I found an article online called “A Confusion of Lewis Kennedys” written by Val Bott. This obviously intrigued me as I am a descendant of a Lewis Kennedy. After due research, I discovered a sort of dynasty of Kennedy gardeners and wrote an article which clarifies the confusion.
Kennedy Gardeners
My mother’s maiden name was Helen Butler Kennedy. While investigating my family ancestry, I came across an article on nurserygardeners.com called “A confusion of Lewis Kennedys”. I determined to unravel this confusion and found six called Lewis Kennedy, several John Kennedys and a few Thomas Kennedys. It is a help to remember the Scottish naming system of naming the first-born son after the father’s father, and also the erratic spelling of names.
Roots
The earliest document which mentions a Kennedy gardener goes back to 1705 in Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland. The Maitland Club Papers volume 3, page 438, record the results of the Presbyterian government decree in which the ministers of the Church had to make a list of the papists in their parishes. The Muthill list includes:
“1. My Lord Drummond…….3. There is one John Kennedy Gardener to my Lord Drummond and his wife Mary Lader have both made apostary to popery. He hath several children to wit Thomas Kennedy, Lilias Kennedy and Mary Kennedy: His nearest protestant relation is Mr James Ladar Schoolmaster at Muthill who is his brother-in-law…….and he hath substance in the world”. James Lauder was to undertake the education of the children.
The second document of relevance, dated 1754, is the relation of the inheritance of a Lewis Kennedy who died in 1748 and whose belongings include bonds issued by Lord James Drummond, then deceased, to Mr. James Lauder, also deceased, who left to his nephews, Lewis and James Kennedy. Lord James Drummond probably needed funds to finance the Jacobite rebellion in 1715. James Lauder was the schoolmaster and also the Town Clerk and Episcopalian minister in Muthill.
In 1705, John Kennedy had only one son, Thomas Kennedy, but the bonds indicate that he had two more sons, Lewis and James, named after his uncles, James on his mother’s side and Lewis on his father’s side. There is also provision for their sister, Mary Kennedy, and his wife, Jean Paply. Presumably, Thomas and Lilias had died by 1748 and James Lauder had no children of his own.
Woburn Lewis
How do we know that John had a brother called Lewis? The third document of interest is the will of a Lewis Kennedy who worked at Woburn Abbey and committed suicide in 1743 (The Gentleman’s Magazine vol xiii). He left his belongings to his nephew, Lewis Kennedy, stating that his nephew worked for the Earl of Northampton. The suicide note is dated the 6th of October so the nephew must have been working for James Compton, 5th Earl of Northampton, who inherited a house in Chiswick from his uncle, Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, who died on the 2nd of July, 1743.
The Woburn Lewis worked for John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedfordshire, who was descried by Lord Wilmington’s successor as prime minister, Henry Pelham, as being idle and conflictive. The duke was keen on cricket and hosted cricket matches at Woburn Park. This Lewis, the brother of John Kennedy who had three children in 1705, must have been in his sixties in 1743 with no wife or children. If we imagine a dedicated gardener seeing his precious lawns converted into a cricket field, this may have been a reason for suicide.
Wilmington Lewis
However, we must now turn our attention to his nephew, Lewis Kennedy, who died in 1748 and whose inheritance was executed by his brother, James, who worked for Lord Downe at Cowick Hall, East Riding of Yorkshire. This Lewis worked at a house in Chiswick, adjacent to Chiswick House, which had belonged to Sir Stephen Fox and was acquired by Spencer Compton’s mother after Fox died in 1716. Both the house Fox built and its fine walled gardens were very much admired in society. It seems Lewis started to work there in 1725 until 1743 and is mentioned by Sir John Clerk in 1733 as a Scotsman called Kennedy. (Sally Jefferey, Garden History 52:3/2024 p.156). He subscribed to Philip Miller’s “The Gardener’s Dictionary” of 1731. He does not mention a wife or children. He probably worked for the Earl of Northamton after Lord Wilmington’s death and left soon after his uncle, Woburn Lewis, died. His will makes it clear that he was the nephew of James Lauder, his mother’s brother.
Inheritance
We have records in the Scottish Select Marriages of the marriage of John’s eldest son, Thomas Kennedy to Amelia Grieg in 1718 and in the Scottish Select Births and Baptisms of his sons, John in 1719 and the twins. Lewis and Thomas, in 1721 in Muthill. John and Lewis both became expert gardeners and must have been taught by their father and grandfather, who worked at Drummond Castle. If John and Lewis grew up there, it is understandable that they would be influenced by the Drummond walled garden. The Drummond earls had laid out significant gardens with a sundial in the centre placed in 1630 and John Reid, author of “The Scottish Gardener” worked there for a time. John Kennedy would have worked at Drummond castle until the Jacobite Drummonds died in 1745. He then went to work at Croxdale Hall, County Durham, in 1748. (see below Drummond gardens today).
