Who was James Robert Pulham?
James Robert Pulham was the great-grandson of James Pulham senior, who founded what became one of the most successful firms of landscape gardeners in the late-19th and early-20th centuries.
There were four generations of Pulhams, each called James. The firm was known in particular for its invention and creative use of a form of naturalistic artificial rock, ornamental stone and terracotta, all variously known as 'Pulhamite'.
James Robert Pulham joined his father in the Broxbourne-based business in 1898. The firm remained highly successful up to the First World War, manufacturing garden ornaments and creating rock gardens, ferneries, grottoes and follies at country estates in many parts of the country.
After the war, the money and manpower needed to create and maintain large-scale landscapes were no longer available, and the fortunes of the firm declined until its closure in 1945.
Source:
The Pulham Legacy - www.pulham.org.uk, accessed 14 May 2008