TROOPER DOUGLAS ELDRIDGE SHARP BORN ON THIS DAY 26 OCTOBER 1896. LIVED AT 2 WAVERTREE ROAD, STREATHAM

Douglas was born on October 26th 1896, the only surviving son of civil servant Frederick Sharp and his wife, Ellen, who were originally from Leicestershire.

He came to the College in January 1910, having previously been at the Prep, and was a pupil for almost three and a half years. After leaving in April 1913 he began working as an insurance broker, first with Willis Faber & Co. for a short time before joining the Northern Assurance Co. In early 1914 he joined up as a territorial member of the Westminster Dragoons where he was soon acknowledged as a particularly strong horseman.

When war broke out that summer Douglas was called up along with the rest of his regiment and a month later they were sent to Egypt.

Although he was only 18, and therefore should have been too young to serve abroad, he received special dispensation from his parents to do so. After a year or so in Egypt the regiment was sent to Gallipoli in the summer of 1915 where they were involved in heavy fighting around Suvla Bay until withdrawing to Egypt shortly before the evacuation that December.
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Soon afterwards he was sent into the Western Desert where he was involved in heavy fighting with the Senussi tribes, before subsequently being attached to the Imperial Camel Corps, with whom his duties mostly consisted of desert patrols. Whilst on patrol that September he fell seriously ill with fever, passing away on September 15th at Gharak, near Fayoum.
(Dulwich College)

Robert Brown died suddenly at his home, "Fersley", Rydal Road, Streatham, on this day 26 October 1895 and was buried at West Norwood cemetery on 30 October.

A Geographer, the only son of Thomas Brown of Campster, Caithness, was born at Campster on 23 March 1842. He is sometimes known humorously as Robert Brown ‘Campsterianus’ to distinguish him from the other geographer and botanist Robert Brown (1773–1858)

With the mountaineer Edward Whymper, he visited Greenland in 1867 to investigate its natural history and glaciers. His views on the glacial origins of fjords (described in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society)

He is commemorated by Brown's Range, Mount Brown, and Brown's River in Vancouver Island, and by Cape Brown in Svalbard and Brown Island north of Novaya Zemlya, as well as by two flowering plants, two lichens, and a fossil plant.
(Thomas Seccombe and Elizabeth Baigent)
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Dundee Courier 29 October 1895 Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Jimmy Forte and James Darren at the Peacock, Streatham
On This Day 25 October 1973
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Image © The Stage Media Company Limited

Maurice Burton was born On This Day 25th October 1955

Maurice Burton was the first black British champion in cycling. His first taste of success came when he won the Junior Sprint national title in 1973. He won the amateur scratch title the following year, raced over a 20 km distance although he was booed as he crossed the line. He went on to represent Britain at the 1974 Commonwealth Games,

He rode 56 professional Six Day events, and retired from competitive cycling after a serious racing accident at the Buenos Aires Six Day in 1984.
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In 1987, he took over De Ver Cycles, a thriving bike shop in Streatham.

​On This Date 24th October 1911 the Foundation stone at the Streatham Congregational church was laid by Miss Derry, daughter of Charles Derry

The Streatham Congregational Church was less than 10 years old when the photograph of the church was taken.

This grade II listed building was erected in 1900 and was designed by James Cubitt FRIBA. Charles Derry, who was a partner in the famous Derry and Toms department store in London, He lived at Woodlands, a large detached house facing Tooting Graveney Common which had formerly been the residence of the famous Victorian potter, Henry Doulton.

The Congregational Church was dedicated on 11th June 1901. Another prominent retailer who was a member of the congregation here was Frank Bentall, who owned a large department store in Kingston, called Bentall's. He lived in a large house in North Drive, Streatham Park.
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The church survives today as the United Reformed Church. To the north of the church in the postcard can be seen Streatham Conservatories, a garden business run by H G Burrows, the site of which was subsequently occupied by the church hall which was demolished in September 2011 to make way for a Tesco supermarket.
(John Brown and photo Frances Partridge)

Frank Albert Collins was born On This Day 24th October 1908. he and his family lived at 22 Nimrod Road Streatham.
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Frank Collins was the Chairman of the Caravan Club
(Photos Courtesy Elaine Young)

​This appeared in the Daily Mirror On This Day 23 October 1969
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Unknown to train robber Ronnie Biggs who fled a motel in Australia that his suit from George Doland had a hidden ID sown inside the breast pocket
George Doland owned a chain of tailors. He was a Streatham-resident and Mayor of Wandsworth

On This Day 23rd October 1956 Ernest Robertson Punshon died at 38 Palace Road, Streatham.

He is also recorded living at 23 Nimrod Road, Streatham and 123 Welham Road, West Streatham

He was a novelist and literary critic who reviewed Agatha Christie's novels for the Guardian.
He was a prolific writer of short stories
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Image ©National Portrait Gallery

Misfortune had struck during the school holidays on 27 July 1944, when a V-1 bomb damaged the school badly. Although parts of the building were still usable, the operation of the school had to be divided between four separate sites. It was not until 1949 that the contract for rebuilding was finally signed, and then followed three years of demolition and reconstruction.

The further expansion of the school led to the GPDST’s purchase in 1993 of a new site (for the Senior School) at Abbotswood Road, the former buildings of the Battersea Grammar School, purchased from London South Bank University.
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Image of School in Wavertree Road c1895 and 2020
(Source SCHS)