James Burton (property developer)

James Burton was born in Strand, London, as James Haliburton, on 29 July 1761. who descended from John Haliburton (1573 – 1627) from whom Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was descended on the maternal side. and thereby of Lord Haliburton, who was the first Canadian to be raised to the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Burton's mother was Mary Foster (who was previously Mary Johnson; 1735–1785), whom his father married in 1760, who was the daughter of Nicholas Foster of Kirkby Fleetham, Yorkshire. William Haliburton and Mary Foster had two sons, James and another who died in infancy. James (b. 1761) was christened with the name 'James Haliburton' at Presbyterian Chapel, Soho, London. He shortened his surname to Burton in 1794, between the births of his fourth and fifth children. '' by Henry Raeburn, 1823. Burton was a cousin of the poet Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet. ==Education==

James was educated at a day-school in Covent Garden before he was privately tutored, until 1782, when he commenced with speculative construction projects, in some of which Dalton was his partner. == Significant property developments ==

• Bloomsbury: including Foundling Hospital Estate,(on which he built 600 houses); Bloomsbury Square (where the remaining north side are Burton's original houses); Bedford Place; • St John's Wood Five of the largest blocks of Regent Street were purchased by Burton in 1817. Cornwall Terrace (1821); and Chester Terrace (1825). and the architectural critic Ian Nairn described it as 'a definition of western civilization in a single view'. • St Leonards-on-Sea (1827 - 1837). Panorama of the Quadrant on Regent Street.jpg|Regent Street Queen Mary's Gardens P6110022.JPG|Regent's Park, designed by his son Decimus Burton The Holme, Regent's Park - geograph.org.uk - 1161575.jpg|The Holme, the Burton family mansion in Regent's Park, designed by his son Decimus Burton 1-21 Cornwall Terrace2.jpg|Cornwall Terrace, designed by his son Decimus Burton Chester Terrace 02.JPG|Chester Terrace, designed by his son Decimus Burton Cornwall Terrace, Regent's Park.jpg|York Terrace, designed by his son Decimus Burton II Clarence Terrace, London, UK.jpg|Clarence Terrace, designed by his son Decimus Burton Athenaeum Club, London - Nov 2006.jpg|Athenaeum Club, London, designed by his son Decimus Burton, and of which he and Decimus were founders TavistockSquare.jpg|Tavistock Square Bloomsbury Square1.jpg|Bloomsbury Square The architectural scholar Guy Williams contends, "He [Burton] was no ordinary builder. He could have put up an imposing and beautifully proportioned building, correct in every constructional detail, from the roughest of sketches tossed patronizingly at him by a "gentleman architect"". Burton worked as an 'Architect and Builder' in Southwark between 1785 and 1792. By 1787, Burton was lauded in Southwark: in 1786 he had built the Blackfriars Rotunda in Great Surrey Street (now Blackfriars Road) to house the Leverian Museum, this building subsequently housed the Southwark Institution. Samuel Pepys Cockerell, advisor to the Governors of the Foundling Hospital, commended Burton's excellence: "Without such a man [James Burton], possessed of very considerable talents, unwearied industry, and a capital of his own, the extraordinary success of the improvement of the Foundling Estate could not have taken place... By his own peculiar resources of mind, he has succeeded in disposing of his buildings and rents, under all disadvantages of war, and of an unjust clamour which has repeatedly been raised against him. Mr. Burton was ready to come forward with money and personal assistance to relieve and help forward those builders who were unable to proceed in their contracts; and in some instances he has been obliged to resume the undertaking and complete himself what has been weakly and imperfectly proceeded with...". The contemporary Oxford Dictionary of National Biography contends that 'there is certainly no doubt about his energy and financial acumen'. He then left London for a project in Tunbridge Wells but returned in 1807 to build over the Skinners Company ground between the Bedford Estate and the lands owned by the Foundling Hospital, where he built Burton Street and Burton Crescent (now Cartwright Gardens), including, for himself, the Tavistock House, on ground now occupied by the British Medical Association, where he lived until he moved to The Holme in Regent's Park, which was designed for him by his son Decimus Burton. Burton constructed some houses at Tunbridge Wells between 1805 and 1807. Burton developed Waterloo Place, St. James's, between 1815 and 1816. Whilst working for his father, Decimus was present in the design and construction of Regent Street St. James (Lower Regent Street). where Burton worked as an 'Architect and Builder' and developed a positive reputation for prescient speculative building between 1785 and 1792. To resolve his financial shortage, Nash cultivated the acquaintance of Burton, and Burton consented to patronize him. James Burton was responsible for the social and financial patronage of the majority of Nash's London designs, Architectural scholar Guy Williams has written, 'John Nash relied on James Burton for moral and financial support in his great enterprises. Decimus had showed precocious talent as a draughtsman and as an exponent of the classical style... John Nash needed the son's aid, as well as the father's'. Decimus ignored Nash's advice to develop the Terraces in his own style, to the extent that Nash unsuccessfullt sought the demolition and rebuilding of Chester Terrace. James Burton's historically underestimated imperative contribution to the West End of London has been acknowledged since the 20th century: including by Baines, John Summerson, Olsen, and Dana Arnold. Steen Eiler Rasmussen, in London: The Unique City, commended Burton's buildings but did not identify their architect. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography contends that Burton were 'the most successful developer in late Georgian London, responsible for some of its most characteristic architecture', and The ''Burtons' St. Leonards Society'' that he were "probably the most significant builder of Georgian London". ==Gunpowder manufacturer==

