Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T06:58:53.119Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Capability Brown, the Aristocracy, and the Cultivation of the Eighteenth-Century British Landscaping Industry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2015

Andrew M. Wild
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Capability Brown cannot be identified as the originator of modern landscaping, yet he created a business that achieved an unrivaled impact, outshining those before, during, and after his lifetime. Whether Brown was a great artist, opinions may differ. However, there is evidence that Brown was an outstandingly successful businessman. From humble origins, Brown ultimately created a business that seized the lion’s share of the landscaping market of Britain’s elite in the second half of the eighteenth century, counting half of the House of Lords as his clients. A study of Brown’s surviving account book, bank ledgers, and personal correspondence provides new insight into the rapid development, vast scale, and nature of his business. This research shows that commissions were not just gained due to his skills in landscaping, but through his exceptional business acumen, his method of operations, organizational structure, focus, work ethic, and ability to develop contacts and win trust with both the aristocracy and ultimately the King of England. What emerges is a picture of Brown as an entrepreneur of considerable skill, enabling him to uniquely build a national landscaping business.

Type
Manuscript
Information
Enterprise & Society , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , June 2013 , pp. 237 - 270
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2013. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference. All rights reserved.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bibliography of Works Cited

Books

Allen, D. W. The Institutional Revolution: Measurement and the Economic Emergence of the Modern World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012.Google Scholar
Amatori, F. Colli, A. Business History: Complexities and Comparisons. London: Routledge, 2011.Google Scholar
Ashton, T. S. An Economic History of England: The Eighteenth Century. Oxon, UK: Routledge, 2006.Google Scholar
Barnatt, J. Williamson, T. Chatsworth: A Landscape History. Cheshire, UK: Windgather Press, 2005.Google Scholar
Bermingham, A. Landscape and Ideology: The English Rustic Tradition, 1740–1860. California: University of California Press, 1989.Google Scholar
Brown, D. “Nathaniel Richmond (1724–1784), ‘Gentleman Improver’.” PhD thesis, University of East Anglia, Norwich, 2000.Google Scholar
Brown, J. The Omnipotent Magician: Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown 1716–1783. London: Chatto and Windus, 2011.Google Scholar
Campbell, L. The Britannica Guide to Political Science and Social Movements That Changed the Modern World. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2009.Google Scholar
Cowell, F. Richard Woods (1715–1793): Master of the Pleasure Garden. Suffolk: Boydell and Brewer, 2009.Google Scholar
Dickinson, H. W. Matthew Boulton. Cambridge: Babcock and Wilcox 1936.Google Scholar
Firth, H. Forge, A. Families and Their Relatives. London: Routledge, 2003.Google Scholar
Gilbert, C. The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, Volume 1. Michigan: University of Michigan, 1978.Google Scholar
Harvey, J. H. Early Nurserymen. London: Phillimore & Co, 1974.Google Scholar
Hunt, J. D. Greater Perfections: The Practice of Garden Theory. London: Thames & Hudson, 2000.Google Scholar
Hunt, J. D. Willis, P. The Genius of the Place: The English Landscape Garden, 1620–1820. London: Elek, 1975.Google Scholar
Hyams, E. Capability Brown and Humphry Repton. London: Dent, 1971.Google Scholar
Jacques, D. Georgian Gardens: The Reign of Nature. London: Batsford, 1983.Google Scholar
Jones, C. Jones, D. L. Peers, Politics, and Power: The House of Lords, 1603–1911. Ronceverte, WV: Hambledon Press, 1986.Google Scholar
Jourdain, M. The Work of William Kent: Artist, Painter, Designer and Landscape Gardener. London: Country Life, 1948.Google Scholar
Kain, R. Chapman, J. Oliver, R. The Enclosure Maps of England and Wales. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 2004.Google Scholar
Kirby, M. W. Rose, M. B. Business Enterprise in Modern Britain: From the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century. London: Routledge, 1994.Google Scholar
Laird, P. W. Networking Success since Benjamin Franklin. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Loasby, B. Knowledge, Institutions and Evolution in Economics. London: Routledge, 1999.Google Scholar
Loudon, J. C. An Encyclopaedia of Gardening. London: Longman, 1860.Google Scholar
Montgomery-Massingberd, H. Sykes, C. S. Great Houses of England and Wales. London: Laurence King, 1994.Google Scholar
Olin, L. Across the Open Field. Philadephia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Page, W. Commerce and Industry: A Historical Review of the Economic Conditions of the British Empire. London: Elibron, 2005.Google Scholar
Pollard, S. The Genesis of Modern Management. London: Edward Arnold, 1965.Google Scholar
Schumpeter, J. The Theory of Economic Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1934.Google Scholar
Strong, R. A Story of Britain: A People’s History. London: Pimlico, 1998.Google Scholar
Stroud, D. Capability Brown (New ed.). London: Faber & Faber, 1975.Google Scholar
Tames, R. Josiah Wedgwood. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 1984.Google Scholar
Tribe, K. Land Labour and Economic Discourse. London: Routledge, 1978.Google Scholar
Turner, R. Capability Brown and the Eighteenth-Century English Landscape. Chichester: Phillimore, 1999.Google Scholar
Williamson, T. Polite Landscapes: Gardens and Society in Eighteenth -Century England. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Wilson, M. I. William Kent: Architect, Designer, Painter, Gardener, 1685–1748. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984.Google Scholar

