Thomas Hayton Mawson was bom to lower middle class parents, in
Yorkshire, in 1861. He trained as a nurseryman in London then, after
his marriage to Anna Prentice, set up on his own as a garden designer.
From the 1880's onwards, a new fashion in garden design was
developing. The instigators were mostly architects closely associated
with the Arts and Crafts movement and their new theories for garden
planning reflected its ideals. The inspiration for the new style was
derived frcxn the gardens of 'Old England', which covered a range of
influences from the 16th to 18th centuries. The new gardens provided an
architectural frame for the house but the hard landscaping was softened
by luxuriant informal plantings.
The rise of the formal style met with strong opposition fron the
existing landscapists v^o objected to the straight lines prefering what
they saw as a more natural approach.
The architectural gardens gained great popularity because they were
well suited to their needs of the clients. Large numbers of
businessmen, many with newly aquired wealth, were moving out frcm the
overcrowded towns to the surrounding countryside and founding cx>untry
seats. The craze for a healthy outdoor life coupled with the great
developments in horticulture made the garden an essential.
During the reign of Edward VII, Mawson's garden design business
expanded rapidly and he was employed at many sites throughout Britain
and abroad. He shared the theories of the formal school yet his
knowledge as a plantsman and a love of nature meant that he always
designed with plants in mind.
Mawson was keen to prcxnote landscape architecture and lectured widely
and wrote articles on the subject. Coupled with his abilities to
design, to please his clients and to work hard, this helped establish
him as the leading garden architect of his day.