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Behind the Privet Hedge: Richard Sudell, Suburbia and the Beautification of Britain

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Author/EditorGilson, Michael (Author)
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 9781789148602
Pub Date01/05/2024
BindingHardback
Pages336
Dimensions (mm)216(h) * 138(w)
Unearths the British national obsession with the suburban garden.
¥3,177
excluding shipping
Availability: Available to order but not yet published
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It is said that Britain is a nation of gardeners; the suburban garden, with its roses and privet hedges, is widely admired and copied across the world. But it is little understood how millions across the nation developed an obsession with their colourful plots of land. Behind the Privet Hedge explores the history of this development and how, despite their stereotype as symbols of dull, middle-class conformity, these new open spaces were seen as a tool to help bring about social change in the early twentieth century. The book restores to the story a remarkable but long-forgotten figure, Richard Sudell, who spent a lifetime 'evangelizing' that the garden be in the vanguard of progress towards a new egalitarian society.

It is said that Britain is a nation of gardeners; the suburban garden, with its roses and privet hedges, is widely admired and copied across the world. But it is little understood how millions across the nation developed an obsession with their colourful plots of land. Behind the Privet Hedge explores the history of this development and how, despite their stereotype as symbols of dull, middle-class conformity, these new open spaces were seen as a tool to help bring about social change in the early twentieth century. The book restores to the story a remarkable but long-forgotten figure, Richard Sudell, who spent a lifetime 'evangelizing' that the garden be in the vanguard of progress towards a new egalitarian society.

Michael Gilson is an award-winning editor and journalist as well as an associate fellow in the School of Media, Arts, and Humanities at the University of Sussex.

Introduction: On the train to Roehampton with Edith Sitwell and DH Lawrence Chapter One: 'A little Garden City' Chapter Two: 'An industrial slave? Never' Chapter Three: Trouble at the Whit Monday Garden Show Chapter Four: The Birth of beautification Chapter Five: Sudell the flower evangelist Chapter Six: 'Taste is utterly debased' Chapter Seven: 'There were little bridges, gnomes and things' Chapter Eight: An unrivalled influence on new nation of gardeners Chapter Nine: 'A new Britain must arise on better lines than the old' Chapter Ten: The landscape architect struggles to make a mark Chapter Eleven: 'An important and influential figure' Chapter Twelve: The importance of play Chapter Thirteen: Sudell urges us to invite Betty Uprichard into our garden Chapter Fourteen: 'Sudell has been proved right' References Acknowledgements Photo Acknowledgements Index

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