The walled garden at Osborne House will bloom with a ‘battlefield to butterflies’ feature this May to commemorate Britain’s parks, gardens and grounds staff who died in the First World War.
Wildflowers including poppies and cornflowers will blossom among barbed wire at the acre garden. Children from the Community Kids group at The Bay Primary School, Sandown will help sow seeds for the new project.
During World War 1 Osborne House became a convalescent home for military casualties including A.A Milne of Winnie The Pooh fame and novelist Robert Graves. They would have walked in the walled garden to aid their recovery.
The Osborne project is part of a nationwide commemorative programme initiated by the Royal Parks Guild. Organiser Mike Fitt OBE, chairman of the Guild, is the former Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Parks for The Royal Parks and lives in Ryde.
He said:
“We want to commemorate those staff who perished in the terrible slaughter of the First World War.
“The two men we’ve named below were both buried in France. We’re hoping that even today someone might recognise the names and help us locate their families so that we can invite them to participate in the commemoration.
“Both names are fairly common on the Island but so far we’ve not found anyone who has a connection with Ernest or Charles. We’re hoping someone will read this and get in touch.”
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A search is underway for descendants of 2 forgotten heroes from the Isle of Wight – both Royal Parks staff – who died in the First World War.
Ernest Owen Johnson, a father of 6 from East Cowes, was a gardener at Osborne when he was drafted into the Royal Naval Reservists to fight in France in 1917. He died during the Battle of Cambrai in which 44,000 were killed or injured. He was 42.
Charles Mew, from Prince Street, Ryde was 46 when he died in the battle of the Somme in 1916. More than 1 million soldiers were killed or injured in that fight. Mew, a father of 3, worked at Richmond Park, one of London’s Royal Parks. He was a regimental sergeant major in the army who won medals in the previous Boer war.
Osborne Head Gardener Toby Beasley said:
“To be able to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War and those parks and gardens staff who gave their lives is a great honour. We hope this project at Osborne, grounded in nature and beauty, is a fitting tribute to those who died and those survivors for whom the gardens were places of refuge and recovery.”
If you are a descendent of Ernest or Charles or think you might know the family of either man, or if you would like to support the project, contact Mike Fitt by emailing [email protected].
Report with thanks to Peter Gruner
