Charles Isham
Sir Charles Edmund Isham | |
|---|---|
_-_Sir_Charles_Edmund_Isham_(1819%E2%80%931903)_-_49_-_Lamport_Hall.jpg?lang=en) Isham, c. 1850 | |
| Born | 16 December 1819 Lamport Hall, Northamptonshire, England |
| Died | 7 April 1903 (aged 83) Horsham, Sussex, England |
| Education | |
| Occupation(s) | Landowner, gardener |
| Known for | Introducing garden gnomes to the UK |
| Title | 10th Baronet Isham |
| Spouse |
Emily Vaughan (m. 1847–1898) |
| Children | 3 |
| Honors | High Sheriff of Northamptonshire (1851) |
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]
Biography
[edit]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]
Isham's collection
[edit]
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]
Personal life
[edit]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
[edit]- Sir Charles Isham on Spiritualism (1856)
- A Lamport Garland From the Library of Sir Charles Edmund Isham (1881)
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Bailey, Bruce A. (2004). "Isham, Sir Charles Edmund, tenth baronet". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/66117. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "Gnome Expense Spared". BBC News. 1 December 1997. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
- ^ "Charles Edmund Isham". The Linda Hall Library. 16 December 2024. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ "No. 21181". The London Gazette. 11 February 1851. p. 363.
- ^ "The List of New Sheriffs". The Times. 12 February 1851. p. 5.
- ^ "Sir Charles Edmund Isham 10th Bt". Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
- ^ "Cracroft's Peerage: Isham of Lamport". Archived from the original on 11 June 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
- ^ a b "The Sale Room. Rarities From The Britwell Court Library". The Times. 7 February 1922. p. 14.
- ^ Stopes, Charlotte Carmichael (July–October 1921). "Thomas Edwards, Author of "Cephalus and Procris, Narcissus"". Modern Language Review. 16 (3/4): 209–223.
- ^ "The Sale Room Disposal Of Terry Library". The Times. 27 November 1935. p. 11.
- ^ a b Hallam, H. A. N. (Winter 1967). "Lamport Hall Revisted". The Book Collector. 16 (4): 439–449.
- ^ Willes, Margaret (2014). The Gardens of the British Working Class. Yale University Press. p. 254. ISBN 978-0-300-18784-7.
- ^ Spence, Lewis (2006) [1920]. An Encyclopaedia of Occultism. Cosimo. p. 80. ISBN 978-1-59605-237-6.
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