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According to Doris Reeves - Aged 13 he was apprenticed to the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth House as a gardener. Anne Billson (nee Whitaker) with son Henry Sydney came to Chatsworth as a sewing maid to the Duchess and sometime after the death of Henry Billson (1855), she married William Reeves. (Her son was then 16 years old). He worked with Paxton, (the Duke's Head Gardener) on the gardens at the Crystal Palace for 20 years. Eventually he went back to Chatsworth for the Duke, and then in 1875 emigrated to Auckland, New Zealand William Spencer Cavendish (1790 - 1858) succeeded to the dukedom, and inherited 8 historic houses and 200,000 acres of land in 1811 at the age of 21. The 'Bachelor' Duke never married but loved entertaining and spent the 47 years of his dukedom improving his houses and embellishing them with every kind of object. He made extensive travels in Europe and said that "..at Rome.....the love of marble possesses most people like a new sense.". The most important room in the North Wing at Chatsworth, commissioned by him from Jeffry Wyatt (later Sir Jeffry Wyatville), was the Sculpture Gallery containing his outstanding collection of neo-classical (i.e. contemporary) sculpture. He also bought two complete libraries, many paintings and curiosities including the giant marble Colossal Foot and the Turkish Barge. The Duke was Lord Chamberlain to King William IV. His friendships were very varied; he was particularly close to Czar Nicholas I of Russia and to the head gardener at Chatsworth, Sir Joseph Paxton, but also enjoyed friendships with the novelist Charles Dickens and the sculptor Antonio Canova. As Paxton's patron the Duke became fascinated by gardening and their alterations to the garden at Chatsworth included the creation of rockeries, fountains and glass buildings, culminating in the Great Conservatory, forerunner to the Crystal Palace, built by Paxton for the Great Exhibition of 1851. They also rebuilt the village of Edensor in the Park at Chatsworth. The Duke wrote a "Handbook to Chatsworth and Hardwick" (published privately in 1844), in which he showed his enthusiasm and love for the two houses he owned in Derbyshire and his enjoyment of his possessions. |
| 1861 Census - born in Langley |