David Charles Henshaw Austin was born in Albrighton, England on February 16, 1926. He became a self-taught horticulturist, rose breeder, and author. He began the process of creating hybrids while he worked as a farmer. By 1961, he had developed his first hybrid rose the Constance Spry. He gave up farming to start his own full-time business in 1969. In 1983, he introduced three English Rose varieties and his business grew. He created more than 200 hybrid roses and his company's seedlings and flowers are sold around the world. He received the Order of the British Empire in 2007 for services to horticulture. His books included The Heritage of the Rose, The English Roses, and The Breathing… Earth. He died on December 18, 2018 at the age of 92.