James Bateman

Sobralia macrantha, from Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala

James Bateman (1812–1897) was an accomplished horticulturist and landowner. He developed Biddulph Grange after moving there around 1840, from nearby Knypersley Hall. He created the gardens at famous Biddulph with the aid of his friend and painter of seascapes John Cooke.

He was a collector and scholar on orchids, President of the North Staffordshire Field Society, and served on the Royal Horticultural Society's Plant Exploration Committee. He had a number of notable sons who grew up at Biddulph Grange, including the painter Robert Bateman.

His gardens are a rare survival of the interim period between Capability Brown landscape garden and the High Victorian style. The gardens are compartmentalised and divided into themes. The novel by Priscilla Masters, Mr Bateman's Garden (1987), is a fantasy set in the gardens.

In 1861 Bateman and his sons gave up the house and gardens, and he moved to Kensington in London.

External links

*James Bateman James Bateman's work on orchids