Publications
Ladies of Miller's, by Diana Crook, published 18 November 1996 (50 pp., Dale House Press, ISBN-10: 1900841010 & ISBN-13: 9781900841016) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502870] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Mrs Henry Dudeney: A Lewes Diary 1916-1944, by late Mrs. Henry Dudeney and edited by Diana Crook, published November 1998 (254 pp., Tartarus Press, ISBN-10: 1872621341 & ISBN-13: 9781872621340) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/503532] & East Sussex Libraries
A Box of Toys: An Anthology of Lewes Writings, compiled by Diana Crook, published 1 September 2004 (124 pp., Dale House Press, ISBN-10: 1900841037 & ISBN-13: 9781900841030) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/503448] & East Sussex Libraries
Defying the Demon: Smallpox in Sussex, by Diana Crook, published 3 August 2006 (135 pp., Dale House Press, ISBN-10: 1900841045 & ISBN-13: 9781900841047) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502157] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Ragged Lands: Viscountess Wolseley's College for Lady Gardeners, Glynde, by Diana Crook, published 1 March 2008 (67 pp., Dale House Press, ISBN-10: 1900841053 & ISBN-13: 9781900841054) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502707] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Review by Juliet Clarke in Sussex Past and Present no. 115, August 2008:First printed in a limited edition in 2002, this many-layered story of a pioneering College for Lady Gardeners before and during WWI is now available in expanded form. The College was created by the Hon Frances Wolseley, daughter of an illustrious military father. Pampered in childhood, as she moved to maturity her parents rejected and disinherited her. The enterprise resulted largely from her attempt to deal with their quixotic if mannered brutality. She found generous friends and sponsors; her Victorian upbringing had given her the moral high ground and an obligation to public service; crucially though she had a love of the practical and spiritual elements of gardens and gardening. What she had learnt from the (male) gardeners at stately homes throughout her youth, combined with her own aesthetic sense to inform a conviction that women made the best supervising gardeners.
She developed a school to help women (of the right class) learn the business of professional gardening. The creation of an Italianate garden at Glynde near Lewes, where students could gain practical experience, provides the setting for a large and eccentric cast. New material in this edition includes extracts from Frances Wolseley's private diaries that show a small community with a ritualised regime of uniquely designed ceremonies, uniforms, and punishments. This evolved from a mixture of military and nautical influences although an attempt to include men as students was short lived; having established the garden to her satisfaction the predominant struggle was with what Viscountess Wolseley described as the "endless vagaries of the female mind".
She developed a school to help women (of the right class) learn the business of professional gardening. The creation of an Italianate garden at Glynde near Lewes, where students could gain practical experience, provides the setting for a large and eccentric cast. New material in this edition includes extracts from Frances Wolseley's private diaries that show a small community with a ritualised regime of uniquely designed ceremonies, uniforms, and punishments. This evolved from a mixture of military and nautical influences although an attempt to include men as students was short lived; having established the garden to her satisfaction the predominant struggle was with what Viscountess Wolseley described as the "endless vagaries of the female mind".
Treasure Chest: A Seaford Anthology, compiled by Diana Crook, published 1 June 2012 (136 pp., Dale House Press, ISBN-10: 1900841061 & ISBN-13: 9781900841061) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/503495] & East Sussex Libraries