Sarah Backhouse: The ‘genius’ creator of the first true pink daffodil
Narcissus ‘Mrs R. O. Backhouse’ holds a special place in horticultural history as the first true pink daffodil ever bred. For her remarkable work, Sarah Backhouse was named as a ‘genius’
Sarah Backhouse (1857-1921) is the person who turned daffodils pink. The Quaker plantswoman was known for raising new varieties of red-cupped daffodils, and the first true pink daffodil – her namesake, Narcissus ‘Mrs R.O. Backhouse’, the most well-known and widely grown pink daffodil of the last 90 years. ‘Mrs R. O. Backhouse’ is more of a salmon than a true pink, but the first to flower reliably pink. It was named by her husband, Robert Ormiston Backhouse, in 1923, two years after her death.
Recent evidence from archives shows she was the first woman to win the Peter Barr Memorial Cup for her work with daffodils in 1916 and she was named by Reverend George Engleheart, one of the finest daffodil breeders in horticultural history, as a ‘genius’.
Narcissus Committee minutes in the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society show her and her husband Robert were named on a number of varieties which received RHS Award of Garden Merits (AGMs).
The Narcissus Committee gave an RHS First Class Certificate on 7 May 1901 to ‘Moonbeam’, the epoch-making pure white, small type ‘Leedsii’ to Robert Backhouse. It is unclear whether it was Robert or Sarah’s work but early registrations of daffodils from the household were registered in Robert’s name, and the later ones were named as Sarah’s work.
Showcasing her work
Narcissus ‘Mrs R. O. Backhouse’ is the most well-known and widely grown pink daffodil of the last 90 years
“Few of the famous raisers of new varieties were less known by the rank and file, for she seldom appeared on committees or at meetings, and it was not very often that she staged many flowers in public, but when she did, it was something like a revelation to see what was there. I fancy in her quiet way she loved to surprise us and this she certainly did at Birmingham in 1919 and at London in 1920,” wrote Joseph Jacob in The Garden magazine in February 1921.
Red and pink daffodils
Narcissus ‘Mrs R. O. Backhouse’ growing at the Backhouse Rossie Estate in Fife
RHS records show her success in the minutes of expert group meetings:
- 24 March 1903: “Award of Merit to ‘Firelight’ (votes, 11 for), from Mrs Backhouse, Sutton Court, Hereford. This Narcissus × incomparabilis resembles ‘C. J. Backhouse’, but has a richer, orange-shaded crown and soft yellow perianth segments.”
- ‘Mohican’ (votes, 12 for), from Mrs Backhouse. An early Burbidgei variety, with flowers of large size and good substance; perianth segments broad, creamy-white; cup small, yellow with orange rim.
- “Other exhibits. Mrs Backhouse staged several new seedling daffodils, including ‘Border Red’, ‘Early Poeticus’ and ‘Cecil Hull’ being the most noteworthy.”
- 7 April 1903: “Award of Merit to ‘Zingara’ (votes, 12 for), from Mrs Backhouse, Sutton Court, Hereford. A variety with fine white perianth segments, and a broad, orange, crimson-tipped cup ; a beautiful poeticus hybrid. Other exhibits. Mrs. Backhouse, Sutton Court, Hereford, staged ‘Esmeralda,’ ‘Bright-eye’ and served other seedling daffodils, all of poeticus parentage’.”
- 11 April 1905: “Award of Merit to ‘Lord Kitchener’ (votes, unanimous), from Mrs Backhouse, Hereford. This is well described as a bicolor ‘Sir Watkin’. It is a noble flower with white perianth, and a broad crown that is lemon and sulphur yellow.”
Sarah’s achievement of being the first to create cultivars with solid pink coronas was recorded in her garden diary of 1906-7 and the hybrid ‘May Fair’ was registered by her in 1908 in the RHS International Daffodil Register and Classification List.
Caroline Thomson holds the Backhouse Heritage Daffodils Collection at Backhouse Rossie
“Such species do not occur naturally because the two species flower at different times. Early hybridisers overcame the problem by storing pollen in foil packets kept in cool conditions until the stigmas became receptive; nowadays the job is made easier with refrigeration.” (Source: Caroline Thomson and David Willis, The Hardy Plant Society’s journal, in 2020)
Reverend George Engleheart wrote in the 1934 Daffodil Yearbook: “A great sensation was created when she brought up to the Midland Daffodil Show in 1905 a new hybrid with whitish perianth and a pretty shell-pink trumpet. This was afterwards christened ‘Mrs. R. O. Backhouse’ and given an Award of Merit by the RHS Narcissus Committee in 1906.”
It is unknown whether this was in fact correct and was the same flower registered in 1921 ‘Mrs R.O. Backhouse’ or another variety, as the Narcissus and Tulip Committee minutes from 1906 mention no such award, but what is clear – she was working on the pink and red colouring for decades and certainly caused a stir with her attempts, winning awards and plaudits as she tried.
Over the next two years, she displayed daffodils at shows that went for incredible sums.
Her own personal daffodil
Sarah Backhouse was particularly known for raising the first true pink daffodil
Although is more of a salmon than a true pink, ‘Mrs R. O. Backhouse’ was the first to flower reliably pink
Caroline Thomson says: “The popularity, stability and vigour of this cultivar can be gauged by its ready availability today, almost 100 years after its production.
“This cultivar arose from the most unlikely looking parent, ‘Lord Kitchener’ another of Sarah Backhouse’s cultivars, a prize-winning ‘Leedsi’, which was white and yellow.”
The pink colouring lies in the fact that ‘Lord Kitchener’ possesses genes from both N. poeticus and N. moschatus in its ancestry,” wrote Caroline Thomson and David Willis in The Hardy Plant Society’s journal, in 2020.
Plantsman Edward Augustus Bowles wrote in A Handbook of Narcissus that the first true pink was shown in 1923, which differs to Engleheart’s version but they both attribute it to her: “The late Mrs. R. O. Backhouse raised the first (pink). It bears her honoured name and was shown in 1923. Though it had more pink in it than any previously known, there is also so much pale orange in the lower portion of the corona that the general effect is nearer to a pale apricot shade, with a salmon-pink rim when at its best. It is a wonderful flower, colours well out of doors and stands out conspicuously enough to be noticed by all, though most people are reluctant to accept it as a pink daffodil.”
After The Midland Daffodil Society’s exhibition in Birmingham, April 1919 Guy Wilson wrote in the 1919 Annual Report: “Those of us who were fortunate enough to be present when Miss Backhouse arrived in the afternoon, saw a bunch of flowers, which fairly took our breath away. Amongst them were several huge giant Narcissus × incomparabilis, which had yellow perianths, and great orange or orange-scarlet crowns.”
The Garden magazine, in 1921, wrote of her flowers: “Those red cups and eyes which were the outstanding feature of last season’s show will never be forgotten by those who saw them as being in their way the high water mark of daffodil development – flowers as impossible to imagine a quarter of a century ago as Byron’s ‘roses in December and ice in June.’”
Letter written to E.A. Bowles from Robert Backhouse announcing Sarah’s death
