Lanning Roper (4 February 1912 – 22 March 1983) was an American

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...

and writer who studied and lived in England.

Early life and education

He was born in

West Orange, New Jersey West Orange is a suburban Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 48,843, an increase of 2,636 (+5.7%) from t ...

, the son of Willet Crosby Roper (1877–1966), an investment banker, and Florence Emily née Eveleth (1874–1961). His maternal grandfather William Hartley Eveleth (1840–1922) was the Superintendent of the college grounds for Harvard University and Radcliffe College. Roper received an honors degree in Fine Arts from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1933.

Work

Roper had many garden commissions all over England, and some in Ireland (including Castlemartin), France, Italy, Switzerland and the United States. He was commissioned as

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

' landscape gardener in 1981 to do the grounds at

Highgrove House Highgrove House is the family residence of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. It lies southwest of Tetbury in Gloucestershire, England. Built in the late 18th century, Highgrove and its estate were owned by various families until it was pu ...

in the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...

. From 1951 to 1957 was on the staff of the Royal Horticultural Society as Assistant to the Editor.

Military service

He served in the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

in World War II, and was in charge of Division 67 on

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

Personal life

In 1952 he married artist Primrose Harley (1908–1978), daughter of Professor (Edward) Vaughan Berkeley Harley MD MRCP (1863–1923) and Mary Blagden (1869–1936). Her paternal grandfather was

George Harley George Harley may refer to: * George Harley (physician) (1829–1896), Scottish physician * George Davies Harley (1762–1811), English actor and poet * George Harley (painter) (1791–1871), English watercolourist * George Way Harley (1894–1966), ...

and

Ethel Brilliana Tweedie Ethel Brilliana Tweedie Royal Geographical Society, FRGS (1862–1940) was a prolific English author, travel writer, biographer, historian, editor, journalist, photographer and illustrator. She wrote as Mrs Alec Tweedie, Mrs. Alec-Tweedie and a ...

was an aunt. Primrose had previously married and divorced from Lt Col John Alfred Codrington (1898–1991), son of Lt-Gen Sir Alfred Edward Codrington.http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/67784

Publications

Roper wrote seven books, including ''Successful Town Gardening'', ''Hardy Herbaceous Plants'', ''The gardens in the Royal park at Windsor'' and '' On gardens and gardening''.

Memories

The Lanning Roper Memorial Garden at the Trinity Hospice on

Clapham Common Clapham Common is a large triangular urban park in Clapham, south London, England. Originally common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, it was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act 1878. It is of gr ...

, London, was originally designed by Roper and constructed after his death. The woodland walk at the

Farnsworth House The Edith Farnsworth House (also the Farnsworth House) is a historical house designed and constructed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe between 1945 and 1951. The house was constructed as a one-room weekend retreat in a rural setting in Plano, Illino ...

Plano, Illinois Plano is a city near Aurora in Kendall County, Illinois, United States, with a population of 11,847 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area, being about 55 miles (90 km) from Chicago. The city was home to the Pla ...

now bears his name, and at

Scotney Castle Scotney Castle is an English country house with formal gardens south-east of Lamberhurst in the valley of the River Bewl in Kent, England. It belongs to the National Trust. Scotney Castle SSSI, The gardens, which are a Site of Special Scienti ...

Lamberhurst Lamberhurst ( is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The parish contains the hamlets of The Down and Hook Green. At the 2001 Census it had a population of 1,491, increasing to 1,706 at the 2011 Census. ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

in England, a streamside walk is dedicated to Roper’s memory.

Death

Roper died in

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

, London.

Scholarship

A book titled ''Lanning Roper and his Gardens'' was written by Jane Brown in 1987.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roper, Lanning American landscape architects Harvard University alumni 1912 births 1983 deaths