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Oliver Evelyn Penfold Wyatt Died 1973
Maidwell Hall
Northamptonshire
Galanthus “Kite”, Galanthus “Maidwell L”,
Galanthus “Scharlockii”
Oliver Wyatt was born in Sussex, served in the Guards Division Royal Artillery in the First World War, and first taught in Derbyshire after obtaining a degree from Christ Church Oxford, becoming a headmaster by the age of 29.
He purchased Maidwell Hall in 1933, previously the home of Mr RB Loder, to establish Maidwell Hall School as his home, as the proprietor of a boarding school and its headmaster.
The hall had been destroyed by fire in 1895 and subsequently rebuilt so was presumably in good order.
The gardens were already established and famous since Loder had been a prominent plants man giving his name to Campanula cochlearifolia “RB Loder” and Clematis macropetala “Maidwell Hall”.
Oliver was able to develop and build on this horticultural history eventually producing the snowdrop cultivars listed. Is it possible that Oliver named his snowdrop variety “Maidwell L” following Loder’s precedent?
Oliver Wyatt remained a bachelor and had a wide range of interests from horsemanship, through country pursuits to collecting old English glass, serving as a magistrate and chairman of Brixworth Rural District Council.
Maidwell Hall