Edna Mary Gunnell, OBE 1879-1963
Read about Edna Gunnell, a pioneering horticulturist and one of the first women to graduate from Kew Gardens. Her distinguished career included leadership roles in the UK and USA before becoming Devon’s first female Horticultural Superintendent.
Early life, education and training
Edna was born to a middle-class Yorkshire family who valued and encouraged girls’ education and community engagement. Her father, Arthur Gunnell was a headmaster.
Edna attended Salt Girls’ High School and subsequently obtained a Certificate in Horticulture from University College, Reading. This was a women-only course and at the time was described as a new opening for educated women of the middle classes.
As part of the course, she obtained work experience in gardens and nurseries and received glowing reports from her supervisors. In 1901 she was accepted at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of only a handful of women to be accepted and to graduate from Kew.
Early career
Edna’s first two appointments on qualifying from Kew were at private girls’ schools in Torquay. These schools apparently aimed to educate middle-class ladies in the art of gardening, most likely as an extension of their domestic role running large houses.
In 1907, in all likelihood to achieve promotion, Edna moved abroad taking up posts in Silesia and later in Germany. She was committed to the idea of women working alongside men in horticultural training. However, in reality all her posts to date had been in women-only establishments.
At the outbreak of World War One Edna returned to England to work as a Lecturer at Swanley College of Horticulture. In 1915 she moved to the United States of America taking up the post of Head of Floriculture at Ambler, the Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women. The college had been founded in 1911 and was the only school of its type in the United States.
Later career
On her return to England, in 1920, she was appointed Horticultural Superintendent at Devon County Council. This was a significant appointment for a woman horticulturist. First, the post was an ‘integrated post’, open to men and women and she was the first woman to be successful. Secondly, she was well paid – £350 per annum.
The Council had worked with Women’s Institutes (WIs) before Edna’s appointment. They encouraged women with any sized garden or allotment to get involved in growing and preserving food. After her appointment Edna offered to give lectures and demonstrations to Devon WIs. This was so successful that in 1929 the Devon Federation of Women Institutes (DFWI) requested that Edna spend her whole time instructing WIs on domestic horticulture and fruit preservation. This came into effect in 1930, her title being variously described as Organiser of Women’s Horticultural Work and Women’s Horticultural Superintendent.
By this time, Edna was receiving national recognition. She was elected to be a committee member of the Kew Guild from 1928-1931. In 1935 she spoke at a WI conference on cooperation between County Councils and WIs. In 1938 she was described as ‘Devon’s best-known lecturer’ having in the past year spoken to 150 audiences reaching a total of about 5000 women.
When Edna had begun working in Devon women were not accustomed to meeting publicly except for religion or politics. During her tenure this changed significantly as women were supported and encouraged to understand more about the cultivation and preservation of fruit and vegetables.
War work and national recognition
Edna was due to retire in 1939 but stayed on at the Council for the duration of World War Two. She worked for the Devon County War Agricultural Committee. Edna adjusted her teaching material to the wartime context giving lectures on: potatoes, the use of wild fruits and berries, fruit bottling and preserving and the use of surplus vegetables.
In 1945 Edna’s achievements in educating a diversity of women in food and flower growing and food preservation were recognised with the award of an OBE for services to women’s horticulture.
Caroline Perry 2026
Discover more working women associated with Saltaire
Edna appears in our online exhibition of Working women of Saltaire
References
Devon Gardens Trust: Miss Edna Gunnell and the Women Gardener Movement