Peter Veitch

Peter Christian Massyn Veitch (February 1850 – 1929) was a member of the family of horticulturists who established the renowned family business Veitch Nurseries.

Veitch was the son of Robert Veitch and was born in the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, where his father was farming, before his father returned to England to join the family nursery company in 1856. [cite web|url=http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/darwinletters/namedefs/namedef-4870.html|title=Correspondence with Robert Toswill Veitch, 1823–1885|publisher=www.darwinproject.ac.uk|date= | accessdate=3 October|accessyear = 2008] During his youth, Peter travelled extensively, including working in French and German nurseries.

He was employed by the Chelsea branch of the family business under his cousin Harry Veitch who dispatched him to Australia, the South Sea Islands and to Borneo between 1875 and 1879. Veitch once lost a whole collection of plants from Fiji when the ship transporting them was lost in a gale.

His 1877–78 exploration of Mount Kinabalu in Borneo with Frederick William Burbidge yielded many extraordinary carnivorous "Nepenthes". Amongst the species they also re-discovered was "Paphiopedilum dayanum", which had been originally discovered by Sir Hugh Low in 1858. [cite web|url=http://www.angelfire.com/or3/orchidsnz/paph_lorapetalum.htm#day|title= Paphiopedilum dayanum |publisher=www.angelfire.com|date=25 October 2001 | accessdate=3 October|accessyear = 2008]

In 1880, he joined his father in the Exeter branch of the family business, bringing his experiences of French and German nurseries into the company as well as an element of flair from the Chelsea nursery. Peter Veitch was a plantsman with a keen interest in trees and shrubs which he turned into a speciality for the Exeter nurseries. When his father died in 1885 Peter became head of the Exeter nurseries and played a very active part in the life of the city. He was a keen sportsman, a Governor of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, and served on a number of committees.

In 1907, he succeeded in crossing "Magnolia campbellii" (with striking, large, saucer-shaped pink flowers) and "Magnolia denudata" (which has erect, cup-shaped, lemon-scented flowers and pristine white petals which are thick and fleshy) to produce "Magnolia x veitchii", with purple-pink flowers. In 1971, the plant was given the cultivar name "Peter Veitch" in honour of its raiser and to differentiate it from the white flowered cultivar "Isca". [cite web|url=http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~gdk/stabotanic/mar02pom.htm|title= Plant of the month: March 2002 – Magnolia x veitchii ‘Peter Veitch’ |publisher=www.st-andrews.ac.uk|date=March 2002| accessdate=3 October|accessyear = 2008]

In 1917 he was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour, the second member of the family to be so honoured following his cousin Harry in 1906, who was, by now, in charge of the Chelsea enterprise. Following Peter's death in 1929, the Exeter nurseries were run by his daughter Anna Mildred (1889 – 1971), who continued to operate the business until shortly before she died.

Family

He was married to Harriett Drew, and amongst their children was Major John Leonard Veitch M.C., who was killed in northern France on 21 May 1918, aged 31. He is buried at the Thiennes British Military Cemetery. [cite web|url=http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=68901|title= Casualty Details – Major John Leonard Veitch |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission|date=| accessdate=3 October|accessyear = 2008]

References

External links

*PDFlink| [http://www.exeter.gov.uk/media/pdf/1/4/veitch_heritage_garden_1.pdf The Veitch Heritage Garden] |132 KiB
*PDFlink| [http://www.tobymusgrave.com/pdf/Veitch_Nursery.pdf Family Fortunes: Veitch Nursery] |722 KiB