James Burton

Family

James Burton was born in Strand, London, as James Haliburton, on 29 July 1761. He was the son of William Haliburton (1731–1785), who was a Scottish property-developer from Roxburghshire, who descended from John Haliburton (1573 – 1627) from whom Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was descended on the maternal side. Burton's paternal great-grandparents were The Rev. James Haliburton (1681 – 1756) and Margaret Eliott who was an aunt of George Augustus Eliott, 1st Baron Heathfield.

Burton was a cousin of the Canadian author and British MP Thomas Chandler Haliburton, and thereby of the Canada First founder Robert Grant Haliburton and the civil servant Arthur Lawrence Haliburton, 1st Baron Haliburton, who was the first Canadian to be raised to the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

Burton's mother was Mary Foster (who was previously Mary Johnson; 1735–1785), whom his father married in 1760, who was the daughter of Nicholas Foster of Kirkby Fleetham, Yorkshire. William Haliburton and Mary Foster had two sons, James and another who died in infancy.

James (b. 1761) was christened with the name 'James Haliburton' at Presbyterian Chapel, Soho, London. He shortened his surname to Burton in 1794, between the births of his fourth and fifth children.

Education

James was educated at a day-school in Covent Garden before he was privately tutored, including in architecture. In July 1776 he was articled to a surveyor named James Dalton, with whom he remained for six years, until 1782, when he commenced with speculative construction projects, in some of which Dalton was his partner.

Significant property developments

Bloomsbury: including the Foundling Hospital Estate on which he built 586 houses from 1789, and spent over £400,000 (about £30 million in 21st century money), between 1792 and 1802. These included Brunswick Square, Guilford Street, and Mecklenburgh Square(on which he built 600 houses); Bloomsbury Square (where the remaining north side are Burton's original houses); Russell Square; Bedford Place; Montague Street; Tavistock Square; Tavistock House (for himself); Cartwright Gardens (which were originally named Burton Crescent, after him); and Burton Street and Burton Crescent (which were named after him).

St John's Wood

Regent Street: Burton built 191 of the houses of Regent Street, and their joining archways. Five of the largest blocks of Regent Street were purchased by Burton in 1817. Burton's houses on Regent Street are No. 4 to No. 12; No. 17 to No. 25; No. 106 to No. 128; No. 132 to No. 154; No. 133 to No. 167; No. 171 to No. 195; and No. 295 to No. 319. These were built, together with Carlton Chambers, between 1817 and 1820. He also built between Leicester Street and No. 129 Swallow Street in 1820. He built the east side of Regent Street in 1821, and the west side of Regent Street, between the Quadrant and Oxford Street, and its archways, in 1822. He built north of Old Burlington Street, and the east side of the street between Chapel Court and the entrance to the King Street Chapel SW1, in 1822.

Regent Street St. James (Lower Regent Street).

Waterloo Place, St. James's, whose facades Burton modelled on those of the Place Vendome in Paris, between 1815 and 1816.

Regent's Park, including the Inner Circle villas; Cornwall Terrace (1821); York Terrace; Clarence Terrace (1823); and Chester Terrace (1825).

The Holme, Inner Circle, Regent's Park, (1818) The mansion of the Burton family, designed by his son Decimus Burton and built by James Burton's company. It has been described as 'one of the most desirable private homes in London' by architectural scholar Guy Williams, and the architectural critic Ian Nairn described it as 'a definition of western civilization in a single view'.

Style

In these Bloomsbury developments, Burton again demonstrated his architectural flair, as Williams describes: "James Burton became adept at relieving the monotony of long residential terraces by allowing their central blocks to project slightly from the surfaces to each side, and by bringing forward, too, the houses at each end". Williams also records that "the ironwork in a classical style in James Burton's Bloomsbury terraces was, and often still is, particularly fine, though mass produced". The Bloomsbury Conservation Areas Advisory Council describes Burton's Bloomsbury terraces, "His terraces are in his simple but eloquent Neoclassical style, with decorative doorcases, recessed sash windows in compliance with the latest fire regulations, and more stucco than before". Jane Austen described Burton's new area of London in Emma: "Our part of London is so very superior to most others! - You must not confound us with London in general, my dear sir. The neighbourhood of Brunswick Square is very different from all the rest".

In 1970, John Lehmann predicted that Burton's Bloomsbury would soon disappear "except for a few isolated rows... to remind us of man-sized architecture in a vanished age of taste". Burton exhibited his design of the south side of Russell Square at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1800. Burton's urban designs were characterized by spacious formal layouts of terraces, squares, and crescents.

In 1807 Burton expanded his Bloomsbury development north, and was also involved extensively in the early development of St John's Wood. He then left London for a project in Tunbridge Wells but returned in 1807 to build over the Skinners Company land between the Bedford Estate and the lands owned by the Foundling Hospital, where he built Burton Crescent (which was later renamed Cartwright Gardens), Burton Street, and Burton Place, which were named after him. These developments included, for himself, the Tavistock House, on land that is now occupied by the British Medical Association, where he lived until he moved to The Holme in Regent's Park, which was designed for him by his son Decimus Burton. Burton also developed the Lucas Estate.

