absolutely English in his outlook, feelings & politics

Origen of his mother's family: the Fearnley name came from a Yorkshire village of that name : nnly exist descendants from this one family?. His eldest cousin- work out who he could be??- has the family crest, portraits of his ancestors & many interesting documents.The Compte de Mesnard married my maternal ggrandmother - hum, hum!: she was Dinah Mesnard who married James Fearnley 1777. A Compte can only exist at least 3 generations prior to her. An ancestor of my mother's first cousin Hyatt Hyatt Paine went down on his bridge on a battleship in the English-French wars

1-2 pages on the Belgian Golf club

Bruges Protestant church. After the war very few English residents in Bruges, just Oseley,Reade, Worthington, Louis, himself & Roger - most went to Knocke . But still important to have an English Church as during the summer thousands of Americans & Brits came to Bruges- church had been badly vandalised by the Germans. Conrad was on its committee for ~30 years

Talks of beautiful sunsets and how he had proposed to one Alice Murray in St Helier- but she was Army, and "Army daughters marry Army Officers" and he was refused by her parents . he talks a lot about a friend Lawrence( head of the Bruges Boys School) and of cyvling holidays, of Paris and of Provence

Page 62, World War 1 1914-1918 . August 4th, business came to a halt. Banks closed. Endless stream of refugees past their door. Aug 15th they sent his parents back to England . Then a sister in law took the younger children across to Dover, and the older ones soon after left with Mr & Mrs Lawrence. Mail boat packed to capacity. There remained just him, his brother-Louis- his wife, a nurse, & baby of 9 days- born Aug 13th On the 22nd he managed to secure passage for the last 3 on a cargo boat, and he himself left on the 26th on the last boat to leave Ostend. Louis stayed on and eventually left by walking through Holland . is family was d[stributed among kind relations in England and I lived for a while with my parents in St Albans: my father said he was probably ruined and that I must shift for myself. After a lot of searching I got a job, 14/11/1914, with the Postal Censorship at the War Office for £3 a week. Conrad was an Examiner, no 265., one of thousands. One of his jobs was to examine all correspondence re horticulture, plants & bulbs, even reviewing correspondence from his own firm!! He studied Danish & Swedish at London University and was then able to work in those languages as well as Dutch, Flemish, German & French. He was trasferred once when they realized his father had been born in Germany, but in fact preferred the new post!. Due to being a Belgian refugee, he was allocated a rent free cottage in Chiswick & able to reunite his family . He j was a reservist in a voluntary Inns of Court Military Corps- & still had the Inns of Court badge for that in 1942. Their great task was to prevent & hamper all enemy trade through the neutrals and to find out many enemy movements & secrets. Sunday work was taken by rotation and they had access to the war Office Canteen on this day. Cycled to work in summer & played some tennis . On alternate Sat evenings would cycle to St Albans to cheer up the old folk, returning early Monday morning . His old mother- 74+ - was delighted to see him and gave him £1 each week from her private income; this helped enormously in his straightened circumstances. He had his wife & the younger children to feed, his midday meal, doctor & dentist bills, etc to cover. His salary did increase to £8 .War Office Censorship was wound up 21/6/1919. He received an excellent reference. Reflects on the atmospher of London, that he had got to know so well - page 70.

He records 14 red letter days in his life: includes meeting his second love; getting engaged for the second time; inheriting £500 from Miss Seaton; hearing of Evelyn's engagement to Percy Rawlins; reading his father's will ; when he received the order of the Crown from Belgium

Paragraph on his manager, Mr Tuve Mellstrom, who had saved the Bruges nursery from absolute ruin 1914-1918; the Germans did not like to interfere with him too much since he was a neutral Swede. In 1921 he attempted suicide, fearing he was going mad: this left him blind but he married an English lady & was well looked after, with a small pension from Sander & Fils

His parents were failing by the end of the war, due to anxiety & the death of grandson Philip Moon at Arras. Conrad stayed with them for a few monthe in 1919, accompanying them for walks in the parks or cemetery adjoining the nursery, his mother very feeble and his father with a major disability. There was a family burial ground here where his- maternal- grandparents, buried in Lewisham, were commemorated as well as Philip. Also buried here were hiss 2 maiden aunts & his bro in law Henry G Moon . He Conrad would like to be buried there, alongside his parents in time. His mother declined rapidly, much to his father's chagrin, as he only lived for her now & the remnants of his Bruges business.

1920. His father had to undergo a major operation in Bruges which seemd successful until a relapse & he died . Conrad arranged for one of their wagons pulled by 2 horses to take the coffin some 14 miles to Ostend. We & our workmen followed on foot; not him personally but Louis & his young fiancee . In his Will the business was left equally between his 3 sons, Eliza being compensated for by other property & funds. In 1919 Louis hd become engaged to the daughter of an orchid grower at Liege. His other brother, Frederick K Sander, had married in the 90s a daughter of Wm.Watson, Curator of the Royal Gardens of Kew

The St Albans firm. His father had sold his seed business in 1887 and moved to outside the city limits, building greenhouses, officess and a very fine white stone and red brick dwelling house, costing £6000 to build!, in a place where a Roman Camp had existed: thus called 'Camp House' . A long description of this - need to transcibe- page 73.

