Henry Bennett

Henry Bennett (1823–1890) was a British pioneer in the systematic, deliberate hybridisation of roses. The tenant farmer from Stapleford in the Wylye Valley near Salisbury, Wiltshire applied the systematic breeding used in raising cattle to roses, and emphasised that his roses were raised scientifically from known parents. His hybrids, between Teas and Hybrid Perpetuals, were called Pedigree Hybrids of the Tea Rose. He is considered the father of the Hybrid Tea class. Important cultivars are the Hybrid Tea 'Lady Mary Fitzwilliam' (1882), a parent of 'Mme. Caroline Testout' and the Hybrid Perpetuals 'Captain Hayward' (1893) and 'Mrs. John Laing' (1887). Biography Henry Bennett was a cattle and wheat farmer at Manor Farm, Stapleford in the mid-1800s. He married Emma Rebbeck in July 1852, and they had eight children. Bennett decided that the future was not in cattle and wheat, but a new source of income was going to be necessary, and that would be roses. In 1865, he bought his first roses and planted them on the farm, to propagate for sale. His knowledge of cattle breeding suggested to him that he might be able to make great advances in rose cultivation by applying the same principles to rose breeding – that of using known parents, selected for the qualities desired in the progeny. His first efforts were unsuccessful, so from 1870 to 1872 he visited successful rose hybridizers in France. In France, Bennett was surprised to find that the masters of rose hybridisation did not practice deliberate hybridisation through controlled pollination, but rather raised the seeds resulting from natural pollination, which meant that while the seed parent might be known, the pollen parent never was. He also saw that the cool and damp English climate did not provide enough summer heat to ripen rose hips.