John James Sexby
VD (known as JJ Sexby) (15 July 1847 – 10 May 1924) was a British civil servant who served as the first Chief Officer for Parks for the
London County Council
London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...
from 1892 to 1909, and was responsible for the creation of many of London's late Victorian and Edwardian parks. He is invariably described as Lt-Col JJ Sexby, although all of his military service was in the
Volunteer Force
The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated ...
(the precursor to the
Territorial Army) and Lt-Col was an honorary title as his substantive rank was that of a Major.
Early life
Sexby was born in Lambeth, then in
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, in 1847, the son of John Sexby, a builder, and his wife Mary Susannah Hobden. He was baptised on 15 Aug 1847 at St Mary-at-Lambeth (somewhat appropriately, now the
Garden Museum
The Garden Museum (formerly known as the Museum of Garden History) in London is Britain's only museum of the art, history and design of gardens. The museum re-opened in 2017 after an 18-month redevelopment project.
The building is largely th ...
), then the parish church of
Lambeth
Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...
adjacent to
Lambeth Palace
Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament, on the opposite ...
. The address in the baptism register is 62 Vauxhall Walk; his father’s occupation is given as carpenter.
His father died aged 48 in 1866, his mother the following year aged 46. He then lived with an aunt. When letters of administration were granted to Sexby in 1868 for his mother's personal estate and effects, his address was given as 46 Thorne Road, South Lambeth.
Military service
In 1865 Sexby was appointed as Honorary Assistant-Quartermaster in the 19th Surrey Rifle Volunteer Corps. (In that year the 19th Surrey Rifle Volunteer Corps acquired the
Braganza Street drill hall
The Braganza Street drill hall is a military installation in Braganza Street, Walworth.
History
The building originates from a pair of houses built in what was then known as New Street in 1833 and which were acquired by the 19th Surrey Rifle Volu ...
, a short distance from Thorne Road.) He was made a Second Lieutenant in 1878 and Lieutenant the following year. In 1881 he was made a Captain. By then the 19th Surrey Corps was called the 8th Surrey Corps. In 1886 he was made a Major. He was awarded the
Volunteer Officers' Decoration
The Volunteer Officers' Decoration, post-nominal letters VD, was instituted in 1892 as an award for long and meritorious service by officers of the United Kingdom's Volunteer Force. Award of the decoration was discontinued in the United Kingdom ...
in 1892. In 1895 he was made a Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel. He resigned from the Volunteer Corps in 1897; on retirement he was entitled to retain his honorary rank. The 19th Surrey Rifle Volunteer Corps was renamed the 8th Surrey Rifle Volunteer Corps and then, pursuant to the
Cardwell Reforms
The Cardwell Reforms were a series of reforms of the British Army undertaken by Secretary of State for War Edward Cardwell between 1868 and 1874 with the support of Liberal prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. Gladstone paid little attention ...
and
Childers Reforms, became the 4th Volunteer Battalion,
Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment in 1883, and then the
24th (County of London) Battalion (The Queen’s) in 1908.
Surveyor
In the 1871 and 1881 censuses Sexby's occupation is given as surveyor. In around 1870 Sexby became a surveyor in the Superintending Architect's department of the
Metropolitan Board of Works
The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the principal instrument of local government in a wide area of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent, defined by the Metropolis Management Act 1855, from December 1855 until the establishment of the London County ...
. In 1880 he qualified as a chartered surveyor.
Sexby's earliest park designs were undertaken during his time with the MBW, including
Ravenscourt Park
Ravenscourt Park or RCP is an public park and garden located in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, England. It is one of the Borough's flagship parks, having won a Green Flag Award. Stamford Brook and Ravenscourt Park tube stations ar ...
, which was laid out in 1888.
LCC Chief Officer for Parks
By the late 1880s, the MBW had been mired in a number of corruption scandals and, in 1889, it was replaced by the London County Council as a result of the
Local Government Act 1888
Local may refer to:
Geography and transportation
* Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand
* Local, Missouri, a community in the United States
* Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...
. The LCC established a Parks Department, led by four dedicated parks officers: a Principal Officer, a Chief Surveyor, a Forester and a Gardener. Sexby was appointed as the Chief Surveyor. By 1892 a Chief Officer for Parks position had been created and Sexby was appointed to the role; he had a staff of a thousand.
