John Haverfield

John Haverfield (1744–1820) was an English gardener and landscape architect.[1][2]

Early life

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He was born at Haverfield House on Kew Green, the son of John Haverfield (1694–1784) and Ann Drew. His father, a surveyor at Twickenham, was Head Gardener at Kew to Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales, and superintendent of the Royal Gardens at Richmond Lodge. Haverfield was trained as a gardener and from 1762 was his father's assistant.

Career

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When his father died in 1784 John took over his father's position at Kew Gardens, but only for a few years, by which time he had developed his own landscape gardening business.[3][4] In July 1794 the Kew kitchen garden was closed and John resigned. In September he was placed on a Bounty List with a £250pa pension.[5]

In 1769 he met Augusta's nephew, Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, who was the same age, who took him to Gotha. There, near the castle, he laid out a garden based on the ideas of Lancelot Capability Brown, which is one of the first English landscape gardens on the continent.[6] In 1790 John designed the landscape for Chiselhampton House.[7]

He was also involved in other garden projects and played a key role in the construction of Walsingham Abbey Park, Walsingham, from 1804 to 1816. John remodelled the gardens at Pitzhanger Manor for Sir John Soane, creating a curving ‘serpentine’ lane, a rustic bridge, and a plantation. He also worked on Tyringham House in Buckinghamshire which Soane had designed. Haverfield also visited other Soane schemes: Hinton Saint George (1796), Bentley Priory (1798), Ramsey Abbey (1804), Moggerhanger House (1809 & 1810).[7]

In 1783 Haverfield and Robert Tunstall (c 1759–1833), his brother-in-law, applied and obtained an Act of Parliament to rebuild Kew Bridge in stone to replace the wooden bridge.[8]

Personal life

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Tomb, St Anne's Church, Kew

In 1773 he married married Elizabeth Tunstall (1756–1819), daughter of Robert Tunstall (d 1762). The Tunstall family came from Brentford and had operated a horse-ferry since 1659.[9] Her father had built the first wooden Kew Bridge in 1758-1759.[10] Their children were

  • Elizabeth Ann Haverfield (1776–1817). Her portrait was painted by Thomas Gainsborough, when she was aged about eight or nine years old; it is now in The Wallace Collection.[11][3]
  • John Haverfield (1780–1830) who became a Justice of the Peace, Lieutenant Colonel and Quarter Master General.[12] His first marriage in 1805 was to Susannah Slade. His second marriage in 1815 at Kew was to Isabella Francis Meyer, the daughter of Jeremiah Meyer, a miniature painter who also lived on Kew Green.[13] He is buried at St Anne's, Kew.
  • Mary Isabella Haverfield (1782–1852)
  • Robert Tunstall Haverfield (1783–1839) a captain in the Royal Navy.[14]
  • Rev Thomas Tunstall Haverfield (1787–1866), who was curate at St Anne's Church, Kew (1812–1818), Chaplain to Queen Charlotte (d 1818), and Rector of Goddington.[15] He is buried at St Anne's, Kew.

Haverfield retired in 1795. He died in April 1820 and was buried at St Anne's Church, Kew, on 25 April 1820, in the family tomb.[16]


Works

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Gotha Palace Park (from 1769).[6]

Stradsett Hall. [1][17]

Walpole Park, Pitshanger Manor, Ealing.[18][7]

Abbey Park, Walsingham.[19]

Tyringham Hall (1795, 1799).[20][21]

References

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  1. ^ a b "John Haverfield". Parks & Gardens.
  2. ^ Desmond, Ray (1994). Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturalists. Taylor & Francis and The Natural History Museum, London. p. 326 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ a b Holman, Mish J (8 July 2022). "'Miss Haverfield': Gainsborough at Kew".
  4. ^ Haverfield, T Tunstall (29 November 1862). "Notes on Kew and Kew Gardens". The Leisure hour : a family journal of instruction and recreation (570): 767–768 – via ProQuest.
  5. ^ Pagnamenta, Frank (May 1998). "The Aitons: Gardeners to his Majesty -2". Richmond History. 19: 36–47.
  6. ^ a b "Gotha Ducal Park". Gotha Ducal Park.
  7. ^ a b c Couch, Sarah (2015). "The Conservation of the Pitzhanger Manor Landscape" (PDF). The London Gardener. 19: 84–101 – via The London Gardener.
  8. ^ Bolton, Iris Perowne (2004). "The Centenary of Kew Bridge - 2003". Richmond History. 25: 27–37.
  9. ^ "Kew Bridge Tontine". National Archives.
  10. ^ Cooke, Nicholas; Phillpotts, Christopher (2007). "EXCAVATIONS AT KEW BRIDGE HOUSE, KEW BRIDGE ROAD, BRENTFORD, 2007" (PDF). Wessex Archaeology.
  11. ^ "Miss Elizabeth Haverfield". The Wallace Collection.
  12. ^ "Births, Deaths, Marriages and Obituaries". Morning Post. 3 September 1830 – via British Library Newspapers.
  13. ^ Pasmore, Stephen (1986). "Miss Haverfield of Kew". Richmond History. 7: 28–29.
  14. ^ "Births, Deaths, Marriages and Obituaries". Exeter and Plymouth Gazette. 12 October 1839. p. 2 – via British Library Newspapers.
  15. ^ "Births, Deaths, Marriages and Obituaries". Belfast News-Letter. 9 May 1866 – via British Library Newspapers.
  16. ^ Whittingham, Selby (November 2009). "Haverfield". Brentford High Street Project.
  17. ^ Kingsley, Nicholas (9 November 2017). "(310) Bagge of Islington Hall, Stradsett Hall and Gaywood Hall, baronets". Landed families of Britain and Ireland.
  18. ^ "About Walpole Park". Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery.
  19. ^ "Walled Garden at Abbey Park, Walsingham". Norfolk Heritage Explorer.
  20. ^ "Design for the grounds by John Haverfield (1)". Sir John Soane's Museum Collection Online.
  21. ^ "John Haverfield of Kew, TYRINGHAM HOUSE (Bucks), Designs for Peach house & stove for vines, 1795: (15-16) Plans & sections". Sir John Soane's Museum Collection Online.
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