Burton constructed some houses at Tunbridge Wells between 1805 and 1807. Burton developed Waterloo Place, St. James's, between 1815 and 1816. In 1815, James Burton took Decimus to Hastings, where the two would later design and build St Leonards-on-Sea, and, in 1816, Decimus commenced work in the James Burton's office. Whilst working for his father, Decimus was present in the design and construction of Regent Street St. James (Lower Regent Street). Simultaneously, George Maddox taught Decimus architectural draughtsmanship, including the details of the five orders. After his first year of tuition by his father and Maddox, Decimus submitted to the Royal Academy a design for a bridge, which was commended by the academy.

Relationship with John Nash

The parents of John Nash (b. 1752), and Nash himself during his childhood, lived in Southwark, where Burton worked as an 'Architect and Builder' and developed a positive reputation for prescient speculative building between 1785 and 1792. Burton built the Blackfriars Rotunda in Great Surrey Street (now Blackfriars Road) to house the Leverian Museum, for land agent and museum proprietor James Parkinson.

However, whereas Burton was vigorously industrious, and quickly became 'most gratifyingly rich', Nash's early years in private practice, and his first speculative developments, which failed either to sell or let, were unsuccessful, and Nash's consequent financial shortage was exacerbated by the 'crazily extravagant' wife, whom he had married before he had completed his training, until he was declared bankrupt in 1783. To resolve his financial shortage, Nash cultivated the acquaintance of Burton, and Burton consented to patronize him.

James Burton was responsible for the social and financial patronage of the majority of Nash's London designs, in addition to for their construction. Architectural scholar Guy Williams has written, 'John Nash relied on James Burton for moral and financial support in his great enterprises. Decimus had showed precocious talent as a draughtsman and as an exponent of the classical style... John Nash needed the son's aid, as well as the father's'. Subsequent to the Crown Estate's refusal to finance them, James Burton agreed to personally finance the construction projects of John Nash at Regent's Park, which he had already been commissioned to construct: consequently, in 1816, Burton purchased many of the leases of the proposed terraces around, and proposed villas within, Regent's Park, and, in 1817, Burton purchased the leases of five of the largest blocks on Regent Street. The first property to be constructed by Burton in the vicinity of Regent's Park was his own mansion: The Holme, which was designed by his son, Decimus Burton, and completed in 1818. Burton's extensive financial involvement 'effectively guaranteed the success of the project', in return for which Nash promoted the career of Decimus Burton.

Such were James Burton's contributions to Regent's Parl that the Commissioners of Woods described James, not Nash, as 'the architect of Regent's Park'. The dominant architectural influence of most of the Regent's Park constructions (including Cornwall Terrace, York Terrace, Chester Terrace, Clarence Terrace, and the villas of the Inner Circle, all of which were constructed by James Burton's company) was Decimus Burton, not John Nash who was only architectural 'overseer' for Decimus's projects. Decimus ignored Nash's advice to develop the Terraces in his own style, to the extent that Nash unsuccessfullt sought the demolition and rebuilding of Chester Terrace. Decimus also contributed to Carlton House Terrace, where he alone designed No. 3 and No. 4.

Gunpowder manufacturer

James Burton, from 1811, invested in the manufacture of gunpowder at Powder Mills, Leigh, which was managed his eldest son, William Ford, who directed sales of the product from his office in the City of London. The mills (which were initially known as the Ramhurst Powder Mills, and later as the Tunbridge Gunpowder Works) were established in 1811 in partnership with Sir Humphry Davy, who later sold his shares to the Burtons, who thereby became the sole owners of the Works. After the retirement of James Burton in 1824, William Ford became the sole owner of the mills until his death in 1856, by which the gunpowder business was inherited by his brother, Alfred Burton, Mayor of Hastings.

Development of St Leonards-on-Sea

In 1827, James Burton realised that the ancient Manor of Gensing, which was situated between Hastings and the Bulverhythe Marshes, could be developed. Decimus Burton advised against this prospective project of his father, which limited his supply of capital for his own development of the Calverley Estate, but James ignored him, bought it, and proceeded to build St Leonards-on-Sea as a pleasure resort for the gentry. James Burton designed the town 'on the twin principles of classical formality and picturesque irregularity', to rival Brighton. The majority of the first part of the town had been completed by 1830. In 1833, St. Leonards-on-Sea was described as 'a conceited Italian town'.

Family homes

During 1800, in which his tenth child Decimus was born, James Burton Senior resided at the 'very comfortable and well staffed' North House in the newly built Southampton Terrace at Bloomsbury. He subsequently resided at Tavistock House, which later became the residence of Charles Dickens. Subsequent to the birth of his twelfth child, Jessy, in 1804, Burton purchased a site on a hill about one mile to the south of Tonbridge in Kent, where he constructed, to the designs of the architect Joseph T. Parkinson, in 1805, a large mansion which he named Mabledon House, which was described in 1810 by the local authority as 'an elegant imitation of an ancient castellated mansion'. The majority of the stone that Burton needed for Mabledon was quarried from the hill on which Mabledon was to be built, but Burton also purchased stone from the demolition of the nearby mansion Penhurst Place. He employed a bailiff and a gamekeeper, hosted balls and was invested as Sheriff of Kent for 1810. A diary written by James Burton, which records his activities between 1783 and 1811, is at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery. The Burtons lived at Mabledon from 1805 to 1817.

