Biography
William Andrews Nesfield was born in Britain in 1793, at Lumley Park, County Durham. In 1808, after the death of William's mother, the family moved the few miles to Brancepeth where his father became rector of St Brandon's church. His stepmother was Marianne Mills of Willington Hall, whose nephew was the noted architect Anthony Salvin. William's younger sister in fact married Salvin. Nesfield was educated at Durham School, then located on Palace Green, before entering the army.
He fought under Wellington in Spain and at Waterloo, and he also served for two years in Canada. He retired in 1816, and took up a career as a painter of watercolours, particularly of waterfalls, earning the praise of John Ruskin in Modern Painters.
While still exhibiting at the Old Water Colour Society, Nesfield began work as a professional landscape architect, with the encouragement of Salvin.
From 1840 until his death in 1881 he was responsible, either singly or with his sons Arthur Markham and William Eden for no fewer than 259 commissions in the British Isles. His military training enabled him to design the water features which were so effective in many of his gardens.
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