William Barron

William Barron (2 October 1805–8 April 1891) was a British landscape gardener, nurseryman and park and garden designer. His work in the grounds at Elvaston Castle established his reputation as one of the most respected landscape gardeners of his time. in Eccles in Berwickshire, the son of John Barron, a gardener, and his wife Betty née Johnston. After serving a three-year gardening apprenticeship at Blackadder in Berwickshire, he joined the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh where he quickly found himself in charge of the glasshouses. He then went to Syon House in Middlesex where he was involved in planting the new conservatory for Syon Park. In March 1830 Barron was appointed head gardener to Charles Stanhope, 4th Earl of Harrington, at Elvaston Castle, where he was instructed to create a new garden. Barron was to remain here for the next 32 years.

Elvaston Castle

At Elvaston Castle Barron worked on the surrounding gardens, woodlands and pleasure grounds, where he introduced many innovative designs and techniques. Among these were architectural topiary and intricate drainage methods. At Elvaston his: ... hugely ambitious tree-transplanting, propagating and grafting, transformed a largely featureless site into one of the most celebrated gardens in Europe and North America. Hundreds of trees, including very large and mature specimens, were moved across Derbyshire and adjacent counties, whilst the grounds, and especially the pinetum and Barron's British Winter Garden, promoted the use of evergreens in public and private spaces, helping to drive the new fashion in British, European and American gardens. Barron came to be regarded as one of the leading British arboricultural experts...

Barron was able to reduce the time for transplanting a large tree from two years to three months. Among the trees moved by Barron to Elvaston was a large yew which was used an arbour, which was about a hundred years old and which was transported 25 miles. Barron's method was not to move the trees horizontally, which lost a lot of branches and roots and which could damage the tree; but rather to move them vertically without needing to remove much of the foliage. In order to remove the tree from its original location tunnels would be bored under the trunk and heavy wooden beams inserted to support the tree while it was levered up before it was carried to its new location. In 1871 Barron relocated a cedar tree which stood at 43 feet in height with branches 48 feet wide, using his transplanter pulled by six horses and about half a dozen men. and described in Barron's obituary in The Gardeners' Chronicle in April 1891. A surviving Barron transplanter is displayed at Kew Gardens. (between 1877 and 1882).

Later years Barron retired in 1881 but came out of retirement for a commission at Welbeck Abbey in 1886. In 1887 he was the first witness called before the select commission on forestry. He was noted for his prodigious memory, he was deeply religious, and he was a staunch supporter of and advocate for temperance. He married Elizabeth Ashby, with whom he had a son, John Barron (1844-1906)

William Barron died at Borrowash in Derbyshire in April 1891. The family business continued into the inter-war years.