New Year Honour for Jenifer White, MBE

We were delighted to see an MBE New Year Honour for Jenifer White, Historic England’s National Landscape Adviser.

In her Historic England role, Jenifer works with Technical Conservation colleagues on evidence-based policy, standards, and guidance to support those who care for and make decisions about the stewardship of the historic environment. She is an invaluable champion not only for historic designed landscapes.

Dominic Cole, President of the Gardens Trust says: “Without Jenifer’s unfailing support over thirty years it is likely that historic designed landscapes would be much less understood and more poorly protected – for which she deserves huge thanks and public acknowledgement – though she would be the last one to believe it!”. She is also an unstinting supporter of the Gardens Trust, generously sharing her insight to help guide and support our work. The photo above shows Jenifer (right) with our Volunteer Support Officer Karina Flynn at a ‘Suffolk’s Unforgettable Garden Story’ event.

Jenifer has worked in historic landscape conservation for almost four decades, during which time this young field has grown from being the preserve of academic garden historians to being a productive modern sector of both professional and volunteer conservation practitioners skilled in translating garden history to practical management. The value of historic parks and gardens as cultural, social and environmental assets has been made clear; the threats facing them in terms of neglect, economics, development and misunderstanding have been identified; and ways of conserving and championing these important places have been developed. Of course, many in the field have contributed to make this change happen, but Jenifer’s modest hand has been quietly behind so many of the key initiatives during this time.