Jonathan Tyers

Jonathan Tyers
Jonathan Tyers and his family, by Francis Hayman, c. 1740
Born	10 April 1702
Died	1767(1767-00-00) (aged 64–65) London, England, Great Britain
Children	Thomas, 1 other son and 2 daughters

Jonathan Tyers (10 April 1702 – 1767) became the proprietor of New Spring Gardens, later known as Vauxhall Gardens, a popular pleasure garden in Kennington, London. Opened in 1661, it was situated on the south bank of the River Thames on a site almost opposite the present-day Tate Britain.^[1]

In 1728, Tyers signed a thirty-year lease of the land on which New Spring Gardens was sited. At that time it was little more than a rural brothel, and Tyers set himself the task of transforming the gardens into a family-friendly venue by installing lights and commissioning new entertainments. But with one eye on his profits, he left some areas unlit, to allow sex workers to continue plying their trade.

Tyers set out a quite different style of garden at his weekend home of Denbies, near Dorking in Surrey. In contrast to the merriment of Vauxhall Gardens, The Valley of the Shadow of Death, as the garden at Denbies was known, was designed as a reminder of man's mortality. Tyers died at his home in Vauxhall Gardens in 1767, and his sons Thomas and Jonathan became joint proprietors of the pleasure garden.