Gertrude jekyll and edwin lutyens biography

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Gertrude jekyll style

One brother, Walter Jekyll, was a clergyman, music teacher and writer; he was friendly with the author, Robert Louis Stevenson , who may have borrowed his name for the title of his book, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. In , when Gertrude was five, the Jekyll family left London for Bramley House, set amidst the rural heaths, ponds and pinewoods of Surrey, 30 miles south of London.

The large garden was paradise for a small girl; her vivid childhood memories never faded and were the foundation of her later achievements. Her father retired young as a soldier from the Grenadier Guards; poor health, thereafter, kept him at home. From him she inherited an interest in science, music and craftmanship. Gertrude spent many hours in his well equipped workshop, preparing models and carrying out experiments.

As she herself later said 'I think a shred of my father's mantle must have fallen on his daughter, for I have always taken pleasure in working and seeing things grow under my hand.