, known_for = Improvements to

land drainage Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils can prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic conditions that harm root gro ...

, notable_works = , spouse = , children = , parents = , relatives =

George Elkington George Richards Elkington (17 October 1801 – 22 September 1865) was a manufacturer from Birmingham, England. He patented the first commercial electroplating process. Biography Elkington was born in Birmingham, the son of a spectacle manuf ...

(grandson) , awards = £1,000 and gold ring Joseph Elkington (baptised 1 January 1740H. S. Torrens, 'Elkington, Joseph (bap. 1740, d. 1806)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 200
accessed 16 Feb 2013
/ref> at

Stretton-on-Dunsmore Stretton-on-Dunsmore is a village and civil parish in the English county of Warwickshire. Its population in the 2001 Census was recorded as 1,143, rising slightly to 1,159 at the 2011 Census. In the 19th century the population was 634. The vi ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, died October 1806) was an English agriculturalist, lauded by parliament for his reforms to

.{{Cite web, title = Farm engineer Joseph Elkington was an expert in his field, last = Upton, first = Chris, work =

Birmingham Post The ''Birmingham Post'' is a weekly printed newspaper based in Birmingham, England, with distribution throughout the West Midlands. First published under the name the ''Birmingham Daily Post'' in 1857, it has had a succession of distinguished ...

, date = 15 February 2013, accessdate = 2013-02-16, url = http://www.birminghampost.net/life-leisure-birmingham-guide/postfeatures/2013/02/15/farm-engineer-joseph-elkington-was-an-expert-in-his-field-65233-32809502/, archive-date = 17 May 2013, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130517014303/http://www.birminghampost.net/life-leisure-birmingham-guide/postfeatures/2013/02/15/farm-engineer-joseph-elkington-was-an-expert-in-his-field-65233-32809502/, url-status = dead

Career

While farming at

Princethorpe Princethorpe is a village and civil parish in the Rugby district of Warwickshire, England. In the 2011 census the parish had a population 376, increasing to 429 at the 2021 census. Princethorpe is located roughly halfway between the towns of ...

, Warwickshire he devised a way of using

borehole A borehole is a narrow shaft bored in the ground, either vertically or horizontally. A borehole may be constructed for many different purposes, including the extraction of water ( drilled water well and tube well), other liquids (such as petr ...

s to drain

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

gy land. For this innovation, and concerned that his frail health would result in the loss of his knowledge before it was shared, parliament awarded him, in 1795, £1,000 and a gold ring. Edinburgh land surveyor John Johnstone (d. 1838) was employed by the

Board of Agriculture The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) was a United Kingdom government department created by the Board of Agriculture Act 1889 ( 52 & 53 Vict. c. 30) and at that time called the Board of Agriculture, and then from 1903 the Boar ...

to study Elkington's methods. Elkington subsequently worked in partnership with

Lancelot "Capability" Brown Lancelot "Capability" Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783) was an English gardener and landscape architect, a notable figure in the history of the English landscape garden style. Unlike other architects ...

to develop drainage plans for the latter's landscaping schemes, starting with one at

Fisherwick Park Fisherwick is a civil parish in the Lichfield district, Staffordshire, England. Located about east of the City of Lichfield, the parish does not include a village, just a scattered collection of farms and houses. The ancient settlement, dating b ...

near

Lichfield Lichfield () is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated south-east of the county town of Stafford, north-east of Walsall, north-west of ...

. Elkington moved to Hey House in Staffordshire in 1797 to farm {{convert, 500, acres, ha of land at Madeley, which became known as Bog Farm.

Personal life

Elkington was the eldest son of Joseph Elkington (1697–1758), a yeoman farmer, and Mary, née Gallimore (died 1750). He had

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of Non-communicable disease, non-communicable Neurological disorder, neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked Seizure, seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activit ...

. He married Sarah Webb (baptised 1738, died 1821), daughter of Richard and Mary, on 26 December 1760. Nine of their children survived Elkington. His grandson was the industrialist

. He died at Hay House on 17 October 1806 and was buried in the churchyard at All Saints' Church, Madeley on 20 October. A monument to him in All Saints' churchyard, Stretton-on-Dunsmore, calls him a "pioneer of land drainage".

References

{{Reflist

External links

Stretton-on-Dunsmore History Society page
with pictures of the memorial * {{usurped,

} with picture of the ring {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Elkington, Joseph 1806 deaths People from Warwickshire (before 1974) People from Madeley, Staffordshire English civil engineers 18th-century English farmers Year of birth unknown People with epilepsy 1740 births 19th-century English farmers

Career

Personal life

Further reading

References

External links