John Claudius Loudon - Private Life

Private Life

Loudon developed a limp as a young man, and later became crippled with arthritis. He still undertook a Grand Tour of Europe and the Near East. In 1826, crippled by rheumatism and arthritis, he had to endure an amputation at his right shoulder after a botched operation to correct a broken arm. He learnt to write and draw with his left arm and hired a draughtsman to prepare his plans. At the same time he cured himself of an opium habit that had been keeping the pain at bay.

In 1830 when Loudon was 47 years old he asked a friend to invite an author to lunch. He had recently reviewed and admired the inventions in a novel called The Mummy!: Or a Tale of the Twenty-Second Century for his Gardener's Magazine. Set in 2126 AD it is an early example of science fiction. England has become an absolute monarchy and featured an early Internet, espresso machines and even air-conditioning. The author was Jane Webb who, having been left penniless by the death of her father at 17, had turned to writing as a profession. She had published the book anonymously. They married seven months later and had one daughter, Agnes.

The municipal cemetery at Southampton was his final project. Despite advanced lung cancer he corrected the final proofs for his latest encyclopaedia and went to Bath to inspect the site for another cemetery; and then to Oxford to see a client. On his return to London his doctor told him that he was dying; he died, penniless, in the arms of his wife in December 1843. He is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.