John Mattock

{{Short description|English rose grower (1926-2017)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} {{Infobox person | name = John Stewart Mattock | image = | caption = | birth_date = 23 April 1926 | birth_place = Oxford | death_date = 23 October 2017 | death_place = | occupation = Rose Grower | parents = | website = }}

'''John Stewart Mattock''' (23 April 1926 – 23 October 2017) was an English rose grower, and the chairman of the Chelsea Flower Show for twelve years.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/13498842.He_used_to_grow_500_000_roses_a_year___and_he___s_still_judging_them/|title=He used to grow 500,000 roses a year...and he's still judging them|newspaper=The Oxford Times|accessdate=29 November 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://floristbusiness.co.uk/2017/11/obituary-john-mattock-roses/|title=Obituary: Master Rose grower and D-Day veteran, John Mattock - Florist Business|date=14 November 2017|website=Floristbusiness.co.uk|accessdate=29 November 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/john-mattock-obituary-r9vtj6vkb|title=John Mattock|date=28 November 2017|publisher=|access-date=29 November 2017|website=The Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/15648157.Obituary__Master_rose_grower_and_D_Day_veteran_John_Mattock/|title=Obituary: Master rose-grower and D-Day veteran John Mattock|newspaper=The Northern Echo|accessdate=29 November 2017}}</ref>

He was born in Oxford, the eldest child of John and Marita Mattock, where his father was a master rose grower. He joined the Royal Navy in 1944 and took part in the D-Day landings as an electrician on a landing craft, rejoining the family business after the war to run the Mattock rose gardens in Headington. He helped to grow the turnover tenfold, after which the family opened a garden centre at Nuneham Courteney, which became the firm's head office. They exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show, winning several medals, and Mattock became chairman of the show.

He retired in the late 1980s and sold the business to Notcutts Garden Centre. In retirement he lectured and wrote, publishing such books as "''The Reader's Digest Gardener's Guide to Growing Roses''" and "''Growing and Displaying Roses''".

In 1983 he was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour of the Royal Horticultural Society

He died aged 91 in 2017 and was buried at St Andrew's Church in Sandford-on-Thames. He had married twice;firstly Sheila Weatherley and secondly Sheila Port and had two daughters.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{cite web|url=http://www.robertmattockroses.com/history.asp|title=Robert Mattock Roses|website=Robertmattockroses.com|accessdate=29 November 2017}} *{{cite web|url=http://www.headington.org.uk/history/famous_people/mattock.htm|title=John Mattock of Headington, Oxford|website=Headington.org.uk|accessdate=29 November 2017}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mattock, John}} Category:1926 births Category:2017 deaths Category:People from Oxford Category:People educated at Southfield Grammar School Category:Royal Navy personnel of World War II Category:English horticulturists Category:English male sailors (sport) Category:Victoria Medal of Honour recipients Category:20th-century English businesspeople Category:Military personnel from Oxford Category:Burials in Oxfordshire Category:Royal Navy sailors Category:20th-century English sportsmen