by Jane Brown
Campbell-Culver, Maggie, A Passion for Trees, the Legacy of John Evelyn, 2006
Carter, George, Goode, Patrick and Laurie, Kedrun, Humphry Repton Landscape Gardener 1752–1818, University of East Anglia, Norwich, 1983
Clarke, George B. (ed.), Descriptions of Lord Cobham’s Gardens at Stowe 1700–1750, Buckinghamshire Record Society, 1990
Colley, Linda, Britons Forging the Nation 1707–1837, 1992
Colvin, Brenda, Land and Landscape, 1970
Cousins, Michael, Hagley Park, vol. 35, Supp. 1, Garden History, 2007
Daniels, Stephen, Humphry Repton: Landscape Gardening and the Geography of Georgian England, 1999
Devonshire, The Duchess of, The Estate, A View from Chatsworth, 1990
Fairbrother, Nan, New Lives, New Landscapes, 1970
Fairfax-Lucy, Alice, Charlecote and the Lucys: The Chronicle of an English Family, revised edn, 1990
Foreman, Amanda, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, 1998
Friedman, Terry, James Gibbs, 1984
Gomme, Andor, Smith of Warwick: Francis Smith, Architect and Master-Builder, Stamford, 2000
Gordon, Catherine, The Coventrys of Croome, Chichester, 2000
Green, David, Gardener to Queen Anne, Henry Wise and the Formal Garden, 1956
Hague, William, William Pitt the Younger, 2004/2005
Harris, John, Sir William Chambers, Knight of the Polar Star, 1970
Harris, John, The Palladian Revival: Lord Burlington, His Villa and Garden at Chiswick, 1994
Harvey, John, Early Nurserymen, Chichester, 1974
Heath, Gerald, Hampton Court, the Story of a Village, ed. K. White and J. Heath, The Hampton Court Association, 2000
Hedley, G., comp., Capability Brown and the Northern House, Landscape Trust, 1983
Hinde, Thomas, Capability Brown: The Story of a Master Gardener, 1986
Holmes, Richard, The Age of Wonder, How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science, 2008/2009
Howard, Jean and Start, David, All Things Lincolnshire, The Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, Lincoln, 2007
Hunt, John Dixon, William Kent, Landscape Garden Designer, 1987
Hunt, John Dixon, The Picturesque Garden in Europe, 2003/2004
Hunt, John Dixon and Willis, Peter, The Genius of the Place: The English Landscape Garden 1620–1820, 1975
Jacques, David, Georgian Gardens, The Reign of Nature, 1983
Laird, Mark, The Flowering of the English Landscape Garden, English Pleasure Grounds 1720–1800, Philadelphia, 1999
Littlebury: A Parish History, ed. Lizzie Sanders and Gillian Williamson, Littlebury, 2005
Lunn, Angus, Northumberland, New Naturalist Series, 2004
Mack, Robert L., Thomas Gray: A Life, 2000
Meir, Jennifer, Sanderson Miller and His Landscapes, 2006
Mowl, Timothy, William Kent: Architect, Designer, Opportunist, 2006
Mowl, Timothy and Barre, Dianne, Staffordshire, The Historic Gardens of England, Bristol, 2009
Reed, James, The Border Ballads, 1973
Roberts, Jane, Royal Landscape, The Gardens and Parks of Windsor, 1997
Saunders, Edward, Joseph Pickford of Derby, A Georgian Architect, Stroud, 1993
Stazicker, Elizabeth, The Sheriffs of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, a brief history, Cambridge, 2007
Stroud, Dorothy, Capability Brown, 1950, 1975, 1984
Stroud, Dorothy, Henry Holland: His Life and Architecture, 1966
Sykes, Christopher Simon, The Big House: The Story of a Country House and its Family (Sledmere), 2004
Thurley, Simon, Hampton Court: A Social and Architectural History, 2003
Thynn, Alexander, Marquess of Bath, Strictly Private to Public Exposure, The Early Years, 2002
Turner, Roger, Capability Brown and the Eighteenth-Century English Landscape, Chichester, 1985, 1999
Uglow, Jenny, The Lunar Men: The Friends Who Made the Future, 2002/2003
Wedgwood, Iris, Northumberland and Durham, 1932
Whistler, Laurence, The Imagination of Vanbrugh and His Fellow Artists, 1954
Williams, Guy, The Royal Parks of London, Chicago, 1978
Williamson, Tom, Polite Landscapes Gardens & Society in Eighteenth-Century England, Stroud, 1998
Willis, Peter, Charles Bridgeman and the English Landscape Garden, 1977, reprinted Newcastle upon Tyne, 2002
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My first thanks go to the producers of the Wentworth Wooden Jigsaw puzzle of Burghley House’s portrait of Lancelot Brown, which hangs in the Pagoda Room; his enigmatic face in fragments on the table before me were the prompting to try to put his life together.
