Louisa Lawrence
Encyclopedia
Louisa Lawrence was an English horticulturist in the second quarter of the 19th century.
. James had made his money as a haberdasher in Bruton Street, Berkeley Square
, London. Like her father, Louisa had social ambitions. After she married the surgeon William Lawrence
in 1828 when she was 25 and he was 45, hers were gratified by horticulture, first in a villa with less than two acres at Drayton Green. In her comparatively small garden she cultivated over 200 orchids and over 500 varieties of roses, long before hybrid tea roses and perpetuals were fashionable. There were Italian pollarded walks, rockwork including a rustic arch (with Cupid), a French parterre, a span-roofed greenhouse, a stove and an orchid house. By 1838 a detailed account of this model of what a suburban garden could be made into was published in The Gardener’s Magazine.
In June 1838 the Lawrences bought the larger property of nearby Ealing
Park (or Little Ealing) with 100 acres, for £9000. It is described by Pevsner as “Low and long; nine bays with pediment over the centre and an Ionic one-storeyed colonnade all along”. This was very grandly furnished, as can be seen from the catalogue of the sale of the contents after Louisa’s death. There was a great deal of livestock on the estate, including poultry of all sorts, cows, sheep and pigs. There were thousands of bedding plants, “stove plants”, more than 600 plants in early forcing houses, nearly a hundred camellias, and so on and so on.
An indication of Louisa’s celebrity is that two influential gardening books were dedicated to her in the early 1840s. In 1841 Mrs Loudon, wife of the editor of The Gardener's Magazine, wrote The Ladies’ Companion to the Flower Garden, being an Alphabetical Arrangement of all the ornamental plants usually grown in gardens and shrubberies, with full directions for their culture. She dedicated it to Mrs Lawrence of Ealing Park, Middlesex, “as a zealous patron of floriculture, an excellent botanist, and, above all, as one of the first lady-gardeners of the present day”. Vol. LXVIII of Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, the work of Sir William Jackson Hooker, the director of the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew
was dedicated “with sentiments of great regard and esteem” to Mrs Lawrence, “the beauty of whose gardens and pleasure grounds and whose most successfully cultivated vegetable treasures are only equalled by the liberality with which they are shown to all who are in botany and horticulture”.
Louisa was extremely competitive, constantly winning prizes for herself and also for her gardens at shows organised by the Botanic Society, the Royal Horticultural Society, and others. One of her keenest rivals was Joseph Paxton
, the Duke of Devonshire
’s famous gardener at Chatsworth
in Derbyshire. He and the Duke visited her in 1841, although it seems that Paxton did not like her. Louisa’s greatest triumph was in 1849, and very much over the Duke and Paxton. For eighty years or so botanists had been bringing back to Europe previously unknown plants from all over the world, and they were eagerly cultivated. There was a race among English horticulturists to produce the first flower of a beautiful tree from Burma called Amherstia nobilis. Mrs Lawrence succeeded, sending the first spike to the Queen and the second to be engraved. A further spike arrived at Chatsworth and sent both the Duke and Paxton into raptures at its beauty. She was also the first to grow the purple-blue climbing nasturtium, Tropaeolum azureum.
At Ealing Park Louisa’s ambitions became even more serious, and she was even more definitely on the fashionable visiting circuit. In 1844 Dr. Carus
, the King of Saxony’s doctor, writing in his diary about Louisa’s husband, noted: “His wife is celebrated as one of the first flower cultivators in London, and possesses in particular a beautiful collection of orchideous plants, which we shall probably visit on some other occasion.” The king’s party did go a few days later and Carus was amazed by both the flowers and the elegant grounds. Grander still was the visit of Queen Victoria, the Prince Consort, the King of the Belgians, and the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who planted the first trees in a planned avenue of deodars, the Himalayan cedar which had been introduced to England not long before, in 1831.
Louisa and William had two sons and two daughters. The eldest son died young; the second, Sir Trevor Lawrence, became as celebrated a gardener as his mother and President of the Royal Horticultural Society
. On her death the surgeon, who had been chiefly living in Whitehall Place, leased Ealing Park and it was eventually sold by their son.
Life
She was the daughter of James Senior and Elizabeth Trevor, of Broughton House, on the outskirts of AylesburyAylesbury
Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...
. James had made his money as a haberdasher in Bruton Street, Berkeley Square
Berkeley Square
Berkeley Square is a town square in the West End of London, England, in the City of Westminster. It was originally laid out in the mid 18th century by architect William Kent...