In order of opening, Sexby's parks include:
*
Ravenscourt Park
Ravenscourt Park or RCP is an public park and garden located in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, England. It is one of the Borough's flagship parks, having won a Green Flag Award. Stamford Brook and Ravenscourt Park tube stations ar ...
, opened at the end of the MBW era in 1888 on the site of a former estate, the grounds of which had been laid out by
Humphry Repton
Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of ...
. Sexby's design included an Old English Garden, later renamed the Scented Garden and now known as the Walled Garden.
*
Dulwich Park
Dulwich Park is a public park in Dulwich in the London Borough of Southwark, south London, England. The park was created by the Metropolitan Board of Works from former farmland and meadows. While the initial design was by Charles Barry (juni ...
, acquired by the MBW in 1885 and originally laid out by
Charles Barry
Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also respons ...
, and refined by Sexby as one of his earliest LCC projects in 1890. Sexby was responsible for the design of the American Gardens. The rhododendrons and azaleas in the American Gardens were popular, and
Queen Mary regularly visited them in season.
*
Maryon Park
Maryon Park is an urban public park located in Charlton in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is situated on the A206 south of the Thames Barrier. There is access from Woolwich Road, Charlton Lane and Thorntree Road. It is part of the Maryon Wil ...
was presented to the LCC in 1890 by the owners of the estate in which it sat. It opened in 1891, with Sexby designing serpentine paths around the slopes of the hill.
*
Peckham Rye Park
Peckham Rye is an open space and road in the London Borough of Southwark in London, England. The roughly triangular open space lies to the south of Peckham town centre. It is managed by Southwark Council and consists of two contiguous areas, wit ...
was acquired in 1890, having previously been a farm. It was opened in 1894, Sexby having laid out an artificial lake, an American Garden, a Japanese Garden and an Old English Garden. All of these remain in existence, the Old English Garden having been renamed Sexby Garden in honour of its designer.
*
Bethnal Green Gardens, laid out by Sexby in 1894-95 on the site of a public garden of 1875, in turn on the former Bethnal Green Poor's Lands.
*
Hilly Fields is notable for having been preserved from development by
Octavia Hill
Octavia Hill (3 December 1838 – 13 August 1912) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, whose main concern was the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, especially London, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Born into a fa ...
, one of the co-founders of the
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
. The park was acquired and opened by the LCC in 1896; Sexby's design included a bandstand, since demolished.
*
Deptford Park, previously a market garden, was acquired by the LCC in 1884, but not opened until 1897. Sexby was responsible for the layout of the park.
*
Golders Hill Park was acquired in 1898, and opened the following year. It is on the site of a former estate, which itself had been designed at different stages by
Capability Brown, Humphry Repton and
Robert Marnock
Robert Marnock (1800–1889) was one of the outstanding English horticulturalists and garden designers of the 19th century. He was considered by his contemporaries to be the best exponent of the Gardenesque school of landscape gardening.
Life
Bef ...
. Sexby's design included an Old English Garden in the former kitchen garden.
*
Bromley Recreation Ground in
Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originally ...
, now known as Bob's Park, was acquired and laid out by the LCC in 1900.
*
Brockwell Park
Brockwell Park is a 50.8 hectare (125.53 acres) park located south of Brixton, in Herne Hill and Tulse Hill in south London. It is bordered by the roads Brixton Water Lane, Norwood Road, Tulse Hill and Dulwich Road.
The park commands views of th ...
, acquired piecemeal by the LCC from 1892 to 1901, following which Sexby created an Old English Garden in the walled garden of the former Brockwell Hall.
*
Wandsworth Park
Wandsworth Park is a Grade II listed public urban park on the banks of the River Thames in the London Borough of Wandsworth, situated between Putney and Wandsworth town centres.
Geography
The park covers and is on the embanked southern ba ...
was formerly allotment gardens. Acquired by the LCC in 1898, it was opened in 1903. Sexby's design included playing fields, and an ornamental garden.
*
Northbrook Park was opened in 1903, and laid out by Sexby with a lake and a drinking fountain, both which no longer exist.