My grateful acknowledgements go to those who have published distinguished works touching on Lancelot’s career, in alphabetical order they are David Brown, George Clarke, Elisabeth Hall, John Harris, Thomas Hinde, David Jacques, Mark Laird, Jennifer Meir, Timothy Mowl, John Phibbs, Steffie Shields, Dorothy Stroud (of course), Michael Symes, Deborah Turnbull, Roger Turner, Janet Waymark, Tom Williamson and Peter Willis. I want to acknowledge particularly the opening up of estate archives by such as David Burnett (Longleat), the 11th Duchess of Devonshire (Chatsworth), Catherine Gordon (Croome), David Green (Blenheim), Colin Shrimpton (Alnwick), and Christopher Simon Sykes (Sledmere), as also the late Andor Gomme’s Smith of Warwick for revealing so much of the working lives of Georgian builders and craftsmen. I have endeavoured to credit all these works, as well as other I have consulted, justly and accurately.
For helping me personally my thanks go to John and Kitty Anderson, Jeanne Battye, Jane Bolesworth, Julia and Derek Brown, Judith Christie, Fiona Colbert (St John’s College, Cambridge), Dominic Cole, Rod Conlon, David Cousins, Lesley Denton, Hugh Dixon, John Drake, Gilly Drummond, Harry Willis Fleming, Bridget Flanagan, Edward and Polly Hutchison, Carole Jones, Jonathan Lovie, George and Susan Lowes, Michael Morrice, Miles Williamson-Noble, Nick Owen, Christopher Vane Percy, Edward Perry, John Phibbs, Crispin Powell (Northamptonshire Record Office), Heather Robertson, Sybil Wade and Lance Wise. In addition, my appreciations go to my family, friends and neighbours who have answered outlandish questions or been sent on wild goose chases in Mr Brown’s cause.
My agent, Caradoc King, found a home for this book at Chatto & Windus, and my gratitude to my editor Jenny Uglow, and her colleagues, is boundless. Particular thanks go to my copy editor Mandy Greenfield, to Vera Brice and Leslie Robinson for drawing the plans, and to Douglas Matthews for the index.
The Omnipotent Magician now goes on his own way; I am bereft, but thank him for his company, and can only wish him ‘God speed’.
Jane Brown
October 2010
INDEX
The page references in this index correspond to the printed edition from which this ebook was created. To find a specific word or phrase from the index, please use the search feature of your ebook reader.
