Alexander Dickson, Hawlmark, Newtownards, Northern Ireland (December 20, 1857-1949)
Nursery at Newtownards founded in 1836 by father (also Alexander; c. 1801-1880)
[From The Book on Roses, by Dr. G. Griffin Lewis, 1931, p. 139:] Alexander Dickson of Hawlmark, Newtonards, Ireland...was born on December 20, 1857, and began producing roses in 1879, distributing his first series of pedigree roses in 1887...
[From A Rose Odyssey, by J. H. Nicolas, 1937, p. 125ff:] Alexander Dickson, now about eighty and recently retired because of poor health...
[From The Makers of Heavenly Roses, by Jack Harkness, 1985, p. 44:] George Dickson...had four sons and employed them all in his nursery. The eldest was Alexander, born in 1857. He entered the business in 1872....[Alexander II] He and his brother George, whom we had better enter as George II, are the two out of the four brothers of interest to us, because of their future work on roses......George Dickson, ever receptive to new ideas, promptly started breeding roses in 1879. ...[He] and his two rose-minded sons became engrossed in this new venture, in the idea that they could determine the progeny by selecting its parents....Seven years later, in 1886, Alexander II took Dickson's 'First Set of Pedigree Seedlings'...to London.
...In response to their first failures, and as a result of their observations, Alexander II and George II evolved a system of in-breeding. It may be briefly explained by saying that a cross of Mother x Father = Seedling was followed by four more crosses, namely Mother x Seedling; Father x Seedling; Seedling x Mother; Seedling x Father. From the progeny, those nearest the ideal were selected, and the process continued, if the line appeared promising...
Alexander II retired in 1930.
[From Roll Call: The Old Rose Breeder, p. 122:] Alexander Dickson, Hawlmark, Newtownards, Northern Ireland
Lived c. 1851-1949
Brother of Hugh Dickson
Nursery at Newtownards founded in 1836 by father (also Alexander; c. 1801-1880)
