Editing Joseph Paxton (section)

==Later life==
[[File:Paxton Memorial, London Road Cemetery, Coventry - geograph.org.uk - 1295740.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The Paxton Memorial at [[London Road Cemetery]], Coventry]]

Although he remained the Head Gardener at Chatsworth until 1858, Paxton was also able to undertake outside work such as the Crystal Palace and his directorship of the Midland Railway. He worked on public parks in [[Liverpool]], [[Birkenhead Park|Birkenhead]], [[Glasgow]], [[Halifax, West Yorkshire|Halifax]] (the [[People's Park (Halifax)|People's Park]]) and the grounds of [[The Spa, Scarborough]]. In October 1845 he was invited to lay out one of the country's first municipal burial grounds in [[Coventry]]. This became the [[London Road Cemetery]], where a memorial to Paxton by Joseph Goddard was erected in 1868.

Between 1835 and 1839, he organised plant-hunting expeditions, one of which ended in tragedy when two gardeners from Chatsworth sent to California drowned.<ref>{{cite journal |year=1865 |title=The Late Duke of Devonshire and Sir Joseph Paxton |journal=Notes and Queries |volume=31 |pages=491–2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z-xOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA491 |access-date=30 May 2011 }}</ref> Tragedy also struck at home when his eldest son died.

[[Image:Distant view of Mentmore Towers-cropped.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Mentmore Towers]]]]
In 1850, Paxton was commissioned by Baron [[Mayer Amschel de Rothschild]] to design [[Mentmore Towers]] in Buckinghamshire. This became one of the greatest [[country house]]s built during the [[Victorian Era]]. Following the completion of Mentmore, [[James Mayer de Rothschild]], one of Baron de Rothschild's French cousins, commissioned [[Château de Ferrières]] at [[Ferrières-en-Brie]] near Paris to be "Another Mentmore, but twice the size". Both buildings still stand today.
[[Image:Chateau de Ferrieres.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Château de Ferrières]]]]
[[File:St Peter's Churchyard, Edensor - grave of Sir Joseph Paxton (1803–1865) cropped.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|right|[[St Peter's Church, Edensor|St Peter's Churchyard, Edensor]] - grave of Sir Joseph Paxton (1803–1865)]]
Paxton also designed another country house, a smaller version of Mentmore, at [[Battlesden]] near [[Woburn, Bedfordshire|Woburn]] in Bedfordshire. This house was bought by the [[Duke of Bedford]] thirty years after its completion, and demolished, because the Duke wanted no other mansion close to [[Woburn Abbey]].

In 1860, Paxton also designed Fairlawn, 89 Wimbledon Park Side, for Sir Edwin Saunders, [[Queen Victoria]]'s dentist.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fairlawn, Wandsworth |url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-207194-fairlawn-greater-london-authority
|publisher=www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk| access-date=15 April 2013}}</ref>

Paxton was honoured by being a member of the Kew Commission, which was to suggest improvements for [[Kew Gardens|Royal Botanic Gardens]], and by being considered for the post of Head Gardener at [[Windsor Castle]].

On 17 March 1860, during the enthusiasm for the [[Volunteer movement]], Paxton raised and commanded the [[High Peak Rifles|11th (Matlock) Derbyshire Rifle Volunteer Corps]].<ref>Ray Westlake, ''Tracing the Rifle Volunteers'', Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books, 2010, {{ISBN|978-1-84884-211-3}}, p. 61.</ref>

Paxton became affluent, not so much through his Chatsworth employment, but by successful speculation in the railway industry. He retired from Chatsworth when the Duke died in 1858 but carried on working at various projects such as the Thames Graving Dock. Paxton died at his home at Rockhills, Sydenham, in 1865 <ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle= Paxton, Joseph |volume= 44 |last= Boulger |first= George Simonds |author-link= George Simonds Boulger |pages= 103-104 |year= |short=1}}</ref> and was buried on the Chatsworth Estate in [[St Peter's Church, Edensor|St Peter's Churchyard, Edensor]]. His wife Sarah remained at their house on the Chatsworth Estate until her death in 1871.

{{botanist|Paxton|Paxton}}

[[File:Bust of Joseph Paxton, Crystal Palace.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1|Bust of Paxton in [[Crystal Palace Park]].]]