Sutton, Martin Hope (1815-1901), seed merchant.
"There'll never be a time when people won't require seeds". Sutton's parting words to George
Palmer on their walks to work.
Born in Reading where he lived his entire life. His father, John Sutton, had run a corn-dealing firm in King Street since 1806. The firm ran into financial trouble from 1815 and the birth of a son was taken as a hopeful sign hence Martin’s middle name. These troubles were worsened by his father’s ill health, partially caused by a drink problem, which Martin later helped to solve. Martin was forced to join the business at the age of twelve and realised that seed dealing offered better profits, but his father refused to diversify. So Martin studied botany and sold seeds in his spare time. On becoming a partner in 1836 he started phasing out corn in favour of seeds and moved the shop to the Market Place in 1837. His expansion was built on an innovative catalogue mail order seed system based on the growth in suburban gardening.
Sutton campaigned for the improvement of seed strains in Britain helping to pass the Seed Adulteration Act. In 1846, despite his wife’s recent death, he worked tirelessly to send seeds to Ireland during the famine and tried to develop disease resistant strains of potato. In the 1850s he started supplying seeds to the Royal Household and helped lay out Queen Victoria’s Gardens at Osborne House, but declined the offer of a knighthood. By the 1870s Sutton and Sons was the world’s largest seed firm, and he was donating twenty percent of his substantial income to charitable causes. In Reading he subsidised the foundation of local schools, as well as large donations to churches. He set up Mildmay Hall which is today used by the Progress Theatre and gave his name to a variety of Rhododendron. He lived for a large part of his life in Cintra Lodge, in Whitley. On his walks to work along Watlington Street Sutton would sometimes encounter George Palmer, and they would often discuss the relative merits of their products. When they parted at King's Road Sutton usually would have the last words which are quoted above.
Link to the Dictionary of National Biography (only from a Library terminal).
Martin Sutton
Find out more information about Sutton’s Seeds from Reading Museum
Other External Links to more information:
Sutton Seeds website, including a
history of the firm
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