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Violinist Mary Law

31/3/2021

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On This Day 31 March 1919 the Violinist Mary Law died, her son Hugh died a few days later

Mary Law the first wife of Hugh Sewell Kingdon of 66 Woodbourne Avenue. They married at St Leonards on 24th July 1915.

Kingdon purchased the land from Sternhold Avenue to Telford Avenue, as an entertainment centre and the Locarno, Streatham Hill Theatre and Gaumont Palace were built on this land.  

Mary Law was a young British violinist, born 1889, died 1919, possibly from tuberculosis. She recorded a number of sides for Zonophone in 1915, primarily of operatic fantasias - those arrangements that provided audiences the tunes they knew.

In November 1915 she began a tour of Australia. The Melbourne Argus of November 23rd 1915 contains the following: 
Just Arrived, Direct from London, Under Special Engagement and First Appearance in Australia of Miss MARY LAW, The Notable English Violinist. Miss Law has been honoured with Royal Commands galore, and can claim the distinction of having played before most Members of the Royal Family.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYXryi3soIg

Mary Law is also recorded at 13 Becmead Ave and 39 Babbington Road, and the Paragon houses - number 12 in Streatham Hill

Image by Bassano © National Portrait Gallery, London
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William Evill and Schweppes

31/3/2021

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On This Day 31 March 1790 William Evill was born

William Evill is listed as a Manufacturer of Mineral Waters lived at "Bushey House" in Streatham Hill with his wife Mary, 6 children and 5 servants. He was also a Silversmith and born in Bath.

William Evill and Kemp-Welch took control of Schweppes in 1834 and immediately set about growing it further.

In 1835, they launched an artificial seltzer water – to be drunk straight, or with a little milk, wine or syrup – and also marketed the first aerated lemon- ade. This was the first and only sparkling fruit drink produced by the company until much later when an orange flavour was added in 1931.

Shortly before the Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace, in Hyde Park, London, the duo opened another factory in Liverpool. The additional factory was vital because what followed the Great Exhibition was unexpected. Welch and Evill paid the princely sum of £5,500 for the privilege to sell their drinks at the largest exhibition of its time. During this period, Schweppes sales ballooned to 88,800 dozen and grew by a further 47% over the next two years. After the Great Exhibition, where 1m bottles were sold, sales rose to 192,000 dozen.

Spurred on by their success at the Great Exhibition, Welch and Evill launched a factory in Glasgow, then one in Sydney and another in New York. During this period, the duo also launched the first Indian tonic water and a ginger ale.
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Sir Frank Colyer

30/3/2021

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Frank Colyer died On This Day 30 March 1954

Sir (James) Frank Colyer (1866–1954), dental surgeon and museum curator, was born on 25 September 1866 at 2 Loughborough Villas, Loughborough Road, Lambeth, London, one of the sons of James Colyer, dentist, and his wife, Rebecca Hastings, née Farrow.

Colyer was the recipient of many prizes and honours, both in England and North America. Included among these was his admission to the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1916, and the honour of being created a knight of the British empire in 1920, for services rendered during the war. The Royal Society of Medicine also paid him a great tribute when in 1926 they named a prize after him, a rare accolade to be made during a person's lifetime.
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The Colyer's had 3 children Their youngest daughter, Evelyn, a talented lawn-tennis player sadly    died in India See FB post

https://www.facebook.com/groups/StreathamSociety/permalink/964991497345173

The skull of the real Winnie-the-Pooh, "Winnipeg" belonging to Captain Colebourne was examined by Colyer who determined the loss of teeth and thickening of the alveolar and sockets filled with bone were the result of old age and eating habits.

Colyer died at his home, Queenswood, 39 Palace Road, Streatham, London, on 30 March 1954. A memorial service was held at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, on 12 April 1954.
(Extracts Susan L. Cohen and the Hunterian Museum)

Image: 1 Sir (James) Frank Colyer by Walter Stoneman - bromide print, 1921 © National Portrait Gallery
Image 2: Skull of the real Winnie the Pooh (Royal College of Surgeons)
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Polar explorer 'Birdie" Bowers

29/3/2021

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On This Day 29th March 2012 a plaque commemorating the centenary of Bower's death was unveiled at the Tate library in Streatham by the Mayor of Lambeth Councillor Christianna Valcarcel and Brian Bloice Chair of the Streatham Soiciety
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Henry "Birdie" Bowers was on Captain Robert Scott's Terra Nova expedition to Antratica and in 1912 died with Scott and Dr Edward "Eddie" Wilson . Petty Officer Edgar Evans and Captain Lawrence had died earlier
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The Music Hall star Billy Merson was born On This Day 29th March 1879

29/3/2021

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A resident of "Katherine House" 17 Woodbourne Avenue, Streatham. The house was named after his wife, Katherine.
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Billy Merson born William Henry Thompson in Nottingham in 1881, he began his career while working in a lace-making factory and performing shows as an acrobat and comedian in the evening at the Nottingham Theatre Royal.

It took some time until he could make a good living from his stage work; he also wrote many songs including 'The Photo of the Girl I Left Behind', 'Desdemona' and possibly his best known song 'The Spaniard That Blighted My Life'. He was chairman of the music hall at the Players Theatre in London.
Starred in a handful of silent film comedies under the direction of W.P. Kellino for the Homeland (Globe) Film Company in 1915-17 often taken from his own sketches.

