Lady Anne Berry

Lady Anne Sophia Berry (née Walpole, 11 December 1919 – 18 September 2019) was an English-New Zealand horticulturist who founded Rosemoor Garden. She offered the garden to the Royal Horticultural Society in 1988. In 1990 she married Bob Berry and went to live on his farm at Tiniroto, Gisborne, New Zealand. She then created the Homestead Garden of Hackfalls Arboretum. Biography Berry was born in 1919 to the Walpole family in England. Her father was Robert Walpole, the fifth and last Earl of Orford (10 July 1854 – 27 September 1931, New Zealand). He married twice. His second marriage was on 15 September 1917 to Emily Gladys Oakes (thereafter styled as Countess of Orford), daughter of Rev. Thomas Henry Royal Oakes. One of the Walpole family members had been recorded at the siege of Acre in 1191. Later generations remained an established part of the British political, cultural and literary world. Some famous ancestors were: Sir Robert Walpole (1676–1745), the first Earl of Orford, who became Britain's first prime minister in 1721. He made significant plantings at Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England. Horace Walpole (1717–1797), the youngest son of Sir Robert, who became the fourth and last Earl of Orford of the first creation in 1791. He also was a knowledgeable plantsman. Recreated for a cousin in 1806, the title passed through the generations, Berry's father becoming the last Earl in 1894. He was aged 67 when she was born. He had no son, and decided to make over the family estate of Wolterton Hall (North Norfolk) of to a distant male cousin (who became Baron Walpole) in 1928. He emigrated to Manurewa, New Zealand, in 1928, and died in 1931.