Madge Elder

Margaret Moffat (Madge) Elder (17 July 1893 – 25 December 1985) was a Scottish gardener, plant nursery owner, writer and feminist.[1] She published two books on the history and folklore of the Scottish Borders,[2][3][4] as well as regular articles for the Weekly Scotsman and The Scots Magazine. She recognised similarities between the suffrage movement and pioneering women gardeners.[5]

Margaret Moffat Elder
Born17 July 1893
Portobello, Scotland
Died25 December 1985
Edinburgh, Scotland
EducationFirst class certificate in horticulture

Edinburgh School of Gardening for Women in Corstorphine

1912
Known forPioneering female gardener, writer
Parents
  • John Elder (father)
  • Margaret Virtue (mother)

Early life and education

Madge Elder was born in Portobello, near Edinburgh, on 17 July 1893 to Margaret Virtue and John Elder, a marine engineer. She was brought up on a farm in Berwickshire and educated at Gordon village school. She was solely reliant on lip-reading for communication due to deafness.[5]

At the age of 19, she was in one of the first classes to graduate from Scotland's first horticultural college for women: the Edinburgh School of Gardening for Women in Corstorphine,[6] graduating with a first-class certificate in horticulture.[5] Elder held gardening positions at the Priory in Melrose and joined the Duke of Buccleuch’s estate at Bowhill in 1918 [7] as head gardener under the red cross.[8]

Madge Elder retired from gardening in 1948 to become a writer.[6]

Publications

Madge wrote three works during her lifetime[9]

  1. Ballad Country, first published in 1963
  2. Tell the Towers thereof: the ancient Border story, first published in 1956
  3. Winter Garland, first published in 1947[9]

References
  1. Reid, Deborah Anne (2015-11-25). "Unsung heroines of horticulture : Scottish gardening women, 1800 to 1930". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. OpenLibrary.org. "Ballad country (1963 edition) | Open Library". Open Library. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  3. OpenLibrary.org. "Tell the towers thereof (1956 edition) | Open Library". Open Library. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  4. Elder, Madge (1947). A winter garland 1941–1945. Galashiels: John McQueen & Son, Ltd. OL 20690243M.
  5. Ewan, Elizabeth; Pipes, Rose; Randall, Jane; Reynolds, Siân (2018). The new biographical dictionary of Scottish women. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd. pp. 130–131. ISBN 978-1-4744-3629-8. OCLC 1057237368.
  6. Young, Fay (2016-03-08). "Erased from history: women gardeners". Sceptical Scot. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  7. "Gardening". Berwickshire News and General Advertiser. 18 September 1956.
  8. Horwood, Catherine (2012-02-27). "Are you a Scottish Gardening Woman?". Gardening Women. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  9. OpenLibrary.org. "Madge Elder". Open Library. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
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