Full-length group portrait of tennis players, standing, facing front, in the front yard of William Bickerton, florist, 27 Gardner Street, Salem, Mass., undated

Description

Six men holding tennis racquets stand and sit on the lawn behind a metal fence next to a bay window of a house on Gardner Street in Salem, Massachusetts. Down a path next to the house there is a building that could be the florist shop of William Bickerton. From "Horticulture", vol. XXIII, no. 1, supplement: "William Bickerton, for years a well-known florist of Salem. Mass., died on June 25 [1915] after a long illness. He was born in Shropshire, England, May 13, 1838, and learned the machinist trade there. When he was 21 years of age he came to this country and began work as a florist and landscape gardener. For several years he was gardener for Mrs. Gardner on Lafayette Street, and the beautiful appearance of those gardens is still remembered by older citizens of South Salem. Mrs. Gardner died in 1888, and Mr. Bickerton then began business for himself, which he continued until about 10 years ago, when he was obliged to give up on account of illness. Mr. Bickerton married Miss Emma Sockett, a native of Shropshire, in their native town 60 years ago, but she died April 21 of the present year [1916]."