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Stephen Percival (‘Percy’) Cane (1881–1976) was brought up in Braintree, Essex. The family had a house with extensive grounds, and as a young boy Cane gained practical experience in horticulture, planting and tending a small plot of his own in the family kitchen garden. As he grew up he developed a strong interest in art and architecture, and read widely in these fields. At the age of 22 he went to work at a local firm run by friends of the family, the Crittall Manufacturing Company, which made metal windows. The work was not entirely to his taste, but it provided a reasonable income until he took the decision to enrol as a full-time student at the Chelmsford College of Science and Art. Cane began to design gardens in the Chelmsford district in his spare time, and it was after a visit to Easton Lodge, a stately Essex home which was having its grounds altered in a contemporary style by the garden architect Harold Peto, that he decided to make his own career in the field. Through the First World War he contributed garden designs and plans to the monthly magazine ‘My Garden, Illustrated’, and in 1918 became its editor, which prompted him to enrol at the Chelmsford County School of Horticulture in order to learn more about the science of gardening. By 1919 he was styling himself ‘Landscape and Garden Architect’, and working full time as a designer.
Cane was soon in great demand, and received numerous commissions for gardens both in the United Kingdom and abroad. These include designs for Ivy House, Hampstead, Hascombe Court, Godalming, Falkland Palace, Fife, the palace of the Emperor of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, and Dartington Hall, Devon. He became a respected authority and wrote many articles and several books on garden design. A regular exhibitor at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, he received eight gold and three silver-gilt medals at the show between 1934 and 1952, and in 1963 was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal for his work. He practised as a garden architect, based at his home in Lower Sloane Street, London. Some plans in this collection were created after he suffered a stroke in Sep 1972.
Sources:
'Percy Cane Garden Designer' / by Ronald Weber. Edinburgh, 1974
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Charlotte Johnson