Chronology

1843 Birth of Gertrude Jekyll in London, in the sixth year of Queen Victoria’s reign, to Edward and Julia Jekyll
1848 The Jekyll family moves to Bramley, Surrey
1853 Crimean War (lasted to 1856)
1861 Gertrude Jekyll enrols in South Kensington School of Art, London. Start of American Civil War (lasted to 1865)
1868 The Jekyll family leaves Bramley and moves to Wargrave, Berkshire, where her father Edward entrusts Gertrude with redecorating the house. This led to her doing design and decorating jobs for influential clients over the next few years. Disraeli and Gladstone both became Prime Minister for the first time
1870 Franco-Prussian War
1873-4 Gertrude Jekyll spends four months travelling in Algeria, painting many local scenes
1876 After her father’s death, Gertrude Jekyll and her siblings move back to Surrey, where her mother Julia built Munstead House. With declining eyesight, her artistic skills begin to be directed towards garden design. Her work on her mother’s garden began to attract considerable attention. She went on to create or advise on over 400 gardens during her lifetime
1881 Gertrude Jekyll’s first gardening articles in The Garden (she wrote over 1,000 articles for various publications during her life)
1883-4 Gertrude Jekyll cooperates with William Robinson on his book The English Flower Garden and his garden at Gravetye. A 15 acre plot was acquired by her, Munstead Wood, which was to become her home, and the base of her garden-related activities
1889 Gertrude Jekyll meets 20 year old architect, Edwin Lutyens

1894 The start of a fruitful collaboration with Lutyens when he built a cottage, known as ‘The Hut’, as a temporary residence for Gertrude, pending more ambitious plans for her own home 

1895 Gertrude’s mother dies; her brother Herbert and family occupy Munstead House and, with Lutyens, Gertrude develops plans for a permanent home at Munstead Wood

1896-7 Lutyens builds Gertrude Jekyll’s house, Munstead Wood. The creation of house and garden are described in her books, Wood and Garden (published 1899) and Home and Garden (1900). Gertrude wins the Victoria Medal of the Royal Horticultural Society…neither the first nor last of her many honours
1901 Death of Queen Victoria, succeeded by King Edward VII
1910 Death of King Edward VII, succeeded by King George V
1914 Gertrude Jekyll’s first American designs; she never crossed the Atlantic, but had many exchanges  and built a considerable reputation with the American garden community. Outbreak of First World War (lasted to 1918)

1929 Gertrude awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal of the Royal Horticultural Society and the George Robert White Memorial Medal of the Massachussets Horticultural Society

1930 Gertrude Jekyll wrote 43 articles for Gardening Illustrated after passing 86th birthday

1932 Death of Gertrude Jekyll at Munstead Wood, Surrey

NOTE This chronology is a much simplified version of the chronology in the book Gertrude Jekyll: essays on the life of a working amateur, which includes over 1,000 entries relating to Gertrude Jekyll and her times.