Spring in the Savill Garden, Windsor Great Park.

July 1916, and the battle of the Somme was in its full madness. An officer, Lt Eric Savill lay wounded in the mud a few yards from the German trenches. Private Theodore Veale of the Devonshire Regiment went to his rescue by crossing no-man’s land five times over several hours under constant heavy fire.

Initially Veale dragged the officer a few hundred yards into a shell hole. Back in the trenches he gathered three volunteers. Together they crawled out to rescue the wounded man only for one of them to be killed. Undeterred, Veale ventured out once more with two helpers. When they were ambushed, he returned fire with a light machine gun whilst his comrades ferried Savill back at last to safety.

Lt. Eric Savill survived the war and went onto become Deputy Ranger of Windsor Great Park. There he created two gardens and initiated the National Collection of Magnolias. One of the gardens was renamed Savill Garden, and he was knighted in 1955. He died in 1980.

Theodore Veal received the Victoria Cross in February 1917 and he died in 1980 aged 87.

Magnolias
Magnolias is one of the oldest genus of plants on the planet. Fossilised remains date to at least 20 million years. They existed before bees and relied on beetles for pollination.