Thomas Mawson

Thomas Haytor Mawson (1881-1933) began designing gardens in the 1890s.

He forged his distinctive style - solid formality round the house with foreground terraces and balustrades - in the Lake District, where his genius allowed the garden to open out into the landscape.

From humble beginnings he was soon the most sought-after garden and landscape designer of the day.

He could name crowned heads of Europe as his clients and friends, as well as self-made industrialists such as Lord Leverhulme and Andrew Carnegie.

In 1908 he was chosen to design the Peace Gardens at The Hague.

Mawson, who was a great teacher and advocate for landscape architecture as a profession, published five editions of The Art and Craft of Garden Making between 1900 and 1926.

His Civic Art, reflecting his great interest in the design of towns and public parks, came out in 1911.

This is the first full biography of this energetic and prolific landscape architect.

It is full of new material and images collected from Mawson's relatives as well as from public and private sources. The author took her camera throughout the United Kingdom and Europe and travelled across Canada to discover the full story of Thomas Mawson's life and work.