Jam Yesterday Jam Tomorrow is a community led project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to uncover and restore the
history of market gardening in Middlesex through research, oral histories and the building of a model market garden to
showcase traditional methods of growing and lost varieties. To find out more visit: www.jamyesterdayjamtomorrow.com.
Market Gardeners Factsheet:
Alfred William Smith
1 Historical Context
Throughout the 19th century, the economy of Middlesex was dominated by
the need to feed London’s booming population. Parishes along the river,
and those within easy walking distance of the hungry markets of London,
became centres for commercial agriculture. Over time the rapid expansion
of London’s urban area forced out market gardeners from central
London into the southwest suburbs, and a number of Enclosure
Acts allowed common grazing land to become market gardens. Farmers
became horticulturalists, and farms became market gardens and orchards.
The arrival of the railway to Twickenham, Teddington and Whitton in the
middle of the century allowed market gardeners to move away from the
river, deeper into Middlesex. In many areas, employment in agriculture
exceeded that in trade, manufacturing, and handicrafts. Gradually,
however, as London continued to grow, house-building for the new
‘commuter classes’ began, and orchards began to give way to houses. The
industry peaked in the 1870s, and then moved to the Hampton area, where
large glasshouses allowed growers to produce fruit and vegetables more
efficiently. Several of the Hampton nurseries continued to thrive through
the Second World War and after, until their land was finally built upon to
become Nurserylands housing estate.
2 Alfred William Smith 1855-1927
Alfred Smith, who was often known as “AW”, was said to be the greatest market gardener of his time.
He was born in 1855, left school at the age of nine and went to work for his father, who had had been a
greengrocer in Richmond and then become a market gardener on London Road, Isleworth. AW set up
on his own in1890, farming just 40 acres but, with astute land management, horticultural skill, marketing
expertise and a great attention to detail, by 1902 he controlled an area of over 1,000 acres of arable land
from Bedfont to Hanworth, producing huge crops of fruit and vegetables. His land included most of the
present town of Feltham and that behind the present young offenders’ institution. Today much of his land
has been used for gravel raising or has been built over.
3 Key Facts/Timeline
1890: AW established his first business with a 40-acre fruit garden at Feltham Glebeland,
facing the Staines Road, Bedfont. He employed four labourers and used second hand
implements. Here he grew wallflowers, honesty, forget-me-nots and stocks for cut blooms
under a plantation of apple, pear and plum trees.
1890: he took over two gardens (which became known as No. 2 Garden)
adjacent to the Sawyer’s Arms public house where he planted 20 acres of fruit
trees and 20 acres of brussels sprouts, onions, beetroot and cabbage.
1891: AW’s father retired from his business at Feltham Hill, where he lived at Burnham Villa. AW
took over the entire Feltham operation, paying his father £3,000 in instalments, and moved to
Burnham Villa, making it his head office. This marked the beginning of AW’s huge empire which
he developed by taking up expiring leases, something he continued to do to the end of his life.
1892: AW established his HQ at Feltham Hill where, in 1894, he built 12 glasshouses.
1898-9: AW took on 45 acres of land at Feltham Farm and built his ‘glass city”, designed by
himself and built by his workers (where the Rochester Avenue estate is now). It consisted of 20
glasshouses, each covering half an acre of land and in 1899 he grew his first tomato crop of
120,000 plants. AW said this was his best paying crop at the time. To irrigate the site he built a
tower with a huge tank from which water could be piped to all the glasshouses.
1899: The HQ was moved from Feltham Hill to Feltham Farm
1902: AW purchased Hatch’s Farm, called the New Garden. Here he planted plum, pear and
apple trees from his own nursery, and grew red- and black-currants, gooseberries, raspberries,
strawberries and some cherries. In a seven week period he sent 120-140 tons of strawberries in
one pound punnets to Covent Garden. At his zenith AW was growing approx 400 acres of top and
bottom fruit.
1927: AW died at the age of 71 and is buried in Feltham Cemetery
4 Impact
AW supplied London with a huge amount of food sending nightly in the peak of the season no fewer
than 23 pair-horse loads to Covent Garden amounting to approximately 50 tons of produce. (Alfred
E Lucas).
Apart from his fruit plantations and glass holdings, AW was essentially a grower of green vegetables
using practically the whole of his arable land for this purpose. His aim was to produce a continuous
supply of vegetables, and therefore a constant income, all year round. Cabbage was the mainstay
of the whole cycle and he successfully experimented with growing cabbage under glass. He
became known as the “Cabbage King” as in one year he grew one million cabbage plants.
He pioneered the large scale growing of tomatoes under glass.
AW developed many vegetable species with the Feltham prefix in the name, the best known being
the “Feltham Early Pea” which is still obtainable.
Transport was a very important part of AW’s business and to begin with he was solely
dependent on horse drawn vehicles. He was the first grower in the area to change to
steam.
He was the biggest agricultural employer in the area, with upwards of 200 workers, including many
of the inhabitants of Feltham. They were well paid for the time but laboured for up to 16 hours per
day all year round and in all conditions. He was a hard task master but expected no more from his
employees than he asked of himself.
5 Find out more
Please visit our project website to find more resources:
www.jamyesterdayjamtomorrow.com/marketgardeningfactsheets
This factsheet was researched and written by Tricia Brown, Research and Oral History Volunteer.
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