Former Ryder Seeds Head Office

Image: © Ian Capper Taken: 2 Oct 2011

In the 1890s Samuel Ryder started a seed business in his garden shed at his home in Folly Lane, St Albans, selling seeds in penny packets which he sent by post, using St Albans' transport links. As the business expanded, he had to move premises a few times, ending up in a site on Holywell Hill, which he bought in 1903 and on which he had built this building in 1911. It was designed by Percival Blow, and built by local builders Miskin. Eventually the company was taken over by Suttons Seeds, and for a while the building, along with the adjacent Exhibition Hall (see Image), served as the Post Office sorting office for St Albans (hence the large postbox outside). Since the 1990s it has been occupied by Comfort Hotels. The building is grade II listed - see www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1251301. Samuel Ryder also co-founded with his brother the herbal business Heath and Heather, which had a prominent warehouse just south of St Albans City Station, the business eventually being sold to Holland and Barrett. But Samuel Ryder was much more than a very successful businessman. He was a local councillor between 1903 and 1916, and was elected Mayor of St Albans in 1905. He was also a very religious man, acting as a deacon of the local congregational church (see Image), to which he contributed part of the building cost. But his most lasting gift was in the world of golf, a sport he took up at the age of 49 for health reasons, playing at Verulam Golf Club where he was three times captain. Through his company Heath and Heather he sponsored a number of professional golf tournaments, before in 1926 proposing a challenge match between the USA and Great Britain & Ireland. The cup he presented for the winner was the Ryder Cup, still the greatest team competition in the golfing world. He died on 2 January 1936, aged 77, and is buried in Hatfield Road Cemetery (see Image).

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