*
Springfield Park, Hackney was acquired in 1904, and opened the following year. Sexby designed the park with an emphasis on paths and woodland. These survive, along with a bandstand and bowling green.
*
Ruskin Park
Ruskin Park is a park in the London Borough of Lambeth, London, England, close to Camberwell, Loughborough Junction and Herne Hill.
History
At the start of the 20th century local residents successfully campaigned for a new public park on 24 acr ...
was acquired in 1904, and opened in 1907. Sexby's design included an Old English Garden, an oval duck pond, a bandstand and a bowling green. The bowling green has been replaced by a garden, but the other features remain.
*
Eaglesfield Park
Eaglesfield Park is a public park situated close to the top of Shooter's Hill, south of Woolwich, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in south east London.
Overview
The park is in two sections divided by Eaglesfield Road. The western section is ...
had long been a place of public resort when it was acquired in 1907 by the
Woolwich Metropolitan Borough Council. The LCC contributed half of the purchase price, and Sexby laid out the park, which was opened in 1908. Sexby's design included enhancing an existing ornamental pond. Over time this became derelict and abandoned, but was restored in 2012.
Sexby retired in 1910. In the following year's census, he is recorded as a boarder at the
Haddon Hall Hydro Hotel in the spa town of
Buxton
Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.[Battersea Park
Battersea Park is a 200-acre (83-hectare) green space at Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth in London. It is situated on the south bank of the River Thames opposite Chelsea and was opened in 1858.
The park occupies marshland recla ...]
in 1912, soon after he retired, and in 1913 in the former walled kitchen garden at the Rookery, adjacent to
Streatham Common
Streatham Common is a large open space on the southern edge of Streatham in the London Borough of Lambeth. The shallow sloping lower (western) half of the common is mostly mowed grass, and the upper (eastern) half is mostly woodland with some s ...
.
Kennington Park was originally opened as a park in 1854, out of the remnants of
Kennington Common
Kennington Common was a swathe of common land mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth. It was one of the earliest venues for cricket around London, with matches played between 1724 and 1785.G B Buckley, ''Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket'' ...
. Over time it was expanded, and, after the 1921 extension, an Old English Garden, in the Sexby style, was opened in 1931.
Written works
Sexby wrote a number of published works:
*''The Municipal Parks, Gardens and Open Spaces of London'', Elliot Stock 1898 (republished by Cambridge University Press, 2014, ).
*''Notebook of the Parks, Gardens, Recreation Grounds and Open Spaces of London'', 1899.
*''London Parks and Open Spaces: Notes on the Acquisition of Parks under the Control of the Council'', 1906.
*''History of Wandsworth Common''
*''History of Streatham Common''
*''History of Tooting Common''
Personal life
Sexby was a Freemason; he joined in 1897, and his occupation is given as Chief Officer for Parks, LCC.
He died in 1924, and probate was granted to William Edward Osborn. At the time of his death his address was Melbourne House, 79 Worple Road, Wimbledon, and he was described as the Late Lieut-Col John James Sexby, 4th VB Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment, VD.
Legacy
The only assessment of Sexby's contribution to London's parks and gardens was published in ''The London Gardener'' (the journal of the
London Gardens Trust) in 2005 by Hazelle Jackson. Jackson's assessment of Sexby is that he had a profound influence on the style and quality of London's parks. She notes that the measure of his success is that he set standards in public park design and management worldwide that still prevail. Nevertheless, he is a shadowy figure in the annals of garden history, not even rating a mention in ''British Gardeners – A Biographical Dictionary''. The Garden Museum's Archive produces no results when the term ‘Sexby’ is entered as a search.
The only named memorial to Sexby is his Old English Garden in Peckham Rye Park, renamed in his honour. The Old English Garden in
Southwark Park
Southwark Park is located in Rotherhithe, in central South East London, England, and is managed by the London Borough of Southwark. It first opened in 1869 by the Metropolitan Board of Works as one of its first parks. It was designed by Alexander ...
was opened in 1936 and named in honour of Sexby, but in 1942 it was renamed after
Ada Salter following her death that year.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sexby, JJ
1847 births
1924 deaths
British landscape and garden designers
People from Lambeth
English horticulturists
Volunteer Force officers
Queen's Royal Regiment officers