Connections
Probably some time before, Lewis went to join his uncle who was working for Spencer Compton, Lord Wilmington, in Chiswick. There he met James Lee, six years older and an apprentice to Philip Miller ar Chesea Physic garden. It is likely that the Wilmington Lewis knew both James Lee and Philip Miller and may have had the idea of setting up a nursery to grow and sell plants and seeds, but he was getting old and possibly ill, so he left the project with his nephew, retiring to Cowick Hall where his brother, James, was working. He died in 1748. James inherited the bonds issued by Lord James Drummond and may have helped his nephew to set up the nursery.
Vineyard Lewis
Their nephew, Lewis, along with James Lee, also Scottish, bought a property in Hammersmith that had been a vineyard. It was a propicious moment as it became fashionable for noblemen to lay out elaborate gardens to show off, and new, exotic plants were flowing in from abroad. Lee was a more academic type, who maintained contact with Carl Linneaus and spent time classifying plants and seeking new varieties. Kennedy was dynamic and practical. He produced “notitiae”, notes and sketches for his clients, conserved ar Chatsworth. The Vineyard Lewis married twice, but lost many children. He died in Fulham in 1782. His son, John, (1759-1842), survived and inherited the thriving nursery along with Lee’s son, Charles. The Vineyard Nursery was famous for introducing the China rose, the fuchsia and later the dahlia.
Josephine’s Lewis
John’s son, Lewis, (1789-1877) worked in many places, including Malmaison for Empress Josephine (1763-1814) and Chiswick House. A family heirloom is a note of thanks for services rendered signed by Empress Josephine and a snuffbox, a gift from her. (see photo).
In spite of the Napoleonic wars, Lewis was issued with a passport and safe conduct through military blockades, as he carried plants and seeds from the Vineyard nursery for her Imperial Majesty. Josephine’s favourite flower was the rose and she wanted all the varieties. Lee and Kennedy’s nursery provided her with new Chinese crimson and pink roses. She had the greatest rose collection in the world (1804-1814). (see below a Daguerre photo of this Lewis Kennedy).
Lewis later became the factor of Drummond Castle, working for Lady Clementine Drummond, and resided in Pitkellony House (see below), in Muthill where his grandfather was born.
Parlington Lewis
Vineyard Lewis’s brother, John, worked at Croxdale Hall, County Durham, until 1771. He then moved to Parlington Hall, West Yorkshire, and wrote “A Treatise on Gardening, Planting and the Management of the Hothouse”, published in 1776. His son, Lewis, probably worked there even after his father’s death in 1790 as he married a local girl and died there in 1810. He had a son called, of course, John.
Rector Lewis
Josephine’s Lewis had three sons, Lewis Drummond Kennedy (1818-1888), a Rector in Lincolnshire, John Eugene (1820-1901) (Eugene is the name of Josephine’s son), George Penrose (1821-1898) (Penrose was a classical architect Lewis worked with) and Archibald , a civil engineer (1828-1851). John Eugene became the factor at Drummond Castle after his father. George Penrose was placed with Sir Charles Barry and worked on the restoration of Drummond Castle and the gardens. A banqueting tent was erected for the visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1842 when she was impressed by the walled garden layout recalling the Scottish flag, designed by Lewis Kennedy (Josephine’s). John Eugene was dismissed in 1877 so they had to move out of Pitkellony House.
Last but not least
George had already left to assist Francis Cranmer Penrose in Athens in 1845 and set up on his own in 1849 in St. James, London, and later in Glasgow. He died in 1898 in Lewisham. He had two wives and eleven children. His son, Frederick Alexander by his second wife, Kate Butler Watt, was a stockbroker born in Mount Vernon, near Glasgow, Scotland, (1877-1949) whose house in Beckenham, Kent, was called “Cassilis” after the Kennedy clan earls of Cassilis. He married Ella Maud Lamb. His son, Group Captain Francis Frederick Kennedy (1906-1998) called his house “Pitkellony”. The second son, Leslie Penrose Kennedy (1911-1991) was (surprise) a nursery gardener in Slough. Frederick’s daughter, Helen Butler Kennedy (1917-1957) was my mother. (see below ‘Cassilis’, my grandparents’ home).
Bibliography (most relevant)
Testament of Lewis Kennedy, National Records of Scotland. Maitland Club Papers vol. 3 p. 438, An Account of the names of Popish persons and suspect of popery within the bounds of the parish of Ochterader 1705. Will of Lewis Kennedy, suicide in 1743. Scottish Select Births and Baptisms, Marriages. Ancestry.com/ Scotland’s People. Articles by Sally Jeffery, Val Bott and Kurt Glänzl.
Conclusion: There was a Woburn Lewis, a Wilmington Lewis, a Vineyard Lewis, Josephine’s Lewis, a Parlington Lewis and Rector Lewis.