Percy Thrower - Career As Gardener

Career As Gardener

The name Thrower means someone who twists the fibre – properly wool – into thread or yarn. This term is peculiar to East Anglia, where Percy’s father worked as a gardener at Bawdsey Manor, Suffolk, before moving to Horwood House near Bletchley (now part of Milton Keynes) in Buckinghamshire as head gardener. Percy Thrower was determined from an early age to be a head gardener like his father, and worked under him at Horwood House for the first four years after leaving school. He then became a journeyman gardener in 1931, at the age of 18, at the Royal Gardens at Windsor Castle, on £1 a week. He lived in the bothy at Windsor, along with 20 other improver gardeners and disabled ex-servicemen who were employed on full wages. The bothy housed only single men and if you "had" to get married you lost your job. He spent five years there under the head gardener, Charles Cook, who was subsequently to become his father-in-law.

Thrower left Windsor on 1 August 1935 for the City of Leeds Parks Department as a journeyman. There he passed the Royal Horticultural Society’s General Exam. In 1937 he moved to Derby Parks Department, initially as a journeyman but was promoted to be a foreman, General Foreman and finally the Assistant Parks Superintendent. At Derby, he met John Maxfield, who he considered to be the best gardener he ever worked under; Maxfield died a couple of years later, but remained a large influence. Percy studied and passed the National Diploma in Horticulture (N.D.H.) at the second attempt, and also became a lecturer at Derby Technical College.

He became engaged to Connie Cook (Constance Margaret Ina), the daughter of Charles Cook, who was now the head gardener at Sandringham, having moved from Windsor. Things had not gone well for Charles Cook at Windsor, where Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson had interfered with the running of the gardens. In order to help him, Queen Mary, who was now in residence at Sandringham after the death of her husband George V, instigated his moving from Windsor to Sandringham. On 9 September 1939, at Sandringham, Percy and Connie married. The couple received a wedding gift of a set of Burslem china dishes from Queen Mary. Percy's own father died on 31 December 1939.

While at Derby, Thrower became a leading light in the "Dig for Victory" campaign in the Second World War, carrying out educational visits to many of the local parks and even Derby Sewerage Works. Percy became a special constable on fire-watching duties after twice being turned down for active service after volunteering. In fact, he saved the life of a fellow firewatcher by pushing him out of the way of a falling tree which had come crashing down after a bomb fell near it. It was whilst at Derby that Percy had a football pools win of £52 which enabled him to buy his first motor car which was a Morris Eight for which he paid £45.

His final career move was to Shrewsbury in 1946, as the Parks Superintendent, becoming the youngest parks superintendent. He had a staff of about 35. He had reached the top of his profession at just 32 years of age and it was his sole ambition in life. He expected to stay only four or five years, but in fact remained in post until 1974.

In 1951 Percy Thrower was asked to design a garden in Berlin on the lines of an English garden on behalf of the Shropshire Horticultural Society, and he did this with the Berlin Superintendent of Parks, Herr Witte. Anthony Eden opened the garden in May 1952. Thrower made his first TV appearance in 1951 in a programme, Picture Page about this garden.