, London. Like her father, Louisa had social ambitions. After she married the surgeon William Lawrence
Sir William Lawrence, 1st Baronet
Sir William Lawrence, 1st Baronet FRCS FRS was an English surgeon who became President of the Royal College of Surgeons of London and Serjeant Surgeon to the Queen....
in 1828 when she was 25 and he was 45, hers were gratified by horticulture, first in a villa with less than two acres at Drayton Green. In her comparatively small garden she cultivated over 200 orchids and over 500 varieties of roses, long before hybrid tea roses and perpetuals were fashionable. There were Italian pollarded walks, rockwork including a rustic arch (with Cupid), a French parterre, a span-roofed greenhouse, a stove and an orchid house. By 1838 a detailed account of this model of what a suburban garden could be made into was published in The Gardener’s Magazine.
In June 1838 the Lawrences bought the larger property of nearby Ealing
Ealing
Ealing is a suburban area of west London, England and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Ealing. It is located west of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a rural village...
Park (or Little Ealing) with 100 acres, for £9000. It is described by Pevsner as “Low and long; nine bays with pediment over the centre and an Ionic one-storeyed colonnade all along”. This was very grandly furnished, as can be seen from the catalogue of the sale of the contents after Louisa’s death. There was a great deal of livestock on the estate, including poultry of all sorts, cows, sheep and pigs. There were thousands of bedding plants, “stove plants”, more than 600 plants in early forcing houses, nearly a hundred camellias, and so on and so on.
An indication of Louisa’s celebrity is that two influential gardening books were dedicated to her in the early 1840s. In 1841 Mrs Loudon, wife of the editor of The Gardener's Magazine, wrote The Ladies’ Companion to the Flower Garden, being an Alphabetical Arrangement of all the ornamental plants usually grown in gardens and shrubberies, with full directions for their culture. She dedicated it to Mrs Lawrence of Ealing Park, Middlesex, “as a zealous patron of floriculture, an excellent botanist, and, above all, as one of the first lady-gardeners of the present day”. Vol. LXVIII of Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, the work of Sir William Jackson Hooker, the director of the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew
Kew
Kew is a place in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in South West London. Kew is best known for being the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens, now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace...
was dedicated “with sentiments of great regard and esteem” to Mrs Lawrence, “the beauty of whose gardens and pleasure grounds and whose most successfully cultivated vegetable treasures are only equalled by the liberality with which they are shown to all who are in botany and horticulture”.
Louisa was extremely competitive, constantly winning prizes for herself and also for her gardens at shows organised by the Botanic Society, the Royal Horticultural Society, and others. One of her keenest rivals was Joseph Paxton
Joseph Paxton
Sir Joseph Paxton was an English gardener and architect, best known for designing The Crystal Palace.-Early life:...
, the Duke of Devonshire
Duke of Devonshire
Duke of Devonshire is a title in the peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the richest and most influential aristocratic families in England since the 16th century, and have been rivalled in political influence perhaps only...
’s famous gardener at Chatsworth
Chatsworth
-Places:Australia* Chatsworth, Queensland* Electoral district of Chatsworth, Queensland, AustraliaCanada* Chatsworth, Ontario, a township* Chatsworth, Ontario , located within above townshipSouth Africa* Chatsworth, Durban* Chatsworth, Western Cape...
in Derbyshire. He and the Duke visited her in 1841, although it seems that Paxton did not like her. Louisa’s greatest triumph was in 1849, and very much over the Duke and Paxton. For eighty years or so botanists had been bringing back to Europe previously unknown plants from all over the world, and they were eagerly cultivated. There was a race among English horticulturists to produce the first flower of a beautiful tree from Burma called Amherstia nobilis. Mrs Lawrence succeeded, sending the first spike to the Queen and the second to be engraved. A further spike arrived at Chatsworth and sent both the Duke and Paxton into raptures at its beauty. She was also the first to grow the purple-blue climbing nasturtium, Tropaeolum azureum.
At Ealing Park Louisa’s ambitions became even more serious, and she was even more definitely on the fashionable visiting circuit. In 1844 Dr. Carus
Carl Gustav Carus
Carl Gustav Carus was a German physiologist and painter, born at Leipzig.A friend of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, he was a many-sided man: a doctor, a naturalist, a scientist and a psychologist and an advocate of the theory that health of body and mind depends on the equipoise of antagonistic...
, the King of Saxony’s doctor, writing in his diary about Louisa’s husband, noted: “His wife is celebrated as one of the first flower cultivators in London, and possesses in particular a beautiful collection of orchideous plants, which we shall probably visit on some other occasion.” The king’s party did go a few days later and Carus was amazed by both the flowers and the elegant grounds. Grander still was the visit of Queen Victoria, the Prince Consort, the King of the Belgians, and the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who planted the first trees in a planned avenue of deodars, the Himalayan cedar which had been introduced to England not long before, in 1831.
Louisa and William had two sons and two daughters. The eldest son died young; the second, Sir Trevor Lawrence, became as celebrated a gardener as his mother and President of the Royal Horticultural Society
Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert...
. On her death the surgeon, who had been chiefly living in Whitehall Place, leased Ealing Park and it was eventually sold by their son.