Adam, James, 204, 216
Adam, Robert: as architect, 88; Palmyra ceiling for Osterley Park, 102; and position of bridge at Syon House, 116; in Society for Encouragement of Arts, 142; Luton Hoo designs, 167; designs bridge at Audley End, 169, 172; designs for Ugbrooke, 176–7; designs menagerie for Castle Ashby, 194; decorates Alnwick Castle state rooms, 215; Gothic tower at Alnwick, 216; as chief Architect at Office of Works, 221; rebuilds Mamhead, 242; restores Luton Hoo, 243; redesigns Drury Lane Theatre, 262; work at Harewood, 283; builds at Moccas, 288; builds 10 St James’s Square, 289; furnishings at Croome, 292
Addison, Joseph, 42
Aire, River (Yorkshire), 192
Aislabie, John, 287
Aislabie, William, 285
Aiton, John, 304
Aiton, William, 245, 304
Aiton, William Townsend, 304
Albemarle, General George Keppel, 3rd Earl of, 183
Allen, Ralph, 54, 184
Allgood, Lancelot, 20, 23n
Almack’s Assembly Rooms, Pall Mall, 238
Aln, River (Nor
thumberland), 215–16
Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, 113, 194, 211, 213–17
Althorp, Northamptonshire, 178–9, 303
America: plants from, 81, 93; see also United States of America
American War of Independence, 242, 263–4, 266–7, 279
Ancaster House, Richmond, 118
Ancaster and Kesteven, Peregrine Bertie, 2nd Duke of (and 17th Baron Willoughby de Eresby), 36–7, 118, 162
Ancaster and Kesteven, Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of, 118, 270
Anderson, John, 218, 219n
Anderson, Kitty, 219n
Angerstein, R.R.: Travel Diary 1753–1755, 58
Anne, Queen, 20, 158–9
Anson, Admiral George, Baron, 97–8, 117, 188
Anson, Thomas, 188
Appuldurcombe House, Isle of Wight, 283–4
Archer, Thomas, 120, 124
architect: as term, 85, 88
Argyll, Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of, 165–6
Arkwright, B.R., 276
Armstrong, Captain Andrew: Lincolnshire, 29, 32
Armstrong, Colonel John, 147–8
Arrow, River (Herefordshire), 247, 249
Arundell of Wardour, Henry, 8th Baron, 241, 290–1
Ashburnham, John, 2nd Earl, 118
Ashridge, Hertfordshire, 160, 187, 307
Aske Hall, North Yorkshire, 213
Astley, Sir Edward, 180, 182
Astrop Wells, Northamptonshire, 107, 145
Aubrey family, 293
Aubrey, Sir John, 72
Audley End, Essex, 161, 168–72, 175, 254
Augusta, Princess of Wales, 95, 143, 153, 166, 221; death, 223
Austen, Ralph: Treatise, 16
Avon, River (Warwickshire), 68, 90, 130
Avon, River (Wiltshire), 291
Aylesford family, 70
Aynho, Northamptonshire, 144–5, 293
Bacon, Sir Francis: Of Gardens, 122
Balle family, 242
Banks, Sir Joseph, 244, 310
Banks, Joseph II (of Revesby), 31
Banks, William, 31
Baron, Bernard, 44
Barry, Sir Charles, 190
Bartram, John, 80
Bartram’s Boxes (seedsmen), 80
Bath: LB visits, 183–4
Batoni, Pompeo, 68, 92, 289
Beauchamp, George Seymour, Viscount, 213
Bedingfield family, 181
Beechwood Park, Hertford, Bedfordshire border, 106–7
Beisley, Thomas, 216
Belan, River (Flintshire), 290
Belhus, Essex, 67, 76, 92, 98–9, 104, 133–4
Belvoir Castle, Rutland, 291–2
Benwell Towers, Newcastle, 23
Berrington, Herefordshire, 247–9, 265n, 282
Bess of Hardwick see Shrewsbury, Elizabeth, Countess of
Bickham, George, 25
Bill, Charles, 181, 183, 186
Birkenhead Park, 317
Black Bourne, River (Suffolk), 207
Blackett, Julia, 19
Blackett, Sir Walter Calverley (born Calverley), 19–20, 23, 95, 211, 217–20
Blackett, Sir William, 11–12, 16, 18–19, 217
Blaise Hamlet, Bristol, 255
Blake, Robin, 208
Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire: grandeur, 36; Bridgeman at, 44; LB works at, 144–50, 182; Grand Bridge, 145–50; military garden, 146–8, 237–8; pool and canal, 147–8, 182, 187; Queen Anne funds building of, 159; payments for, 161; Georgian High Lodge, 182; Richard Brown visits, 212; Mavor on, 315–16
Boarstall, Buckinghamshire, 293
Boconnoc, Cornwall, 252
Boldre, Hampshire, 287
Bolingbroke, Henry St John, Viscount, 43
