Henry Samuel Whiteley 

Henry Samuel Whiteley trained as a professional gardener at Hexham, then at Lord Lonsdale's Estate at Lowther Castle, with its 10 acres of gardens. During the visit of Kaiser William II he was responsible for the displays and floral decorations at the banquets etc, as well as for the dozen foriegn royalties who visited that year.

On the death of his father, Henry Mark Whiteley, in 1896 he returned to Silksworth as Head Gardener to Captain Beckwith, then to Mr Craven and finally in 1903 Charles Doxford.

It was then that the Estate was laid out with a staff of initially fifteen gardeners. He brought many of the Lowther Castle feature and ideas-E.G. the layout of the lake and artificial waterfall, The Holly Walk (copied fom The Yew Avenue at Lowther) and the magnificent flower borders.