The lives and times of a large family in service over the turn of the last century. James Pogson was one of the youngest children. His working life started at thirteen years of age when he entered the gardeners' bothy on the Welbeck Abbey Estate in the Dukeries, the home of the Duke and Duchess of Portland. As James progressed, gaining knowledge and experience, his love and artistry of flowers became apparent. By his mid-twenties, he was doing floristry in the Abbey and had graduated to become an 'indoor' servant with his own small apartment at the Abbey. His work diary for 1911, on which this book is based, gives an insight to the flowers he worked with and to the events of that year.