Boodle’s club, Pall Mall, 238
Boston, Lincolnshire, 28–32, 37, 268
Boston, Mass., 263
Boston Tea Party (1773), 242
Boswell, James, 310
Bournehill, Hampshire, 265–6
Bowen, Emanuel, 25
Bowes, George, 20, 24, 58–9
Bowood, Wiltshire, 16, 136–7, 183, 194
Boycott Manor, Buckinghamshire, 63
Boyse, Samuel: ‘The Triumphs of Nature’, 61
Bradley, Martha: The British Housewife, 178
Branches, Suffolk, 161
‘Brides of Enderby, The’, 27, 31
Bridgeman, Charles: gardens at Wotton Underwood, 37–8; Stowe gardens, 40, 44, 46; succeeds Wise as royal gardener, 79, 153; LB follows tradition of, 85, 120; reworks Moor Park garden, 98; aids George London as Burghley, 101; redesigns Wimbledon House, 179; pleasure garden at Claremont, 237; Wimpole scheme, 277
Bridgeman, Sir Henry, 183, 191
Bridgeman, Sarah, 40, 44
Bridgewater, Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of, 160, 186–7
Brighton: Royal Pavilion, 303
Brindley, James, 188–90, 216
Broadlands, Hampshire, 173, 183, 265, 279–82
Brocklesby, Lincolnshire, 268, 270
Brompton nursery, South Kensington, 79
Brooke, Francis, 8th Baron (later 1st Earl of Warwick), 67, 69, 89–91, 118, 233
Brooks’s club, London, 238, 303
Brown family and name, 8–9
Brown, Anne (LB’s daughter): death in childhood, 103, 199
Brown, Bridget (née Wayet; LB’s wife): and LB’s death, 3; home in Hampton Court, 5, 156–7, 178; death and burial, 6, 299; meets and marries LB, 29, 34, 36, 37, 50; and LB’s plans in Lincolnshire, 34; life at Stowe, 51–2; pregnancies and children, 55, 60, 63; leaves Stowe, 76; domestic duties, 79; nurses LB following collapse, 94; life in Hammersmith, 103; as LB’s executor, 199; life at Hampton Court, 202, 261; takes breaks in Boston, 227; LB’s correspondence with, 242, 249–50, 271, 280; Garrick invites to Drury Lane, 262–3; in LB’s will, 299; moves to Kensington in widowhood, 299; never visits Fenstanton, 302
Brown, Catherine (née Fenwick; George’s wife), 20, 50, 95
Brown, Dorothy (first Lancelot’s wife), 9, 10
Brown, Dorothy (LB’s sister): birth, 10; and father’s death, 13; marriage, 24
Brown, Elizabeth (John’s wife, m.1676), 9
Brown, Elizabeth (LB’s sister): birth, 13
Brown, Frances (née Fuller; Lance’s wife), 300, 303
Brown, George (‘Geordie’; LB’s brother): birth and upbringing, 11; career as stonemason-architect, 14, 20, 24; works at Wallington, 14, 19–20, 217, 218n, 316; reports to LB on Wallington estate, 19–20, 22; marriage, 20, 37, 50; prosperity, 95; on brother John’s death, 212; LB visits (1769), 217; on sister Mary’s debts, 234
Brown, George Stephen (LB’s son): death, 103
Brown, Jane (née Loraine; LB’s sister-in-law), 4, 24–5, 50, 95, 211–12, 218
Brown, Jane (Thomas’s wife, m.1675), 9
Brown, Admiral John (Jack; LB’s son): retires to Huntingdonshire, 6; baptised, 75; childhood in Hammersmith, 103, 111; at Eton, 155–6; in LB’s will, 199, 299; naval career, 235, 302; in American War of Independence, 263; returns from active service in America, 279, 281; differences with father, 281–2; marriage, 302; acquires Stirtloe House, 303
Brown, John (LB’s elder brother): and son Richard, 4; birth, 11; and father’s death, 13; marriage, 14, 24–5, 37, 50; as surveyor, 14; chest complaints, 15; access to Kirkharle Hall and library, 16–17; as Sir William Loraine’s factotum, 24; financial position and career, 95; as agent for Duke of Portland, 118, 211; death, 198, 211–12; reputation, 211
Brown, Dr John (of St John’s College, Cambridge), 131n
Brown, John (Old Thomas’s son), 9
Brown, Lance (LB’s eldest son): and LB’s funeral, 5–6; settles in Huntingdonshire, 6; baptism, 60; childhood in Hammersmith, 103; scarlet fever, 110; at Eton, 155–6; in LB’s will, 199, 299; legal career, 226; parliamentary ambitions, 268; as MP, 299–300, 302; marriage, 300; later career, 303
