Behind the Privet Hedge
Richard Sudell, the Suburban Garden and the Beautification of Britain
9781789148602
9781789148794
Distributed for Reaktion Books
Behind the Privet Hedge
Richard Sudell, the Suburban Garden and the Beautification of Britain
The surprising origin story of Britain’s love affair with suburban gardening.
It is said that Britain is a nation of gardeners and its suburban gardens with roses and privet hedges are widely admired and copied across the world. But how and why did millions across the United Kingdom develop an obsession with colorful plots of land to begin with? Behind the Privet Hedge seeks to answer this question and reveals how, despite their stereotype as symbols of dull middle-class conformity, these open spaces were once seen as a tool to bring about social change in the early twentieth century. The book restores to the story a remarkable but long-forgotten figure, Richard Sudell, who spent a lifetime evangelizing for gardens as the vanguard of a more egalitarian society.
It is said that Britain is a nation of gardeners and its suburban gardens with roses and privet hedges are widely admired and copied across the world. But how and why did millions across the United Kingdom develop an obsession with colorful plots of land to begin with? Behind the Privet Hedge seeks to answer this question and reveals how, despite their stereotype as symbols of dull middle-class conformity, these open spaces were once seen as a tool to bring about social change in the early twentieth century. The book restores to the story a remarkable but long-forgotten figure, Richard Sudell, who spent a lifetime evangelizing for gardens as the vanguard of a more egalitarian society.
336 pages | 10 color plates, 35 halftones | 5.43 x 8.5
History: British and Irish History
Sociology: Social History
Transportation:
Reviews
Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction: On the train to Roehampton with Edith Sitwell and DH Lawrence
Chapter One: ‘A little Garden City’
Chapter Two: ‘An industrial slave? Never’
Chapter Three: Trouble at the Whit Monday Garden Show
Chapter Four: The Birth of beautification
Chapter Five: Sudell the flower evangelist
Chapter Six: ‘Taste is utterly debased’
Chapter Seven: ‘There were little bridges, gnomes and things’
Chapter Eight: An unrivalled influence on new nation of gardeners
Chapter Nine: ‘A new Britain must arise on better lines than the old’
Chapter Ten: The landscape architect struggles to make a mark
Chapter Eleven: ‘An important and influential figure’
Chapter Twelve: The importance of play
Chapter Thirteen: Sudell urges us to invite Betty Uprichard into our garden
Chapter Fourteen: ‘Sudell has been proved right’
References
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index
Introduction: On the train to Roehampton with Edith Sitwell and DH Lawrence
Chapter One: ‘A little Garden City’
Chapter Two: ‘An industrial slave? Never’
Chapter Three: Trouble at the Whit Monday Garden Show
Chapter Four: The Birth of beautification
Chapter Five: Sudell the flower evangelist
Chapter Six: ‘Taste is utterly debased’
Chapter Seven: ‘There were little bridges, gnomes and things’
Chapter Eight: An unrivalled influence on new nation of gardeners
Chapter Nine: ‘A new Britain must arise on better lines than the old’
Chapter Ten: The landscape architect struggles to make a mark
Chapter Eleven: ‘An important and influential figure’
Chapter Twelve: The importance of play
Chapter Thirteen: Sudell urges us to invite Betty Uprichard into our garden
Chapter Fourteen: ‘Sudell has been proved right’
References
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index