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Suttons and Sons played a crucial role in the country鈥檚 vegetable production during World War One from premises in Reading鈥檚 Market Place, but the impact of war on the family-run business was to prove devastating.

In 1914, Suttons was exporting seeds around the world from warehouses established on six acres of land in the town centre. Trial grounds in Reading and Slough were used to grow seeds to maturity and check they were true to type and variety before being sent by mail order to customers. Flowers were one of the main lines of business pre-war, but as exporting became more problematic due to new wartime trading restrictions and the need for home produced food increased; the production of agricultural and vegetable seeds took precedence.

As more staff enlisted, Suttons struggled to keep up with the increase in orders. In December 1916, seed growing was included in the list of reserved occupations and heads of departments were prevented from fighting. The Suttons family, however, was not and Leonard Goodhart Sutton, a partner at the firm, saw all five of his sons go to war, but only one returned.

Leonard Sutton was one of the most significant dignitaries in Reading at the time of war. Widowed in 1900, he was Mayor of Reading for the first two years of war, and as such, played a vital role in instigating the town鈥檚 response to war and motivating the voluntary sector.

He was awarded the CBE in 1920 but declined a knighthood.

Suttons also carried out pioneering work in the development of grass mixtures and was the market leader in the supply of grass seed. The photo here shows the result of experiments carried out by Suttons in growing grass seed on the roofs of greenhouses to eliminate the reflection which was helpful to enemy aircraft.

The Sutton family controlled the business until 1964 and the company moved to Devon in 1976

Location: Market Place, Reading RG1 2EG
Image courtesy of IWM
Extracts from the Sutton and Son鈥檚 Archive courtesy of the Museum of English Rural Life, University of Reading

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