Christopher John Charles Thacker (14 March 1931 – 27 September 2018) was an English garden historian. After graduating from

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...

, and a Phd at the

University of Indiana Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

, he was an academic, but never as a garden historian, a field still emerging in his day. Mostly he taught French literature at

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

and

Reading University The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

. He was the founding editor of the leading academic journal ''

Garden History The Garden History Society was an organisation in the United Kingdom established to study the history of gardening and to protect historic gardens. In 2015 it became The Gardens Trust, having merged with the Association of Gardens Trusts. It was f ...

''.

Selected publications

* ''Masters of the Grotto, Joseph and Josiah Lane'' (1976) * ''The History of Gardens'' (1979) * ''Of Oxfordshire Gardens'' (1982) * ''The Wildness Pleases; The Origins of Romanticism'' (1983) * ''England’s Historic Gardens'' (1989) * ''Historic Garden Tools'' (1990) * ''The Genius of Gardening'' (1994) * ''Building Towers, Forming Gardens: Landscaping by Hamilton, Hoare and Beckford'' (2002)

References

1931 births 2018 deaths English garden writers People from Bishop's Cleeve Academics of the University of Reading Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford English Heritage Indiana University alumni {{England-historian-stub