Editing Capability Brown (section)

==Early life and Stowe==
Lancelot Brown was the fifth child of a [[land agent]] and a [[chambermaid]], born in the village of [[Kirkharle]], [[Northumberland]], and educated at a school in [[Cambo, Northumberland|Cambo]] until he was 16. Brown's father, William Brown, had been Sir William [[Loraine baronets|Loraine]]’s land agent and his mother, Ursula (née Hall<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capabilitybrown.org/about-capability-brown|title=About Capability Brown {{!}} Capability Brown|website=www.capabilitybrown.org|access-date=7 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215024011/http://www.capabilitybrown.org/about-capability-brown|archive-date=15 February 2018|url-status=usurped}}</ref>), had been in service at [[Kirkharle Hall]]. His eldest brother, John, became the estate surveyor and later married Sir William's daughter. His older brother George became a mason-architect.

After school Lancelot worked as the head gardener's apprentice at Sir William [[Loraine baronets|Loraine]]'s kitchen garden at [[Kirkharle Hall]] until he was 23. In 1739 he journeyed south to the port of [[Boston, Lincolnshire|Boston]], [[Lincolnshire]].<ref>{{harvnb|Brown|2011}}</ref> Then he moved further inland, where his first landscape commission was for a new lake in the park at [[Kiddington Hall]], [[Oxfordshire]].<ref name="Colvin1995">{{harvnb|Colvin|1995}}.</ref> He moved to [[Wotton Underwood|Wotton Underwood House]], [[Buckinghamshire]], seat of Sir Richard Grenville.<ref name="Twickenham">{{cite web |url=http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.asp?ContentID=295 |title=Lancelot 'Capability' Brown Date: 1716 – 1783 Landscape Gardener |publisher=The Twickenham Museum |access-date=14 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214090042/http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.asp?ContentID=295 |archive-date=14 February 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
[[File:Berrington Hall - geograph.org.uk - 1263571.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|left|[[Ha-ha]] and house at [[Berrington Hall]] in [[Herefordshire]], Brown's last big project, a new-build designed by [[Henry Holland (architect)|his son-in-law]], placed to exploit views in two directions.]]

In 1741<ref>{{cite book |first=Thomas|last=Hinde|title=Capability Brown: the Story of a Master Gardener|location=London|publisher=Hutchinson|year=1986|isbn=0-09-163740-6|page=19}}</ref> Brown joined [[Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham|Lord Cobham]]'s gardening staff as undergardener at [[Stowe Gardens]], [[Buckinghamshire]],<ref name="Lancelot" /> where he worked under [[William Kent]], one of the founders of the new English style of [[landscape gardening|landscape garden]]. In 1742, at the age of 26, he was officially appointed Head Gardener, earning £25 ({{inflation|r=-2|fmt=eq|cursign=£|UK|25|1742}}) a year and residing in the western Boycott Pavilion.

Brown remained at Stowe until 1750. He made the Grecian Valley at Stowe under William Kent's supervision. It is an abstract composition of landform and woodland. Lord Cobham let Brown take freelance work from his aristocratic friends, thus making him well known as a landscape gardener. As a proponent of the new English style, Brown became immensely sought after by the [[landed class|landed families]]. By 1751, when Brown was beginning to be widely known, [[Horace Walpole]] wrote somewhat slightingly of Brown's work at [[Warwick Castle]]:

<blockquote>The castle is enchanting; the view pleased me more than I can express, the River Avon tumbles down a cascade at the foot of it. It is well laid out by one Brown who has set up on a few ideas of Kent and [[Philip Southcote|Mr. Southcote]].</blockquote>
By the 1760s he was earning on average £6,000 ({{inflation|UK|6000|1765|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-3}}) a year, usually £500 ({{inflation|UK|500|1765|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-2}}) for one commission. As an accomplished rider he was able to work fast, taking only an hour or so on horseback to survey an estate and rough out an entire design. In 1764, Brown was appointed [[George III]]'s Master Gardener at [[Hampton Court Palace]], succeeding John Greening and residing at the Wilderness House.<ref name="Twickenham" /> In 1767 he bought an estate for himself at [[Fenstanton]] in Huntingdonshire from [[Spencer Compton, 8th Earl of Northampton]] and was appointed [[High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire]] for 1770, although his son Lance carried out most of the duties.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cambsgardens.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/CGT_News36_May2014_lores.pdf|title=HOW THE MANOR OF FENSTANTON WAS EXCHANGED FOR TASTE|publisher=Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust|access-date=18 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328154009/http://cambsgardens.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/CGT_News36_May2014_lores.pdf|archive-date=28 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>