Lord, Ernest Edward   (1899 - 1970)

He was born in London 1 February 1899, and died 24 October 1970 at Heathmont, Victoria.

He was educated in England, and came with his parents to Australia in 1912 obtaining employment in Melbourne in the soft-goods trade.

Lord married in 1923 and took up horticulture and botany as a hobby.

He was briefly secretary of his local Bentleigh and Ormond Horticultural Society before taking the same role in the Malvern and District Horticultural Society in 1933.

He then followed Thomas Brown as the Curator of the Horsham Botanic Gardens from 1935 to 1942.

The Botanic Gardens underwent a significant rejuvenation under the direction of the energetic Ernest Lord, who also held the position of Curator of Parks and Gardens at Horsham. During his term of office, he implemented more of Guilfoyle's original plan and also designed new elements in the layout of the site. Lord continued to maintain the established beds and the exotic stock of trees.

But in a departure from the work of previous curators, Lord was an important early figure in the movement for growing native Australian plants, and earned considerable praise for his efforts in rejuvenating the gardens through his use of indigenous species.

In January 1941 Lord led members of the Australian Natives' Association (ANA), who were strong advocates of native plants, on a tour of inspection of the gardens, which were 'now well laid out' with 'new sections [that] had recently been added'. Lord had established a special bed for 120 types of smaller native shrubs and also developed the north-west section of the gardens with many species of larger Australian trees and plants.

Keeping with the nationalist theme, Lord also established an ornamental pond designed in the shape of mainland Australia (c.1940), furnished with water lillies. The pond survives as do some large indigenous specimen trees from Lord's period of management.

Lord went on to develop and promote his interest in Australian native trees and shrubs, through his work as a gardener, as founding editor of the garden magazine Your Garden (1947-49), and through the publication of the significant and popular work 'Shrubs and Trees for Australian Gardens' in 1948. The book ran through many editions; the sixth was revised by his friend and colleague Jim Willis.

He served as treasurer (1943-50) and president (1950-52) of the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria and was also closely involved with the management of Maranoa Gardens in Balwyn, Victoria.

From 1953 he conducted a correspondence school in landscape gardening, capturing the market for part-time students and those who sought his expertise in plants.

He was also a member of the Registration Authority for Horticultural Plant Names for Australia (later the Australian Cultivar Registration Authority, ACRA)

Source: Extracted from:
The Ryerson Index - LORD, Ernest Edward
https://pokelytics.com/portals/ernest-e-lord-1899-1970.3729047/ (Plaque in Horsham Botanic Gardens)
Richard Aitken, 'Lord, Ernest Edward' in Aitken and Looker (eds), Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens, 2000, p.376
Horsham Botanic Gardens Heritage Citation Report 17 July 2023:
10.-Horsham-Botanic-Gardens-4.pdf site:www.hrcc.vic.gov.au
Portrait Photo: back paper dust-jacket of Lord's 'Shrubs and Trees for Australian Gardens', 1970 ed.

Collecting localities for 'Lord, E.E.' from AVH (2024)

Data from 247 specimens