Bruges was liberated on 21/10/1918, a memorable day for our firm . In August 1919 he returned to Bruges with brother Louis. "We lived in my father's house over the packing shed with my son Roger1904 & were looked after by an old pre war servant. There was a shortage of commodities and we had to rough it for a while. All was disorganized . A lot of robberies and crime, - soon brought under control - although not too much destruction" During the war they had obtained a british licence to send a certain some of money monthly to their manager through a Dutch firm with a branch in Bruges . The manager had to take out loans from local friends to supplement this. He grew tobacco & vegetables that enabled the local folk to survive. But the greenhouses were in a pitiable state, and most of the orchids had perished. Conrad & Louis sold off valuable land for house building and very gradually paid off the loans and re established the business. After some years it again became a modern nursery and one of the largest & most important in Europe. Fred remained in St Albans supervising the business there Boom years of 1927, 1928 & 1929, and he & Louis were able to purchase their own houses and cars; they ?indemnified? Fred for their excessive expenditure. Happy years at last with more leisure. His brothers insisted that Roger enter the business, as they neede another helping hand in Bruges, instead of becoming a farmer. He had been educated post war at the Royal Athene in Bruge. The firm had ~ 40 acres pre war- this depleted by the necessary sell off post war, but they did subsequently purchase a nearby wood. Conrad became good friends with a Mr Delmas, born in India, who had been in the Boer war & WW1, then retired early to Bruges: it was his daughter who married Conrad's son Roger in 1933.

Page 77 1928. The Great Ghent Quinquenial Horticultural Exhibition. Louis being ill, Conrad took his place and met and chatted to Queen Elizabeth. He also met Sir Austin Chamberlain

Order of the Crown of Belgium, usually presented to Belgians serving the country, and duly was awarded it . He lobbied to receive this as Louis already had received the Order of Leopold, usually presented to foreigners living in Belgium, and duly was awarded it

1930 Evelyn's wedding to the barrister, Percy Rawlins, took place at the English Church in Bruges. The eldest son of his bro in law W Clarke Hall was present: this latter, a London Magistrate, had contributed nearly exclusively to Evelyn's education during the war . Roger was Master of Ceremonies. 1931. Magali was married in similar surroundings to Andre van Velsen. Sir H Clarke Hall again a guest- he had most kind to Magali as well as Evelyn during the war

~1924. He resumed his boyhood Philately interests and amassed a good collection, eventually selling it for ~£300 which he used to purchase land in Wavendon, Bucks for his retirement there in 1934. Seemingly he already had a home there and needed the land to prevent ugly houses being built on this land & spoiling his view

A long article on 'How I met royalty' - on at least 8 different occasions!

~Pages 80-112 . Descriptions of his European travels , never with his family - reread sometime!

Page 112. His retirement 4/4/1934. He had longed for this, to end his long exile in Belgium and return to the mother country. Remenisces for a whole page on the joys of Dover: one year he had spent the summer holidays with his 2nd wife there. He quarrelled with Louis who did not understand his need to retire. He insisted on a pension of £300 /year from the firm; had the £1000 from the sale of his bruges house; had the £3000 worth of shares in Lewisham property from his grandfather James Fearnley; had £3850 of Aust stock at 5%, his life long savings;plus the joint income from my marriage settlement, £3500 of the same stock being originally the inheritance from his mother & which sum he had kept intact until his marriage settlement- do not quite follow this! But reckoned he had foolishly bought too large a house in Wavendon and then the outbreak of WW2 hit him badly: he had to give £50 to Ralph and keep Julian for several years . He had taken 2 weeks holiday in England to find his new home: it was to be in Buckinghamshire, in the country or boarding it and within a quarter of a mile from a RC church!!. But in October 1933 he found such a house in Woburn Sands for £650; it was too small but he gave orders to extend the kitchen & bathroom, build an annexe, lay out a garden ready for planting, construct a hard tennis court, a fish pond and a croquet lawn. Then he returned to bruges until the following April . He gave a speech of farewell at the Anglican Church there- he reproduces that. Received a letter- quoted- sent by the Bishop of Fulham thanking him for all he had done for the Bruges Church. Was presented with an enlarged photo and a cigarette case from all the Nursery staff. There is a 1923 article by the Horticultural Trade Journal on the resurrection of the firm post war, and another from the Orchid Review, May 1934,on his retirement; his 2 sons , Roger & David, remain in the business, the one in Bruges & the other in St Albans. He retains his interest in the Bruges firm, as a shareholder and a director. And another article from the Belgian Weekly News, 31/3/1934 : "Mr Fearnley Sanders of 'Les Doms', St Andree, leaves his brother Louis and a son in charge. The firm currently employs 80 men" On 4/4/1934, "the family and I took the first mail boat to Dover. Roger drove us- himself, Freda, Mary & Magali - to Ostend and Delmas came to see us off". They loved the new house, became good friends with the priest, but, for lack of funds, he had had to sell his car in Belgium & could never afford one in retirement. Was greatly disillusioned to find he was a nonentity, not only imagined friends but family ignored him: his own brother (Fred K probably, or Louis?)never visited him & his wife came just the once for an hour to see what the house was like.He crept into his shell as far as relations were concerned and even changeed his name to Fearnley-Sander. Fresh friends proved almost impossible to make at this stage of his life, but did become friendly with Canon Rust , the Rev Bury and the Rev. Drew of Apsley Guise , all of whom played golf with him. He did however create a fantastic garden and the first 5 years there were happy ones. His sister in law, Mrs Stapley ( Bertha waugh married Frederick Stapley in 1914) ) , invited him twice to Eastbourne to play golf. Before his marriage, 1938, his son David motoered him twice to Southport for the great annual horticultural exhibition. Also visited Evelyn and Peter in Chidcock, Dorset, frequently and was driven by them to the Lakes

Page 124. Outbreak of WW2. Fearing war was coming he applied for a job in 1938 at the Postal Censorship Office in case it did. He was accepted and called up for the very next day on Sep 3rd 1939. He had to pay £4.4s for B & B at the Manchester Hotel, close by the General Post office- his salary was £4!