John Innes JP (20 January 1829 – 8 August 1904) was a British property developer and philanthropist. From the 1860s he developed

Merton Park Merton Park is a suburb in the London Borough of Merton. It is situated between Colliers Wood, Morden, South Wimbledon and Raynes Park. It is 11 miles (11.7 km) southwest of Charing Cross. The area is part of the historic parish of Merton i ...

as a

garden suburb The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and ...

in Merton,

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 his will, he left funds and part of his estate at Merton for the establishment of a

horticultural Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

institute. This institute, the

John Innes Centre The John Innes Centre (JIC), located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, is an independent centre for research and training in plant and microbial science founded in 1910. It is a registered charity (No 223852) grant-aided by the Biotechnology and B ...

, continues to bear his name today, as does John Innes compost, formulated at the institute.

Family

Innes was born on 20 January 1829 in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

(now

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St ...

). He was the sixth of seven children of West Indies merchant John Innes (1786 – 1869) and his wife Mary Reid (1792 – 1849), a daughter of brewer Andrew Reid. The family owned

sugar plantations A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

and imported

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...

into England. They supported the anti-slavery campaign in the West Indies and eventually sold all the business interests. Innes was educated at

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

Career

Innes's early career was as a wine merchant in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

, but, in 1864, he founded the City of London Real Property Company with his older brother James. The company developed and managed office buildings in the City, but also purchased farm land in Merton in 1864 and created the Merton Park Estate Company. For his own home, Innes purchased Manor Farm. Around 1872, Innes became

Lord of the Manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

of Merton. On the Merton land, Innes developed a garden suburb with wide roads of houses designed by architect H G Quartermain between 1870 and 1904. In the 1890s, Innes's own house was rebuilt to a Quartermain design as the Manor House. As part of the promotion of the suburb, Innes arranged for the local railway station to be renamed from Lower Merton to

in 1887. Innes was chairman of

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...

s of a charity established by William Rutlish, Embroiderer to Charles II, on his death in 1687. The charity's function was to provide funds to educate the poor children of the parish of Merton, but by the 1890s the charity had accumulated a considerable excess of funds. Innes used some of this excess to establish

Rutlish School Rutlish School is a state comprehensive school for boys, formerly a grammar school with the same name originally located on Rutlish Road, Merton Park, and relocated in 1957 on nearby Watery Lane, Merton Park, in southwest London. History The sc ...

. John Innes remained a bachelor until his death on 8 August 1904 and was buried in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, Merton Park. He left most of the grounds of the Manor House to be converted into a public park for the benefit of the residents of the parishes of Merton and Morden. He left funds and his home, Manor Farm in Watery Lane, and its grounds for the creation of the

institute which still bears his name, the

. His bequest to the nation was to be used for either a school of

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

that would provide "technical instruction in the principles of the science and art of horticulture and the application thereof to the industry or employment of gardening", or a public museum for the collection of paintings and other works of art. In 1906, the trustees asked the Charity Commissioners to prepare a scheme and by 1908 the scheme was approved by both trustees and Board of Agriculture. On 12 January 1909 the scheme came into force and in 1910 the John Innes Horticultural Institution opened. The John Innes institute moved from Merton Park in 1945 and is now located in

Colney Colney () is a village in the western outskirts of Norwich in the English county of Norfolk. History Colney's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for 'Cola's' island. Colney is listed in the Domesday Book as a settl ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, a world leader in plant science and microbiology. John Innes compost, now widely used in gardening, was developed by the centre. The grounds of Innes's home south of Watery Lane are now the site of

, John Innes Park and John Innes Recreation Ground. The ''Manor House'' in Watery Lane, is used by the school and a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

identifying it as his former residence was placed there in 1978.English Heritage - list of plaques
/ref> A local conservation group, the John Innes Society, is dedicated to safeguarding and improving the built and natural environment in and around the Merton Park area.

References

External links

St. Mary the Virgin, Merton ParkJohn Innes Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Innes, John History of the London Borough of Merton 1829 births 1904 deaths British merchants 19th-century British philanthropists 19th-century British businesspeople