Frederick Streeter MBE (25 June 1879 – 1 November 1975) was a British horticulturalist and broadcaster. Streeter was born in

Pulborough Pulborough is a village and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England, with some 5,000 inhabitants. It is located almost centrally within West Sussex and is south west of London. It is at the junction of the north–south A29 ...

, Sussex, England, on 25 June 1879, to farm worker James Streeter and Dinah (''née'' Sayers). The family moved to

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England about south-west of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs ro ...

in Surrey, where he was educated at North Holmwood; and later to

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'', and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The ea ...

, after which he attended

Reigate Grammar School Reigate Grammar School is an 11–18 co-educational private day school in Reigate, Surrey, England. It was established in 1675 by Henry Smith. History The school was founded as a free school for poor boys in 1675 by Alderman Henry Smith with Jo ...

. He left school at twelve years of age. He often had to move around for his gardening work in order to gain experience and promotion. He worked for Veitchs the famous nurserymen in

Kings Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents) is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...

, Chelsea, then moved to

Straffan Straffan () is a village in County Kildare, Ireland. It is situated on the banks of the River Liffey, 25 km upstream of the Irish capital Dublin. As of the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, the village had a population of 1,158, an over ...

, a large estate in Ireland, and from there, in 1901, to Basing Park near

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) * Alton (surname) Places Australia * Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario * Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zeala ...

as foreman, where he met his wife Hilda, née Burden (2 February 1880 – 26 February 1966). He secured his first job as a head gardener in his twenties. Streeter was awarded the MBE, in the

1973 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1973 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were published on 2 June 1973 for ...

Presenting

He presented the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

radio programme ''Home Grown'', with Roy Hay, that occupied the two o'clock slot on Sunday afternoon that was later occupied by ''

Gardener's Question Time ''Gardeners' Question Time'' is a long running BBC Radio 4 programme in which amateur gardening, gardeners can put questions to a panel of experts. History The first programme was broadcast in the North and Northern Ireland BBC Home Service, ...

''. He also worked on television. In 1945, he was awarded the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Victoria Medal of Honour The Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH) is awarded to British horticulturists resident in the United Kingdom whom the Royal Horticultural Society Council considers deserving of special honour by the Society. The award was established in 1897 "in per ...

, its highest award. He appeared as a castaway on the

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

programme ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...

'' on 15 July 1957. He died on 1 November 1975 at Petworth House Gardens in Petworth, Sussex, his home. His final broadcast, which was prerecorded, was transmitted on the same day.

References

1879 births Place of birth missing 1975 deaths British horticulturists BBC radio presenters People from Petworth People from Pulborough People educated at Reigate Grammar School Veitch Nurseries Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire {{BBC-tv-bio-stub