Later he was often seen in character roles in many talkies through the 1930's. According to an article in the Nottingham Evening Post dated 19/8/2011 Billy Merson whose real name is William Henry Thompson may have been related to the famous 19th Century bare knuckle prize fighter William 'Bendigo' Thompson born in Nottingham in the early 1800's, and his descendants are Hayden Thompson born 2011 son of stage actress Emma Rothwell born 1985.

(IMDb Mini Biography By: Paul Rothwell-Smith)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaijQz4FMIg



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George  Deer OBE. MP for Newark

29/3/2021

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George Deer OBE was born On This Day 29 March 1890 and lived at 27 Riggindale Road, Streatham

A Trade Union official and MP for Newark. His wife Ivy was Chair of the LCC
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(Thanks to
Russell Henman
for the information)
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Colin Cullis and JR Tolkien

28/3/2021

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​On This Day 28 March 1892 Colin Cullis was born.

Culls was J R Tolkein's flatmate and friend at Oxford when the War broke out. Tolkein wrote:
‘Not a single man I know is up except Cullis,’ Tolkien lamented at the start of his final year as an Oxford student. It was 1914, war had just broken out, and their friends had left in droves to enlist in the army.
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Colin Cullis was born on 28 March 1892 I at 27 Christchurch Road Streatham, the youngest of eight children (though he lost two siblings before he turned three). His mother Mary was approaching 40.
His father Thomas, secretary of the Surrey Guild commercial dock company, was ambitious for his sons and sent all three to Dulwich College

(Source John Garth)
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British Summer Time starts

28/3/2021

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British Summer Time begins today 28th March.

In 1911 a proposal and an outcome of the entente cordiale was that in France the clocks go forward by 9 minutes to align to GMT
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In 1911, Paris Mean Time was altered by 9 minutes 21 seconds to synchronise with Greenwich Mean Time. It was still called Paris Mean Time, which avoided having to use the word “Greenwich”.
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"Broadlands" John Stewart Margetson

27/3/2021

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On This Day 27 March 1811 John Stewart Margetson was born. He was a resident of "Broadlands"

"Broadlands" an impressive grey brick building with an extensive rear garden at the end which contained a paddock and a number of tall elm trees. A large conservatory ran the ran the full length of the house. Steps led from the beck of the property to a terrace with further steps leading down to a large lawn. ( Source-extract J W Brown).

Today Broadlands Mansions occupies the site from Broadlands Avenue towards Drewstead Road and Streatham Hill Station comprising 6 outlets, built after the house was demolished in 1928

John Stewart Margetson (1811- 1867) and his wife Hannah (1816) nee Woods and their family. John Stewart Margetson is listed as a warehouseman and Bandana printer and was the co-owner of Welch and Margetson and Co Limited, menswear manufacturers specialising in shirts, collars, silk handkerchiefs, silk neckties, scarves and braces, which was established in 1832.

It was one of the first companies to introduce an in-working factory arrangement for the making of shirts. In 1847 the first Londonderry factory was opened, followed by Carlisle Road factory, Londonderry, in 1876. A tie factory was built in Bermondsey in 1890, to which the production of all other company products moved in due course. Early in the 20th century a factory for the shirt, collar and tie trade was opened in Melbourne, Australia, and in 1911 a limited liability company was formed, Welch, Margetson and Company (Overseas).

Welch, Margetson and Company became a public company in 1948 and was taken over by Viyella International Limited in 1968.

Images of merchandise below in the V and A collections
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(The next owner of Braodlands was Joseph Henry Standen, Mary Sarah Bridges nee Wyatt and their family. He was a Tailor and Outfitter in partnership with his brother Richard Spiers Standen with branches in 31 High Street, Oxford & 16 Waterloo Place, Pall Mall
Joseph and Richard's father, Edward, owned Standen and Company operating from 112 Jermyn Street and specialising in Woollen products from Shetland)
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Peter Brusey Cow

27/3/2021

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On This Day 27 March 1890 PB Cow died- owner of the factory of the same name in Streatham

Peter Brusey Cow (1815–1890), rubber manufacturer, was born at Deptford on 25 September 1815, the younger son of John Cow, a master boat builder at Woolwich Dockyard. In 1830, at the age of fifteen, he was apprenticed to Charles Gower Collins, a linen draper of Lower Sloane Street, Chelsea.

After completing his apprenticeship in 1835 he stayed with Collins until 1837, when he worked for Gainsford and Goods for a year. In 1838 he went to Swan and Edgar at Waterloo House, where he lived in, but was meantime in touch with Samuel Matthews, superintendent of the three London branches of Charles Macintosh & Co., rubber manufacturers, at 46 Cheapside, 66 Broad Street, and 58 Charing Cross. The firm's main activity was the manufacture of waterproof garments made of double-texture cloth. In 1842 Cow opened his own shop in Bishopsgate, selling lace and baby linen.

In 1852, with William G. Forster, Cow founded the Lonestone Chemical Works at Streatham, and in 1857 moved the manufacturing activity from the Deptford factory, which had become too small, to a former crêpe factory at Streatham. The firm still traded as P. B. Cow.

He died of heart failure at his home, 15 Streatham Common on 27 March 1890. Cow was actively involved in church work throughout his life, and was on the building committee of St James's, Hatcham. While at Streatham he was churchwarden of Immanuel Church, Streatham Common,
His estate was £96,536 18s. 9d at probate
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(extracts Adrian Room)
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Gas mask Production 1938 at the facory- The Sphere
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