Joseph Paxton was one of the great Victorian pioneers and yet is
relatively unknown compared with his famous contemporaries. Here
Kate Colquhoun redresses the balance with a book that is full of
rich detail and colour, telling the fascinating story of his
remarkable life. Paxton was born in 1803, the seventh and last
child of a humble farm labourer. When his father died in 1810, the
family became even poorer and yet remarkably the young Paxton still
managed to attend school, walking an hour each way. When he left
school he could read and write proficiently, a skill which would
stand him in good stead for the career ahead of him. He started
work at 15 as a gardening boy on the estate of the patron of
horticulture, the Duke of Bedford. Here he was introduced to the
wonders of botany and horticulture. This was the time of the garden
revolution; public interest in the subject was growing and Paxton
quickly became skilled and knowledgeable. Moving on, Paxton went to
work in the Horticultural Society's gardens, where he witnessed the
latest architectural and engineering technologies, examined plants
and learned techniques. Through rigorous self-education and his
natural talent, Paxton was soon offered the position of Head
Gardener at one of the grandest English estates, Chatsworth, home
to the Duke of Devonshire. He was only 23, but he soon proved that
the Duke had chosen wisely, transforming the park, designing and
constructing revolutionary greenhouses and growing medal-winning
flowers and fruits. The Duke was delighted and Paxton's unassuming
manner and lively intelligence soon secured him a place at the
Duke's side as a friend and companion. This remarkable friendship
lasted a lifetime and as his influence and reputation grew Paxton
was accepted into the world of the gentry and, later, into royal
circles. Paxton's ambitions and genius led him to take an active
part in public life. Set against the backdrop of social, economic
and industrial change, his artistic flair and architectural talents
meant that he was always at the vanguard of his profession. From
designing the original Crystal Palace to his successful
horticultural magazines, his work in parliament and involvement
with the rapidly expanding railways, Paxton became a household name
and was widely respected. As with many driven characters, his
private life was sacrificed to his pursuit of public interests and
his long-suffering wife Sarah was often lonely. But despite his
single-minded dedication to his craft, he was widely loved. When he
died, this man of humble origins had become Sir Joseph Paxton, 'The
Prince of Gardeners', the founder of a new style of architecture
and widely acknowledged as a man of genius. He left an estate
valued at #180,000 (#8,500,000 in modern terms). This is a
fascinating biography, stylishly written and full of compelling
detail about the life of an early entrepreneur and the society
through which he cut a dash. (Kirkus UK)
A brilliantly conceived biography of Joseph Paxton, horticulturist
to the Duke & Duchess of Devonshire at Chatsworth, architect of
the Crystal Palace at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and one of the
greatest unsung heroes of the Victorian Age In the nineteenth
century, which witnessed a revolution in horticulture and urban
planning and architecture, Joseph Paxton, a man with no formal
education, strode like a colossus. Head gardener at Chatsworth by
the age of twenty-three, and encouraged by the sixth Duke of
Devonshire whose patronage soon flourished into the defining
friendship of his life, Paxton set about transforming this
Derbyshire estate into the greatest garden in England. Visitors
there were astonished by the enormous glasshouses and ambitious
waterworks he built, the collection of orchids, the largest in all
England, the dwarf bananas and the gargantuan lily, the trees and
plants brought back from all over the world. Queen Victoria came to
marvel and, increasingly, with the development of the railway in
which Paxton was also involved, daytrippers from all over the
country. It was the Crystal Palace, home of the Great Exhibition in
1851, that secured Paxton's fame. His design, initially doodled on
a piece of blotting paper, was the architectural triumph of its
time. Two thousand men worked for eight months to complete it. It
was six times the size of St Paul's Cathedral, enclosed a space of
18 acres, and entertained six million visitors. By the time of his
death fourteen years later, 'the busiest man in England' according
to Dickens, was friends with Brunel and Stevenson and in constant
demand to design public parks and gardens. His last, seemingly most
eccentric project was for a Great Boulevard under glass, a crystal
arcade that would connect all the main railway termini in London.
Drawing on exclusive access to Paxton's personal letters, Kate
Colquhouns's remarkable biography is a compelling story of a man
who typifies the Victorian ideal of self-improvement and a touching
portrait of one of that era's great heroes.
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