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Charles Isham
English landowner and gardener (1819–1903) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Sir Charles Edmund Isham, 10th Baronet (16 December 1819 – 7 April 1903) was an English landowner and gardener based at Lamport Hall, Northamptonshire. He is credited with beginning the tradition of garden gnomes in the United Kingdom when he introduced a number of terracotta figures from Germany in the 1840s.[1] Nicknamed "Lampy", the only gnome of the original batch to survive is on display at Lamport Hall and insured for £1 million.[2]
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Biography
Charles Edmund Isham was born on 16 December 1819 at the family estate at Lamport Hall, Northamptonshire.[3] He was the second son of Sir Justinian Isham, 8th Baronet (1773–1845) and his wife, Mary Close (d. 1878).[1]
Isham was educated at Rugby School and Brasenose College, Oxford. In 1846, on the death of his elder brother, he succeeded to the baronetcy.[1] He is recorded as being the High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1851.[4][5]
In 1847, inspired by the writings of John Claudius Loudon, landscape gardener and horticulturalist, he commenced construction of a large rockery alongside his house. It was in this rockery that he first placed gnomes from Nuremberg as ornamentation.[1]
Isham married Emily Vaughan, daughter of Sir John Vaughan and his wife Louisa Boughton on 26 October 1847. Emily died on 6 September 1898 aged 74. Sir Charles had three daughters.[6]
Isham died on 7 April 1903 at The Bungalow, Horsham, Sussex, at the age of 83.[1] The baronetcy, and the entailed estate including Lamport Hall, was inherited by Sir Vere Isham, 11th Baronet, his first cousin once removed.[7]
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Isham's collection
In 1867 several extremely rare books and manuscripts were rediscovered in the library and loft of his family home.[8] These included a fragment of Thomas Edwards' Cephalus and Procris; Narcissus which had been lost for 200 years and was the only existing part until a full copy was subsequently discovered at the Cathedral Library at Peterborough.[9]
Also discovered were first editions of Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained in their original sheepskin bindings.[10]
Further discoveries included:[11]
- Emaricdulfe (1598) by E. C. Esquire
- Fidessa (1596) by Bartholomew Griffin
- Laura (1597) by Robert Tofte
- Cynthia (1598) by Richard Barnfield
For each of which only one or two other copies were known.[11] The above four works found their way into the Britwell Court Library before being sold in February 1922 to A. S. W. Rosenbach for £3,600.[8]
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Personal life
Isham was teetotal, vegetarian and a non-smoker. He opposed blood sports and enjoyed spending his time working on the rockery in his garden and looking after the employees on his estate.[12]
Isham was a convinced spiritualist. He was a member of the British National Association of Spiritualists.[13]
Publications
References
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