~ Primrose Day 1885 ~ by Ralph Todd, 1852 - 1932
from ~~ Penlee House, Cornwall, United Kingdom
I am charmed by the painting above, for the delightful young girl portrayed could have been the mother of my father, Ted Richardson. Martha Smith, my grandmother, was near the same age in 1885 when this portrait was painted. Martha must have told Teddie that it was special to be born on this day, as he always said that his birthday was on Primrose Day.
Upon the death of the beloved British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield), on April nineteenth, 1881, Primrose Day was instituted in his honor, as the English primrose was his favorite flower. Queen Victoria sent bouquets of primroses to his funeral according to a contemporary account; The coffin lies on its bier in an alcove leading out of the modest hall of Hughenden Manor. But of its material, one might almost say of its dimensions, nothing can be seen. It is literally one mass of floral beauty. Here are wreaths from every member of the Royal Family in England bouquets of primroses sent by the Queen, with an inscription attached to them, saying that they came from Osborne Hill, and that they are of the sort which Lord Beaconsfield loved. Two years later, a bronze statue of Lord Beaconsfield was erected at Parliament Square, and it became customary to decorate it with primroses every year on the anniversary of his death. Ofttimes at Easter the woodlands of England are seen carpeted with wild primroses.
At the Tate Gallery, there is another lovely artistic rendering of a young girl gathering primroses in her hat, painted by Frank Bramley; Primrose Day (1885, 50x35cm). In this work, hanging on the wall, is a print of the conservative statesman and prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli.
Upon this primrose hill
Where, if Heav’n would distil
A shower of raine. Each several drop might goe
To his owne primrose, and grow manna so.
~~John Donne, 1572-1631
Flowers of Shakespeare
This hand colored lithograph, heightened in gum arabic, was printed on the 8th of February, 1845 by Day and Haghe, Lithographers to the Queen. The artist was Jane Elizabeth Giraud from Faversham, Kent. The flowers and plants illustrated are Roses of the Spring, also known as primroses. Primrose is the common name for the plant primula, whose name is derived from primus, meaning "first or early." Hence, the "first rose" of the year or the "prime-rose."
The text is from Twelfth Night, Act III, Scene 1:
"Cesario, by the Roses of the Spring
By maidenhead, honour, truth ..& everything.
I love thee so that, mauger all my pride,
Nor wit, nor reason can my passion hide."
This is one of a series of twelve illustrations published in the early 1790s entitled Cries of London. The series depicted various street vendors of London, this one primrose sellers. They were painted by F. Wheatly and engraved by Vendramini. Although each vendor's cry was probably quite individual, this is one that has come down:
Will you buy my sweet primroses,..two bunches a-penny? All a-growing, all a-blowing, who will buy my sweet primroses,...Two bunches a-penny.
The phrase "all a-growing" meant that the flowers could be planted by the buyers in their gardens. The flower-sellers of primroses would have gathered them from the countryside near their abodes, the fields of Islington, Paddington, or Lambeth. Hawking various wares was an occupation open to women of the period. During the springtime they would go into town to sell these primroses, which the children had picked from nearby woods. Younger children were left behind under the supervision of the old women, who could no longer walk far, or with older girls who might present problems with the town lads.
Thomas Jefferson had in his musical collection a song, "Two Bunches a Penny Primroses", arranged for pianoforte and guitar accompaniment about 1800, which was taken from this London cry.
In 1897 when my grandfather arrived in England from Africa he described encountering one of these flower sellers ~ "I went to London Bridge and while I was walking over I heard a sweet voice singing will you buy my sweet lavender fifteen branches a penny, please buy my pretty flowers. She pined a white rose on my coat. I gave her a gold English sovereign." ~~Arthur Richardson Memoir 1
Flowers of Shakespeare