Articles and Chapters

Brown, D. “Lancelot Brown and His Associates.” Garden History 29, no. 1 2001: 2–11.Google Scholar
Casson, M Godley, A. “Entrepreneurship & Historical Explanation.” In Entrepreneurship in Theory and History, edited by Cassis, Y Minoglou, I., 25–60. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2005.Google Scholar
Cookson, G. “Family Firms and Business Networks: Textile Engineering in Yorkshire, 1730–1830.” Business History 39, no. 1 1997: 1–20.Google Scholar
Gibson, R. “The Garden—A Celebration of One Thousand Years of British Gardening at the V&A.” The Burlington Magazine 121, no. 916 1979: 459–65.Google Scholar
Hall, E. “Mr Brown’s Directions: Capability Brown’s Landscaping at Burton Constable (1767–82).” Garden History 23, no. 2 1995: 145–74.Google Scholar
Jacques, D. “Lancelot Brown: The Professional Man.” Landscape Design 121 1978: 24–7.Google Scholar
Jacques, D. “Warwick Castle Grounds and Park, 1743–60.” Garden History 29, no. 1 2001: 48–63.Google Scholar
Jones, G Wadhwani, R. D. “Entrepreneurship.” In The Oxford Handbook of Business History, edited by Jones, G Zeitlin, J., 501–528. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.Google Scholar
Kwasnicki, W. “Schumpeterian Modelling.” In Elgar Companion to Neo-Schumpeterian Economics, edited by Hanusch, H Pyka, A., 389–404. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2007.Google Scholar
Laird, P. W. “Putting Social Capital to Work.” Business History 50, no. 6 2008: 685–94.Google Scholar
Meir, J. M. “Development of a Natural Style in Designed Landscapes between 1730 and 1760: The English Midlands and the Work of Sanderson Miller and Lancelot Brown.” Garden History 30, no. 1 2002: 24–48.Google Scholar
Phibbs, J. “The Englishness of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.” Garden History 31, no. 2 2003: 122–40.Google Scholar
Riello, G. “Strategies and Boundaries: Subcontracting and the London Trades in the Long Eighteenth Century.” Enterprise and Society 9, no. 2 2008: 243–80.Google Scholar
Roberts, J. “Well Temper’d Clay: Constructing Water Features in the Landscape Park.” Garden History 29, no. 1 2001: 12–28.Google Scholar
Shields, S. “Mr Brown Engineer: Lancelot Brown’s Early Work at Grimsthorpe Castle and Stowe.” Garden History 34, no. 2 2006: 174–91.Google Scholar
Toms, S. “Windows of Opportunity in the Textile Industry: The Business Strategies of Lancashire Entrepreneurs, 1880–1914.” Business History 40, no. 1 1998: 1–25.Google Scholar
Willis, P. “Capability Brown in Northumberland.” Garden History 9, no. 2 (1981): 157–83.Google Scholar
Willis, P. “Capability Brown’s Account with Drummonds Bank, 1753–1783.” Architectural History 27 1984: 382–91.Google Scholar

Archives

BL. Correspondence of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. MS 69795: 1753–1784. London: British Library ManuscriptsGoogle Scholar
CBA. Capability Brown Account Book. The Lindley Library. Royal Horticultural Society: LondonGoogle Scholar
DR, Drummonds Bank Private Client Account Ledgers, Lancelot Brown. RBS Archives Division, EdinburghGoogle Scholar
HHA. Harewood House Archives. Capability Brown Papers. West Yorkshire Archive Service, LeedsGoogle Scholar
PHA. Petworth House Archives. Capability Brown Documents. West Sussex Record OfficeGoogle Scholar
WIL/C. Willis Papers. Lancelot (“Capability”) Brown (1716–1783). Durham University Library, Archives and Special Collections.Google Scholar