James Burton, from 1811, and later as the Tunbridge Gunpowder Works) were established in 1811 in partnership with Sir Humphry Davy, who later sold his shares to the Burtons, who thereby became the sole owners of the Works. After the retirement of James Burton in 1824, William Ford became the sole owner of the mills until his death in 1856, by which the gunpowder business was inherited by his brother, Alfred Burton, Mayor of Hastings. ==Development of St Leonards-on-Sea==

In 1827, James Burton realised that the ancient Manor of Gensing, which was situated between Hastings and the Bulverhythe Marshes, could be developed. Decimus Burton advised against this prospective project of his father, which limited his supply of capital for his own development of the Calverley Estate, but James ignored him, bought it, and proceeded to build St Leonards-on-Sea as a pleasure resort for the gentry. James Burton designed the town 'on the twin principles of classical formality and picturesque irregularity', to rival Brighton. The majority of the first part of the town had been completed by 1830. In 1833, St. Leonards-on-Sea was described as 'a conceited Italian town'. ==Family homes==

During 1800, in which his tenth child Decimus was born, James Burton Senior resided at the 'very comfortable and well staffed' North House in the newly built Southampton Terrace at Bloomsbury. The Burtons lived at Mabledon from 1805 to 1817. The Burton family had residences and offices at 10, 12, and 14 Spring Gardens, St. James's Park, at the east end of The Mall, that were constructed by Decimus. The Burton family also had offices at Old Broad Street in the City of London, and at Lincoln's Inn Fields (at which Septimus Burton was a solicitor at Lincoln's Inn and trained William Warwick Burton. ==Personal life==

Burton was Master of the Worshipful Company of Tylers and Bricklayers in 1801 to 1802. who has been described as the 'prime member of the Athenaeum' by architectural scholar Guy Williams who there 'mixed with many of the greatest in the land, meeting the most creative as well as those with enormous hereditary wealth'. During 1820, Burton, his wife, and his children dined and attended the opera with George Bellas Greenough to finalise Greenhough and Decimus's designs. Elizabeth Burton died at St Leonards-on-Sea on 14 January 1837. James is buried in a pyramidal tomb in the churchyard of St Leonards-on-Sea, the town that he had designed and created, where a commemorative monument was erected. (which were initially known as the Ramhurst Powder Mills, sons: the architect Captain Henry Marley Burton FRIBA (1821 - 1880) (who was the father of the architect Edgar Burton); and William Warwick Burton (d. 21 October 1861), of Lincoln's Inn Fields, who was articled as a solicitor to Septimus Burton (1794 - 1842). • Emma Elizabeth (1785 - 1785). Died from smallpox. Pioneering British Egyptologist. (1786 - 1867) in 1817) (1801 - 1840) Their son Arthur (1830-1867), in 1860 married Lilian Margaret Robertson. (1789-1869), • Decimus FRS FRSA RA FSA FRIB . • Alfred and to which his brother Decimus and nephew Henry Marley Burton made architectural additions. Alfred married Anna Delicia Adams (1811 - 1897) by whom he had one son, Alfred Henry (1845–1917), JP DL, of St. Leonard's Lodge, St. Leonard's-on-Sea, and 18 Manson Place, Queen's Gate, who was High Sheriff of Sussex in 1902, and one daughter, Louisa Charlotte (1849–1873), by whom he had four sons. Their son Robert Cecil Burton (1882 - 1915), who was educated at Winchester College and Oriel College, Oxford, and was a Captain of the 2nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, and was a Major of the Coldstream Guards, with which he served in Egypt and in France and Belgium. He was killed in action on 20 July 1917, and lived at Kensington and 5 Cheyne Place, Chelsea, was a Captain of the British Army who died on active service on 29 January 1942. Alfred (1802 - 1877) left an estate that was worth less than £12,000 (about £1 million in 21st century money). and of Great George Street, Westminster, Jessy/Jessie Burton and John Peter Fearon were married by the groom's brother The Ven. Henry Fearon Jessy/Jessie and John Peter Fearon had three daughters: Jessy/Jessie Tyndale (1834–1910); and Ethel Anna (1839–1901) (1837–1914) Constance Mary Fearon, or Mrs Henry Pott, was also the mother of the artist Constance Mary Pott (1862 - 1957). ==References==