Charles Isham

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English landowner and gardener (1819–1903)

title: "Charles Isham" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1819-births", "1903-deaths", "19th-century-english-landowners", "20th-century-english-landowners", "alumni-of-brasenose-college,-oxford", "english-gardeners", "19th-century-gardeners", "19th-century-english-artisans", "english-spiritualists", "high-sheriffs-of-northamptonshire", "isham-baronets", "people-educated-at-rugby-school"] description: "English landowner and gardener (1819–1903)" topic_path: "people/1810s" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Isham" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary English landowner and gardener (1819–1903) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Sir Charles Edmund Isham
image	Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875) - Sir Charles Edmund Isham (1819–1903) - 49 - Lamport Hall.jpg
caption	Isham,
birth_date
birth_place	Lamport Hall, Northamptonshire, England
death_date
death_place	Horsham, Sussex, England
education	{{plainlist
known_for	Introducing garden gnomes to the UK
occupation	Landowner, gardener
title	10th Baronet Isham
spouse
children	3
honors	High Sheriff of Northamptonshire (1851)
::

| name = Sir Charles Edmund Isham | image = Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875) - Sir Charles Edmund Isham (1819–1903) - 49 - Lamport Hall.jpg | caption = Isham, | birth_date = | birth_place = Lamport Hall, Northamptonshire, England | death_date = | death_place = Horsham, Sussex, England | education = {{plainlist|

Rugby School
Brasenose College, Oxford | known_for = Introducing garden gnomes to the UK | occupation = Landowner, gardener | title = 10th Baronet Isham | spouse = | children = 3 | honors = High Sheriff of Northamptonshire (1851)

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Lamport_-geograph.org.uk-_325493.jpg" caption="Lamport Hall"] ::

Sir Charles Edmund Isham, 10th Baronet (16 December 1819 – 7 April 1903) was an English landowner and gardener based at Lamport Hall, Northamptonshire. He is credited with beginning the tradition of garden gnomes in the United Kingdom when he introduced a number of terracotta figures from Germany in the 1840s. Nicknamed "Lampy", the only gnome of the original batch to survive is on display at Lamport Hall and insured for £1 million.

Biography

Charles Edmund Isham was born on 16 December 1819 at the family estate at Lamport Hall, Northamptonshire. He was the second son of Sir Justinian Isham, 8th Baronet (1773–1845) and his wife, Mary Close ().

Isham was educated at Rugby School and Brasenose College, Oxford. In 1846, on the death of his elder brother, he succeeded to the baronetcy. He is recorded as being the High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1851.

In 1847, inspired by the writings of John Claudius Loudon, landscape gardener and horticulturalist, he commenced construction of a large rockery alongside his house. It was in this rockery that he first placed gnomes from Nuremberg as ornamentation.

Isham married Emily Vaughan, daughter of Sir John Vaughan and his wife Louisa Boughton on 26 October 1847. Emily died on 6 September 1898 aged 74. Sir Charles had three daughters.

Isham died on 7 April 1903 at The Bungalow, Horsham, Sussex, at the age of 83. The baronetcy, and the entailed estate including Lamport Hall, was inherited by Sir Vere Isham, 11th Baronet, his first cousin once removed.

Isham's collection

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/lamport-gnome-replica-amoswolfe.jpg" caption="A replica of Lampy the Lamport gnome"] ::

In 1867 several extremely rare books and manuscripts were rediscovered in the library and loft of his family home. These included a fragment of Thomas Edwards' Cephalus and Procris; Narcissus which had been lost for 200 years and was the only existing part until a full copy was subsequently discovered at the Cathedral Library at Peterborough.

Also discovered were first editions of Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained in their original sheepskin bindings.

Further discoveries included:

Emaricdulfe (1598) by E. C. Esquire
Fidessa (1596) by Bartholomew Griffin
Laura (1597) by Robert Tofte
Cynthia (1598) by Richard Barnfield For each of which only one or two other copies were known. The above four works found their way into the Britwell Court Library before being sold in February 1922 to A. S. W. Rosenbach for £3,600.

Personal life

Isham was teetotal, vegetarian and a non-smoker. He opposed blood sports and enjoyed spending his time working on the rockery in his garden and looking after the employees on his estate.

Isham was a convinced spiritualist. He was a member of the British National Association of Spiritualists.

Publications

References

References

Bailey, Bruce A.. (2004). "Isham, Sir Charles Edmund, tenth baronet".
(1 December 1997). "Gnome Expense Spared". [[BBC News]].
(2024-12-16). "Charles Edmund Isham".
{{London Gazette. (11 February 1851)
(12 February 1851). "The List of New Sheriffs". [[The Times]].
"Sir Charles Edmund Isham 10th Bt.".
"Cracroft's Peerage: Isham of Lamport".
(7 February 1922). "The Sale Room. Rarities From The Britwell Court Library". [[The Times]].
Stopes, Charlotte Carmichael. (July–October 1921). "Thomas Edwards, Author of "Cephalus and Procris, Narcissus"". [[Modern Language Review]].
(27 November 1935). "The Sale Room Disposal Of Terry Library". The Times.
Hallam, H. A. N.. (Winter 1967). "Lamport Hall Revisted". [[The Book Collector]].
Willes, Margaret. (2014). "The Gardens of the British Working Class". [[Yale University Press]].
Spence, Lewis. (2006). "An Encyclopaedia of Occultism". Cosimo.

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