A plan of the gardens at Simpson House, Simpson, Buckinhamshire, where Joseph Plumb worked as a gardener in the 1870s.
Joseph Plumb, Born 1845
GARDENER
Joseph Plumb was born in 1845 in Balsham, near Cambridge. His father was an agricultural labourer, in which occupation Joseph and his younger brother James followed their father. After Joseph married he moved 60 miles west of Cambridge to the village of Simpson in north Buckinghamshire, where their four children were born. Joseph shifted from agricultural labourer to private gardener, presumably at Simpson House, the principal residence in Simpson. In 1887, at the age of 42, Joseph became seriously depressed and was admitted to the Buckinghamshire County Asylum in Stone, south west of Aylesbury. He remained in the Asylum for the next 27 years, applying himself to gardening within its extensive grounds, and died there in 1914, aged 69.
Click below to view his life story:
Source: Contributed to Lives Retold in 2021 by Peter Barnes, the author of this life story.