Joseph Elkington
| Joseph Elkington | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
Baptised 1 January 1740 Warwickshire, England |
| Died | October 1806 |
Resting place | All Saints churchyard, Madeley, Staffordshire, England |
| Monuments | In All Saints churchyard, Stretton-on-Dunsmore |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation |
|
| Known for | Improvements to land drainage |
| Relatives | George Elkington (grandson) |
| Awards | £1,000 and gold ring |
Joseph Elkington (baptised 1 January 1740[1] at Stretton-on-Dunsmore, died October 1806) was an English agriculturalist, lauded by parliament for his reforms to land drainage.[2]
Career
While farming at Princethorpe, Warwickshire he devised a way of using boreholes to drain boggy land.[2] For this innovation, and concerned that his frail health would result in the loss of his knowledge before it was shared,[1] parliament awarded him, in 1795, £1,000 and a gold ring,[2] Edinburgh land surveyor James Johnstone (d. 1838) was employed by the Board of Agriculture to study Elkington's methods.[1]
Elkington subsequently worked in partnership with Lancelot "Capability" Brown to develop drainage plans for the latter's landscaping schemes, starting with one at Fisherwick Park near Lichfield.[2]
Elkington moved to Hey House in Staffordshire in 1797 to farm 500 acres (200 ha) of land at Madeley,[2] which became known as Bog Farm.[1]
Personal life
Elkington was the eldest son of Joseph Elkington (1697–1758), a yeoman farmer, and Mary, née Gallimore (died 1750).[1] He had epilepsy.[1] He married Sarah Webb (baptised 1738, died 1821), daughter of Richard and Mary, on 26 December 1760.[1] Nine of their children survived Elkington.[1] His grandson was the industrialist George Elkington.[2] He died at Hay House on 17 October 1806[1] and was buried in the churchyard at All Saints, Madeley[2] on 20 October.[1] A monument to him in All Saints churchyard, Stretton-on-Dunsmore, calls him a "pioneer of land drainage".[2]
Further reading
- Johnstone, James (1841). Account of the Mode of Draining Land According to the System Practised by Mr Joseph Elkington (5 ed.).
- Holland, Christopher John; Langley, Anne D.; Moore, Adam (2006). Joseph Elkington: Warwickshires Land Drainage Pioneer. Stretton Millennium History Group. ISBN 9780953746248.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 H. S. Torrens, ‘Elkington, Joseph (bap. 1740, d. 1806)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 accessed 16 Feb 2013
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Upton, Chris (2013-02-15). "Farm engineer Joseph Elkington was an expert in his field". Birmingham Post. Retrieved 2013-02-16.
External links
- Stretton-on-Dunsmore History Society page with pictures of the memorial
- Elkington family history page with picture of the ring