Fanny Wilkinson

{{short description|British landscape gardener and college principal (1855–1951)}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Fanny Rollo Wilkinson | honorific_suffix = | image = Portrait album of who's who at the International Congress of Women - Miss Fanny Wilkinson.jpg | caption = Fanny Wilkinson in 1899 | image_upright = | landscape =  | alt =  | native_name = | native_name_lang = | pronunciation = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date|1855|6|6|df=y}} | birth_place = Chorlton upon Medlock, Manchester, UK | baptised =  | disappeared_date =  | disappeared_place = | disappeared_status = | death_date = {{Death date and age|1951|1|22|1855|6|6|df=y}} | death_place = Leiston, Suffolk | death_cause = | body_discovered = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | burial_place =  | burial_coordinates =  | monuments = | nationality = | other_names = | siglum = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = Crystal Palace School of Landscape Gardening and Practical Horticulture | occupation = | years_active = | era = | employer = | organization = | agent =  | known_for = Professional landscape gardener | notable_works = Vauxhall Park, London; Designer for 75 public gardens for Metropolitan Public Gardens Association 1884–1904; Principal, Swanley Horticultural College 1904–1916 and 1921–1922 | style = | title =  | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | movement = | opponents = | boards = | spouse =  | partner =  | children = | parents =  | mother =  | father =  | relatives = | family = | awards = | website =  | signature = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | footnotes = }}

'''Fanny Wilkinson''' (1855–1951) was a British landscape designer. She was the first professional female landscape designer in Britain, and responsible for the design and the layout of more than 75 public gardens across London in the late 19th century.<ref>{{Cite web|title='Fanny Rollo Wilkinson'|url=https://www.parksandgardens.org/people/fanny-rollo-wilkinson|access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref>

== Early life == Fanny Wilkinson was born in 1855 in Manchester, the daughter of Matthew Eason Wilkinson, a prominent doctor who became president of the British Medical Association, and his wife, Louisa.

== Education == She was educated ‘privately and abroad’, but by the end of 1883 she had completed an 18-month course at the Crystal Palace School of Landscape Gardening and Practical Horticulture in London,<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-09-05|title=Fanny Wilkinson: designer of Meath Gardens|url=https://romanroadlondon.com/fanny-wilkinson-suffragette-landscape-gardener-meath-gardens/|access-date=2021-09-13|website=Roman Road LDN|language=en-GB}}</ref> at a time when such classes were intended only for men. She later said that 'I was always fond of gardening as a child, and I took it up because I felt it suited me, and I wanted to do something ...’. She may have been inspired by the grounds of Middlethorpe Hall, the family residence in Yorkshire.<ref name="oxforddnb">{{Cite ODNB|title=Wilkinson, Fanny Rollo (1855–1951), landscape gardener|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-97936|year = 2008|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/97936|access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref>

== Career == In 1884 she was elected as honorary gardener to the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association but two years later this was changed to a professional position for which she was paid a fee. In an interview in 1890 she commented that ‘I certainly do not let myself be underpaid as many women do. … I know my profession and charge accordingly, as all women should do.’<ref name="oxforddnb"/> Among the many public gardens across London that she planned and that were laid out under her supervision were Goldsmith's Square, Hackney; Myatt's Fields Park, Camberwell;<ref>{{Cite web|title='An extended history of Myatt's Fields Park'|url=https://www.myattsfieldspark.info/extended-history.html|access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref> Paddington Street Gardens, Marylebone; Meath Gardens, Bethnal Green; and the churchyard of St John, Smith Square, Westminster.

In 1887 Fanny Wilkinson was also working as a landscape designer to the Kyrle Society, which aimed to ‘bring beauty to the lives of the poor’.<ref>{{Citation|last=Whelan|first=Robert|title='The poor, as well as the rich, need something more than meat and drink':: the vision and work of the Kyrle Society|date=2016|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv4w3whm.12|work=Octavia Hill, social activism and the remaking of British society|pages=91–118|editor-last=Baigent|editor-first=Elizabeth|publisher=University of London Press|jstor=j.ctv4w3whm.12|isbn=978-1-909646-00-1|access-date=2020-05-13|editor2-last=Cowell|editor2-first=Ben}}</ref> Through the society she was commissioned to design Vauxhall Park, opened in 1890.<ref>{{Cite web|title='A Blue Plaque for Fanny Wilkinson, Vauxhall Park's Designer'|url=http://www.vauxhallpark.org.uk/2019/03/19/a-blue-plaque-for-fanny-wilkinson-vauxhall-parks-designer/|access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref> This was created on land saved from development and purchased by Henry Fawcett and Millicent Garrett Fawcett; Millicent and her sisters became good friends of Fanny.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Crawford, Elizabeth. |author-link=Elizabeth Crawford (historian) |title=Enterprising women: the Garretts and their circle |date=2002 |publisher=Francis Boutle |isbn=1-903427-12-6 |location=London |oclc=51730406}}</ref> Fanny's sister Louisa married Millicent's brother.

In 1902 she became the first female Principal of Swanley Horticultural College and in that post she encouraged other women to enter the profession. She co-founded the Women's Agricultural and Horticultural International Union (1899), through which women were recruited to sustain agriculture and food production during the First World War. The organisation continues as the Working For Gardeners Association.

== Commemoration == alt=Round blue plaque with white text reading "English Heritage, Fanny Wilkinson 1855-1951 Landscape gardener and designer of many open spaces in London lived and worked here 1885-1896"|thumb|Fanny Wilkinson blue plaque in Bloomsbury In 2022 English Heritage announced that Fanny Wilkinson would be commemorated with a blue plaque at her former home in Bloomsbury, London, later that year. She was nominated for the plaque by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association, the organisation which kickstarted her professional career.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Blue Plaques to tell stories of working class experience |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about-us/search-news/blue-plaques-to-tell-stories-of-working-class-experience/ |access-date=2022-02-18 |website=English Heritage}}</ref>

In 2025 a commemorative bronze statue of Fanny Wilkinson was installed on a renovated Edwardian drinking fountain in Coronation Gardens, Wandsworth, London, one of the gardens she designed.<ref name="BbcC3d119dv2neo">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3d119dv2neo|title=Wandsworth park unveils statue of female landscape gardener - BBC News|website=bbc.co.uk|access-date=2025-07-03}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Fanny}} Category:1855 births Category:1951 deaths Category:British landscape and garden designers Category:Designers from Manchester Category:People from Chorlton-on-Medlock Category:Women landscape architects