From 1818, Burton resided at The Holme, Regent's Park, which has been described as 'one of the most desirable private homes in London', which was designed by James's son Decimus, and built by his own company. The Holme was the second villa in Regent's Park, and the first to be either designed or constructed by the Burton family. The hallmark of the Burton design is the large semi-circular bay that divided the principal elevation and that had two storeys. The original villa also had a conservatory of polygonal form, which used wrought iron glazing bars, which then had been only recently patented, instead of the customary wooden bars. The first villa to be constructed in the park was St. John's Lodge by John Raffield.

The Burton family had residences and offices at 10, 12, and 14 Spring Gardens, St. James's Park, at the east end of The Mall, that were constructed by Decimus. The Burton family also had offices at Old Broad Street in the City of London, and at Lincoln's Inn Fields (at which Septimus Burton was a solicitor at Lincoln's Inn and trained William Warwick Burton.

Personal life

Burton was Master of the Worshipful Company of Tylers and Bricklayers in 1801 to 1802. In 1804, in response to the possibility of invasion by France, Burton recruited from his workforce 1600 volunteers, whom he named the Loyal British Artificers, of which he became Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant. The rally-point of Burton's Loyal British Artificers was to be the Tottenham Court Road. Burton attended the funeral of Horatio Nelson in 1806.

James Burton was an early member of the Athenaeum Club, London, as was his son, Decimus Burton, who has been described as the 'prime member of the Athenaeum' by architectural scholar Guy Williams who there 'mixed with many of the greatest in the land, meeting the most creative as well as those with enormous hereditary wealth'. During 1820, Burton, his wife, and his children dined and attended the opera with George Bellas Greenough to finalise Greenhough and Decimus's designs. James and Decimus Burton were 'on excellent terms' with Princess Victoria and with the Duchess of Kent. The Princess and the Duchess laid the foundation stone of a Decimus Burton School in Tunbridge Wells, and, in autumn 1834, stayed for several months, at Decimus's invitation, at James Burton's villa at St Leonards-on-Sea, until several weeks into 1835.

Elizabeth Burton died at St Leonards-on-Sea on 14 January 1837. James Burton died at St Leonards-On-Sea on 31 March 1837. James is buried in a pyramidal tomb in the churchyard of St Leonards-on-Sea, the town that he had designed and created, where a commemorative monument was erected.

Marriage and children

On 1 March 1783, at St. Clement Danes, Strand, London, James Burton married Elizabeth Westley (12 December 1761 – 14 January 1837), of Loughton, Essex, who was the daughter of John and Mary Westley. They had six sons and six daughters. The first four children were entered into the registers with the surname 'Haliburton'. James and Elizabeth changed their surname to 'Burton' between the birth of their fourth child and the birth of their fifth child. Burton and his children were armigerous.

Ten of Burton's children were alive at the time of his 1837 death at which his vocational legacy was divided in three between his precocious sons William Ford Burton (who inherited the financial management), and Decimus Burton (who inherited the architectural practice), and Alfred Burton (who inherited the societal patronages). James Burton Junior the Egyptologist, Septimus Burton the solicitor, and Henry Burton the physician, started vocational disciplines that had not any precedent in the disciplines of their father.

William Ford (11 January 1784 – 18 October 1856). James Burton Senior's eldest son (who was named after his maternal granduncle) did not attend university as a consequence of an injury that was caused by a fall from his horse during 1806. He instead managed the office of the Powder Mills, Leigh, Medway, (which were initially known as the Ramhurst Powder Mills, and later as the Tunbridge Gunpowder Works) that he founded with Sir Humphry Davy during 1811. He was sole owner of the gunpowder mills or works between 1824 and his death in 1856, when they were inherited by his brother, Alfred Burton, Mayor of Hastings. William Ford lived at St John's Wood, and at The Holme, and at South Lodge, St. Leonards-on-Sea. He had two illegitimate sons by Mary Moore (b. 1784): the architect Captain Henry Marley Burton FRIBA (1821 - 1880) (who was the father of the architect Edgar Burton); and William Warwick Burton (d. 21 October 1861), of Lincoln's Inn Fields, who was articled as a solicitor to Septimus Burton (1794 - 1842). William Warwick Burton had three children: William Edgar Burton, Edmund Burton, and Jessy Burton who married James Holmes Parson.

Emma Elizabeth (1785 - 1785). Died from smallpox.

Eliza (29 September 1786 – 6 February 1877). She lived for a time at No. 36 Marina and later at No. 5 West Hill in St. Leonards-on-Sea. She did not marry.