James Bateman (18 July 1811 – 27 November 1897) was a landowner and accomplished horticulturist. He developed Biddulph Grange after moving there around 1840, from nearby Knypersley Hall. He created the famous gardens at Biddulph with the aid of his friend and painter of seascapes Edward William Cooke.
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Born at Redivals near Bury in Lancashire, he matriculated with Lincoln College, Oxford in 1829, graduating from Magdalen College with a BA in 1834 and an MA in 1845.
"MA Magdalen College, Oxford, 1845, took great interest in collecting and cultivating tropical plants; FLS, 1833; FRS, 1838; fellow of Royal Horticultural Society; published writings on orchids and other horticultural subjects."[1]
He was a collector of and scholar on orchids, President of the North Staffordshire Field Society, and served on the Royal Horticultural Society's Plant Exploration Committee. He had a number of notable sons who grew up at Biddulph Grange, including the painter Robert Bateman.
He especially loved Rhododendrons and Azaleas. Bateman was "a collector and scholar on orchids,"[2] Bateman "was one of the early developers of orchid culture. He sponsored expeditions to Mexico and South America enabling collectors to gather rare specimens. He published three lavish books about orchids. He pioneered “cool orchid cultivation” which enabled the Odontoglossum to be cultivated in England, replicating the cool arid climate of the cloud forests in Central America where these exotic flowers are found. Walter Hood Fitch, (1817–1892)...was employed by Bateman to create the paintings for his magnificent orchid books...exceedingly rare, A Monograph of Odontoglossum, is composed of thirty large scale hand-colored lithographs."[3] Bateman "was also responsible for laying out the Arboretum at Derby, the first public park in England."[4]
His gardens are a rare survival of the interim period between Capability Brown landscape garden and the High Victorian style. The gardens are compartmentalised and divided into themes. The naturalist, Charles Darwin "received a box of orchids from Bateman on 25 January 1862 (and) a letter from him dated 28 January 1862."[5]
The novel by Priscilla Masters, Mr Bateman's Garden (1987), is a fantasy set in the gardens.
In 1861 Bateman and his sons gave up the house and gardens, and he moved to Kensington in London. He later moved to Worthing in Sussex, where he died in 1897.
From 1865-70 he was president of the North Staffordshire Field Club.[5]
