John Claudius Loudon (8 April 1782 – 14 December 1843) was a Scottish botanist, garden designer, and author, born in Cambuslang in 1782. He was the first to use the term arboretum in writing to refer to a garden of plants, especially trees, collected for the purpose of scientific study. He was married to Jane Webb, a fellow horticulturalist, and author of science-fiction, fantasy, horror, and gothic stories.
Early life Loudon was born in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, Scotland to a respectable farmer. Therefore, as he was growing up, he developed a practical knowledge of plants, and farming. As a young man, Loudon studied biology, botany, and agriculture at the University of Edinburgh. When working on the layout of farms in South Scotland, he described himself as a landscape planner. This was a time when open field land was being converted from run rig with 'ferm touns' to the landscape of enclosure, which now dominates British agriculture. Loudon developed a limp as a young man, and later became disabled with arthritis. He undertook a second Grand Tour of Europe, and also visited the Near East. In 1826, disabled by rheumatism, and arthritis, he had to endure an amputation at his right shoulder after a botched operation to correct a broken arm. He learnt to write, and draw with his left arm and hired a draughtsman to prepare his plans. At the same time he cured himself of an opium habit that had been keeping the pain at bay.
Work
Horticultural work Around 1803, Loudon published an article entitled Observations on Laying out the Public Spaces in London. It recommended the introduction of lighter trees rather than those with dense canopies. Loudon was attacked by rheumatic fever in 1806 which left him disabled, but this illness did not affect his writing. As his condition deteriorated over time, Loudon was forced to use the services of a draughtsman, and other aids. Beginning in 1808, Loudon was employed by George Frederick Stratton to landscape, and farm his property, Tew Park, where he was able to set up a school for young men to be instructed in theory of farming, and modes of cultivating the soil. Loudon's design was a model of efficiency and convenience reflected in elegance and refinement. In conjunction with the goals of diffusing agricultural knowledge, Loudon published a pamphlet entitled The Utility of Agricultural Knowledge to the Sons of the Landed Proprietors of Great Britain, &c., by a Scotch Farmer, and Land-Agent. After travelling through Europe from 1813 to 1814, Loudon began to focus on the improvement of the construction of greenhouses, and other agricultural systems. He ultimately developed a design for hinged surfaces that could be adjusted depending on the angle of the sun. Loudon also developed plans for industrial worker housing and solar heating systems. In 1815, he was elected a corresponding member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Loudon established himself as a city planner, decades before Frederick Law Olmsted, and others began to work. His vision for the possibility of long term planning for London's green spaces was illustrated within his work, Hints for Breathing Places for Metropolis published in 1829. He envisioned city growth being carefully shaped, and circulation influenced by the inclusion of green belts. In 1832, Loudon established the design theory entitled Gardenesque. In this style, attention was given to the individual plant, and placement in the best conditions for them to grow to their potential. Nineteenth century thought was punctuated by the belief that gardens should not mimic nature, so Gardenesque offered a solution by introducing exotics into gardens, and basing layouts on abstract shapes. Loudon was instrumental in the adoption of the term landscape architecture by the modern profession. He took up the term from Gilbert Laing Meason and gave it publicity in his Encyclopedias and in his 1840 book on the Landscape Gardening and Landscape Architecture of the Late Humphry Repton.
Architecture Sir Howard Colvin noted that, although Loudon did not regard himself as a practising architect, there is evidence that in his early days as a landscape gardener he did occasionally act in that capacity. His architectural thinking, and his inclinations towards the Gothic style may be found in his A treatise on forming, improving, and managing country residences. A handful of architectural works – now largely lost – are associated with him. In 1806 he altered the exterior of Barnbarrow (Barnbarroch), Wigtown (burned 1942). However, his principal architectural work appears to have been Garth (Guilsfield), near Welshpool, Montgomeryshire, begun in 1809. His scheme for Garth was in what Colvin termed a "crudely Gothic" design. The scheme was illustrated in his Observations on laying out farms in the Scotch Style, but in execution the designs were modified by the patrons, Richard, and Charlotte Mytton. The house was demolished during the winter of 1946–7. At Hope End, near Ledbury, Herefordshire, which was built at the same time as Garth, Loudon embellished a square classical design with huge circular buttresses, pinnacles, ogee-arches windows, and a central ogee dome in what Colvin described as "coarsely designed in a pseudo-Moorish style". Later in life, in 1823-4 Loudon designed Nos.3, and 5 Porchester Terrace, London as a "double detached villa", living in No.3 himself.
Horticulture and design
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