Audrey Duggan
16 Feb 2015
William Shenstone was a talented man of many parts – a poet, gentleman of letters and a garden designer – who loved his dog, Lucy. He was born at Halesowen on 18 November 1714 the son of Thomas, a yeoman farmer, and Anne – whose aristocratic family lived at Harborough Hall, near Rugby. He was very bright and would ask for books rather than toys as presents. He went to Dame Sarah Lloyd’s School, about which (in 1742) he wrote The School
Mistress. She gave each child she birched a lollipop immediately afterwards. Then, because of his precociousness, he went as a weekly boarder to Solihull Grammar School (where a house is today named after him). There he met Richard Jago (1715-81), the son of the Rector of Beaudesert, who became a life long friend. William’s father died when he was 10 and his mother eight years later. He, and his younger brother Joseph, went to live with his mother’s sister who was married to the Rev. Thomas Dalman, the Rector of Broom near Kidderminster. The church had a bell mounted on an adjacent tree, and William could not resist pulling it. The Dolmans had two children, Thomas and Maria (1733-54) with whom William later fell in love, but nothing came of it. William went up to Pembroke College, Oxford, and Jago to University College as a Servitor (ie a serving student) as his father refused to pay the full fees.
At Oxford William met Richard Graves (1715-1804) who also became a lifelong friend, and was later to be the Vicar of Claverton near Bath. But William disliked the discipline of his college, preferring parties, and left after two years. He went to live at Harborough Hall before he inherited from his father’s family the 140 acre Leasowes Estate, south of Halesowen. The house was a simple two up/two down cottage, which William extended. Lord Lyttleton of nearby Hagley Hall wrote a letter of welcome, but another neighbour – the Rev. Pynson Wilmot, vicar of Halesowen 1732-84, a petty tyrant both in the pulpit and elsewhere, forbade William to walk across his land. His housekeeper was Mary Arnold, an efficient country woman who was devoted to William and nursed him when necessary. All his friends liked her. Mary Cutler, the maid, was literate and succeeded Mary Arnold as housekeeper in 1745 – remaining in that position until William’s death. Another faithful servant was Tom, who carried out William’s garden designs and supervised a group of workmen.
William always wanted to be recognised as a gentleman of letters rather than as a gardener. His first book of verse was published whilst he was still at Oxford. He wrote The Pastoral Ballad following an amour during his two month visit to Cheltenham in 1743, besides many other poems over the years. The Pensees were a collection of his thoughts on people, politics and religion, not originally intended for publication.
He began to convert part of his farmland into a large garden in 1743. The fashion for formal gardens, with their symmetry and manicured lawns, had declined and William preferred a more natural style, using contours of the land and working with stone indigenous to its area and trees. Ungravelled paths meandered, grottoes were constructed, water features harnessed, and vistas (with appropriate seating) planned. He also introduced features of the Roman garden, most notable Virgil’s Grove. Unusually for the period, his garden was open free to the public, but visitors had to follow a certain route and sit to admire the views. William enjoyed meeting people in his garden and was annoyed by those who picked the flowers, particularly the bluebells. Rather than erect a painted notice, he penned a poem In Cool Grot and pinned the sheets of paper to a strip of deal. The literate read it out to the illiterate and very soon the pilfering ceased. [The Garden is currently being restored].
In 1759/60 William had his portrait painted by Edward Alcock of Birmingham. Sadly they came to dislike each other and William complained that his depiction was too fat. He refused to pay, although he eventually settled the matter.
William died on 11 February 1763 at The Leasowes, probably of pneumonia. He was buried on the 15th but, apart from Mary Arnold and Mary Cutler, few came to his funeral. His grave in Halesowen churchyard is next to his beloved brother Joseph, who had died in 1751 aged only 29. In his Will William left most of his money to Mary Cutler, from whom he had borrowed over the years, and £12pa to the aged Mary Arnold. The two women lived together at Ivey Farm, which had been one of William’s properties.