Founding
Suttons Seeds were founded in the Berkshire town of Reading in 1806 by John Sutton (1777-1863). Originally the company traded as corn merchants and were known as the 'House of Sutton'. In 1832 John Sutton was joined in the business by his sons, Martin Hope (1815-1901) and Alfred. In 1837 the business moved to Reading's Market Place, where the sons persuaded their father to expand into the flower and vegetable seed trade. From this time on the firm progressed and expanded rapidly, earning a reputation for supplying pure, unadulterated seed.
The Market Place shop occupied a prominent position overlooking the Saturday vegetable and general market. Martin Hope acquired nursery grounds in Queens Road along with a greenhouse. By mid-1838 he began selling greenhouse plants, many of the bulbs coming from local nurseries, but some from Holland. In 1836 Martin Hope, aged 21 years, became a partner and the 'House of Sutton' became Sutton & Son.
Suttons established their own laboratory to test seeds for germination and purity in 1840. In the same year, the company became one of the first to take advantage of the opening of the Great Western Railway through Reading. The railway was responsible both for bringing in large consignments of seeds and bulbs, and for carrying outgoing mail orders to all parts of the country.
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