Uvedale Price - His Life

His Life

Uvedale Price was the eldest son of Robert Price, an amateur artist, by his wife the Hon. Sarah Barrington, daughter of John Shute Barrington, 1st Viscount Barrington. Educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford, Price inherited the family estate of Foxley (in Yazor) when he came of age in 1768, a few years after the death of his father in 1761 and of his grandfather (Uvedale Tomkins Price) in 1764. As a young man Price was a figure on London's social scene, and was once described as the "macaroni of his age," but with his inheritance and his marriage to Lady Caroline Carpenter, youngest daughter of George Carpenter, 1st Earl of Tyrconnel, he settled down at Foxley to tend to the estate and develop his theories on landscape, as well as equally controversial work on the pronunciation of the Classical languages.

During his life, Price was befriended by Sir George Beaumont and his wife Margaret Beaumont, with whom he corresponded extensively. He was also a lifetime friend of Charles James Fox, an associate of William Wordsworth, and in later life, a correspondent of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. He died in 1829 having been created a baronet the previous year, and having finally printed his work on Greek and Latin pronunciation. His only son Robert succeeded as 2nd (and last) baronet.