Edward Milner

Edward Milner was born in Derbyshire in 1819. By 1826 his father, Henry, was employed at Chatsworth, where he worked in a number of roles including that of gardener. Edward was later apprenticed to the Head Gardener, Joseph Paxton. He went to Paris in 1841, and became Paxton's assistant on his return.

Milner was foreman of works at Prince's Park in Liverpool, and later superintendent of the same site. He became superintendent of works on the project to re-erect Crystal Palace in Sydenham in 1852, again working under Paxton. He worked with Paxton again in 1856 on the creation of the People's Park, Halifax.

Milner worked as an independent landscape gardener from the mid-1850s. He undertook several private commissions as well as designing a series of parks in Preston and Lincoln arboretum. Milner became principal of the Crystal Palace School in 1881, with his son Henry Ernest Milner as his assistant for many years. Edward Milner died in 1884.

Bibliography

Elliott, Brent ‘Milner, Edward (1819-1884)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 2006) [ accessed 28 June 2009]

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