To be held on Wednesday, 21 October 2026
When the Duke of Wellington witnessed Joseph Paxton’s work at Chatsworth, he exclaimed “I’d have liked that man as one of my generals.” Paxton was one of the most inventive and influential figures of the 19th century, whose most famous masterwork, the Crystal Palace of 1851, is considered by contemporary architects like Norman Foster to be ’the birth of modern architecture’. Born into a humble farming family, as gardener, engineer, designer, architect, publisher, railway investor and MP, Paxton was to leave his mark on Victorian Britain like few others. For more than 30 years he worked at Chatsworth, in a close partnership with his patron the 6th Duke of Devonshire. His boundless energy and vision then found its greatest expression in his radical design for the Great Exhibition. This lecture celebrates the achievements of a man who has profoundly influenced architecture and gardening ever since.
Simon Seligman
Simon lives with his family in the Derbyshire Peak District, near Sheffield. As well as his cultural lectures, he is a Life Coach in private practice and works part-time for Ruskin’s arts charity, the Guild of St George. From 1991 – 2010, he worked at Chatsworth for both the 11th and 12th Dukes of Devonshire and their Duchesses, and came to know the place, its collections, landscape and history intimately. He has lectured extensively in the UK and USA.