Brown, Lancelot (of Ravenscleugh, d.1699), 9 Brown, Lancelot (‘Capability’): death and funeral, 3–6, 299; nickna
me, 3, 156; reputation, 3; portraits, 4, 208, 235, 237; home in Hampton Court, 5, 156–8; birth and baptism, 7, 10–11; upbringing and education, 11–14; apprenticeship in Kirkharle estate workshops, 13, 15–17; and father’s death, 13; riding, 13; appearance, 14, 220, 235; health problems, 15, 94, 139, 156, 185, 233–6, 241–2; early reading, 17–18; interest in trees in landscape, 17, 230, 273–4; work experience away from Kirkharle, 20, 22–4; rejects position as journeyman, 22; leaves Kirkharle and travels south (1739), 25–8; meets and marries Bridget, 27–9, 34, 36, 38, 50; in Boston, Lincs, 31–4; first lake (Kiddington), 35; rejected for Grimsthorpe development, 36–7; appointed head gardener at Stowe, 38–9, 44, 46; earnings and payments, 46, 74, 95, 97, 111, 118, 134, 149, 153, 159–61, 163–4, 170–1, 178, 180, 183–4, 191, 194, 198, 212, 216, 238–40, 249, 251, 266, 282; garden-building methods, 46, 55; promoted Clerk of Works at Stowe, 47; works with Gibbs at Stowe, 47–50; marriage home in pavilion at Stowe, 51; married life, 52; relations with William Pitt, 54–5, 163; children, 55, 60, 155; constructs Grecian Valley at Stowe, 55–6; garden designs for Lady Cobham at Stoke Park, 60; moves from Stowe, 60, 75; meets Thomas Gray, 61; improvements to Newnham Paddox, 62; expedition to Midlands (1750), 63–7, 74; and commercial advantages of lake-making, 69–70; alterations to Croome, 71, 83–5, 87–8; redesigns Kirtlington, 71–2; in Hammersmith, 77–8; buys from nurserymen, 80–2; uses American plants, 81; lakes and water features, 83, 92, 104, 108, 120, 130, 132–5, 143, 161, 166n, 180, 190, 193, 216, 218, 232, 250, 257, 264, 271, 293–4; works harmoniously with master craftsmen, 85; commissions increase, 91; collapse and recovery, 94–5, 97; bank account with Drummonds, 97, 111; political allegiance to Pitt, 109; and children’s ailments, 111; Pitt petitions for royal appointment and pension, 117–19; in awe of Wrest Park garden, 120; relations with Marchioness Grey, 120; and principles of landscaping, 121–2; improves St James’s Park, London, 140; designs for St James’s Park and Buckingham House, 141; elected to Society for the Encouragement of Arts, 141–2; requests Windsor Castle garden, 152, 154; Royal Warrant on appointment as Master Gardener at Hampton Court, 152–5, 180; moves from Hammersmith to Hampton Court (Wilderness House), 155–6; collects pictures, 156, 206n; servants and household, 157; account book, 159–63, 165, 182, 197–8, 266; foremen’s loyalty to, 164–5; dispute with Griffin over payment, 171; multiplicity of jobs, 172, 183; aversion to red houses, 174; tour of Dorset and Devon, 174–8; visits Milton Abbey, 174–5; in Norfolk, 182; in Staffordshire, 185–6, 188, 188–91; practical skills, 190; seeks house for Chatham, 195–7; acquires Fenstanton, 197–8, 225, 302; will, 198–9, 299, 302; and Hampton Court Great Vine, 201–2; life at Hampton Court, 202, 206; friendship with Garrick, 203–6; builds ice houses, 204; interest in horses, 208; returns to Northumberland (1769–70), 211–13, 215–18; refused permission to shoot over Sir Walter Blackett’s land, 219; duties as royal gardener, 220–1; criticised by Board of Works for condition of Hampton Court gardens, 222–3; serves as High Sheriff, 225–6, 275; regular visits to Burton Constable, 227–32; cache of letters, 234–5; correspondence with family, 242–3, 268–9, 280–1; offended by Chambers, 245–6; social life, 261–2; improvements at Cambridge, 275–7; differences with son Jack, 281–2; and Gothic, 287; in Wye Valley, 288–9; compares own art to literary composition, 298; fathers natural child, 301; maps and drawings sent to Repton, 306; achievements and legacy, 308–21; in Cowper’s The Task, 313–14; posthumous criticisms of, 314–16
