Who was Humphry Repton?
Humphry Repton was a landscape gardener and architect
often seen as the successor to Lancelot
"Capablity" Brown.
Date and Place of Birth:
21st April 1752, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England.
Family Background:
Son of John Repton, a prosperous collector of
Excise Duties and Martha (née Fitch) from Suffolk.
Education:
Bury St. Edmunds Grammar School and Norwich Grammar
School then a school in Wokum in the Netherlands.
Chronology/Biography of Humphry Repton:
1762: His father
sets up a transport business in Norwich.
1764: Humphry Repton
was sent to the Netherlands to learn Dutch and prepare for a career
as a merchant to follow in his father's footsteps. Here he met a
rich family who introduced him to drawing and gardening. On his
return to Norwich he was apprenticed to a textile merchant.
1773: Set up in business
on his own as a textile merchant.
1778: Repton's parents
died and left him some money. He was not very successful at business
and decided to buy a small country estate at Sustead, near Aylsham
in Norfolk. At this time he tried being a journalist, a dramatist,
an artist, a political agent, and as a confidential secretary to
his neighbour William Windham of Felbrigg Hall when Windham became
Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
1783: Death of Capability
Brown.
1788: Repton moved
to a small cottage at Hare Street near Romford in Essex. (Now rebuilt
as a Branch of Lloyds TSB Bank) By now he had four children and
no income and decided to use his sketching skills to become a "landscape
gardener" (a term he created himself). His first paid commission
was Catton Park in Norwich. He would create his famous "red
Books" for clients which had before and after sketchers of
the design and his own watercolours . They would then be bound up
in red leather as a record for the client.
1790: Humphry Repton
began working with the architect John Nash.
1794: Richard Payne
Knight and Uvedale Price both published vicious attacks on him calling
him the the "meagre genius of the bare and bald" They
criticised his serpentine curves as bland and unnatural. He Championed
Brown but Repton would also re-introduce
formal terraces, trellis work, balustrades, and flower gardens.
1800: Falls out with
Nash most likely over Nash's refusal to credit the work of Repton's
architect son John Adey Repton.
The Royal Pavilion, Brighton as conceived by Repton's former
friend John Nash.
This was particularly upsetting for Repton who had submitted Indian
style drawings for the building himself
(© Anthony Blagg)
1808: Humphry Repton
designed Stoneleigh Abbey and introduced the "home lawn"
which was to become a feature of gardens grand and small ever since.
1811: Repton suffered
a carriage accident and subsequently he often needed a wheelchair
to get around.
Written Works:
- 1788: "The
Bee" )a Critique on Paintings at Somerset House).
- 1795: "Sketches
and Hints on Landscape Gardening"
- 1803: "Observations
on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening"
- 1804: "Odd
Whims and Miscellanies"
- 1806: "An
Inquiry into the Changes of Taste in Landscape Gardening, with
some Observations on its Theory and Practice"
- 1808: "Designs
for the Pavilion at Brighton", "On the Introduction
of Indian Architecture and Gardening"
- 1816: "Fragments
on Landscape Gardening, with some Remarks on Grecian and Gothic
Architecture"
Marriage:
To Mary Clarke in May 1773 at St. Mary in Marsh
Church, Norwich.
Date and Place of Death:
24th March 1818, London, England.
Age at Death:
66.
Site of Grave:
Outside the porch at Aylsham Church, Norfolk.
Places of Interest:
BEDFORDSHIRE:
Woburn Abbey.
CORNWALL:
Antony House. Torpoint.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE:
Dyrham Park, Hinton.
HEREFORDSHIRE:
Ashridge Gardens, Ashridge.
Sufton Court, Herefordshire.
KENT:
Cobham Hall, Cobham.
LONDON:
Russell Square Gardens.
Kensington Gardens.
NORFOLK:
Catton Park, Old Catton, Norwich.
Sheringham Park, Sheringham Hall.
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE:
Clumber Park.
SURREY:
Betchworth House.
SUSSEX:
Royal Pavilion, Brighton.
Uppark.
WARWICKSHIRE:
Stoneleigh Abbey.
WILTSHIRE:
Longleat House.
WALES:
Plas Newydd, Wrexham, Clwyd.
