Charles Bogue Luffman
BiographyCharles Bogue Luffman (February 15, 1862–May 6, 1920) was a British horticulturist and writer who spent time as the principal of the School of Horticulture at Burnley in Australia (1897–1908).
He was born at Cockington, Devon, England, son of George Luffman, gamekeeper, and his wife Emma, née Earl. In his early years the family moved to Knowle, Bristol. In his late twenties Luffman spent four years in the dried fruit business in Italy, France and Spain, working for two years as field manager for Delius Bros at Malaga, Spain. During his travels he had met the author Lauretta Lane who encouraged him to write. After returning briefly to England he published A Vagabond in Spain (1895). He had romanticized his name to Carl B. Luffmann and his publisher John Murray was instructed to use C. Bogue Luffmann, the name by which he frequently came to be known.
Luffman’s experience led to his appointment by the government of Victoria as advisory instructor on raisin culture at Mildura. He arrived in Victoria early in 1895. In late 1895 Lauretta Lane joined him and they were married December 14 in Melbourne. He was credited with having organized Mildura's dried fruit trade and putting it on a sound footing. He resigned to become a roving horticulturist, giving advice, lectures and demonstrations. In 1897 he became the second principal of the School of Horticulture, Burnley, described as being in a “state of confusion.” Luffman made the grounds into a school of demonstration, forming paddocks, orchards and ornamental gardens. These provided the basis for his extensive writings on garden design and management, especially in relation to orchards and farms. The Principles of Gardening for Australia (1903), the product of six public lectures, underlined his approach to garden design, championing “those gardens which come nearest to the finest expressions of nature.” Proud of the achievements of his women students, he told royal commission on technical education in 1900, “I do not think horticulture is an affair of sex.”
Luffman and his wife separated about 1902. Elinor Mordaunt, the writer, who moved into the principal’s house to look after the female staff and students at the school, described him as “a short, strongly built, very dark man, like a Spaniard... jealous, exacting and selfish.” He resigned from the School of Horticulture in January 1908 and returned to Spain to augment his earlier notes. In 1904 he had forwarded notes about his experiences in Spain to Murray, to be published anonymously since he was a public servant. Quiet Days in Spain was subsequently published in 1910. An invitation from the United States of America to advise on diseases in oranges provided the funds to travel to Japan. In The Harvest of Japan (1920) Luffman reported on Japanese life, although as with all his travel books there is surprisingly little material about horticulture. During World War I Luffman was a gardener at Wyke Regis, Dorset, England, and lectured on gardening to wounded servicemen. He died of cancer at Babbacombe, Devon.
Bibliography
A Vagabond in Spain (1895)
The Principles of Gardening for Australia (1903)
Quiet Days in Spain (1910)
The Harvest of Japan (1920)
Other links
Australian Dictionary of Biography
Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation
Wikipedia entry for his his wife, Laura Bogue Luffman