John Boyd
Danson House was built by Sir John Boyd in the eighteenth century. His father, Augustus Boyd, had made his money from sugar plantations in the Caribbean and was a director of the East India Company. His son, John, was therefore able to lead the life of a gentleman. He read theology at Oxford and later embarked on the Grand Tour of continental Europe. In the early 1740s he settled in Lewisham and married his first wife, Mary Bumpstead, by whom he had four children. In 1753 he acquired the 200 acre lease on Danson, the first of his land transactions on the estate. In 1762 he bought the site of his future villa. His first wife died in 1763 but following the inheritance of his father’s estate and his second marriage to Catherine Chapone in 1766 he proceeded with the building of the new house.
He commissioned Sir Robert Taylor as his principal architect. Later he commissioned William Chambers, architectural tutor to George III, to provide picture frames and fireplaces for Danson as well as garden buildings and landscaping.
After Boyd’s death in 1800 the house passed to his son, also called John, who planned some redevelopment including relocating the stables away from the main house. He tried to raise money by selling his father’s art collection in 1800 but was eventually forced to put the whole estate up for sale by auction in 1805.