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Sir Edmund Widdrington Byrne

30/6/2022

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Sir Edmund Widdrington Byrne was born On This Day 30 June 1844. A British judge and Conservative party politician
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Lived at Aynscombe House Upper Tooting in the parish of Streatham.
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The Astoria Cinema Streatham

30/6/2022

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The Astoria Cinema, Streatham High Road, was opened on 30th June 1930 and is presently the Odeon Cinema
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Designed by E A Stone with 2,576 seats and opened by the Mayor of Wandsworth T J Cox JP
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Cecil and George Shadbolt

29/6/2022

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On This Day 29June 1892 Cecil Shadbolt was killed in a balloon accident

Cecil and his father George Shadbolt were Pioneer Photographers with George Shadbolt's last recorded address is 119 Hopton Road, Streatham.

"Mr Cecil Victor Shadbolt, one of the occupants of the ill-fated balloon which went up from the Crystal Palace grounds, on the 29th died from the serious injuries he sustained.... His remains were on Wednesday afternoon interred at the Norwood Cemetery. Owing in part to the steady downpour of rain, and to the fact that the deceased was not a resident in the locality, the funeral was very quietly conducted.... An open hearse conveyed the coffin from the Norwood Cottage Hospital where he died, followed by one coach containing his father and brother"

Cecil’s father George (1819–1901) dealt in mahogany and other fine timber. He was an early experimenter in photography and a student of optics with a strong interest in inno- vative techniques. A founder member of the Photographic Society and a writer and editor of the Photographic Journal and the Liverpool and Manchester Journal, subsequently the British Journal of Photography
(Extracts Colin Fenn)
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Further reading:
Victorian gas balloon aerial images below
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34428872

https://heritagecalling.com/…/ballooning-in-bowler-hats-ea…/
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Advert for the sale of the Bedford Hill Estate

29/6/2022

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Advert for the sale of the Bedford Hill Estate in the County Chronicle, Surrey Herald and Weekly Advertiser for Kent On This Day 29 June 1841
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Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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Music Hall performer Jenny Hill

28/6/2022

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On This Day 28 June 1896 Jenny Hill died. She lived at the Hermitage in Streatham
Jenny Hill (1848 – 28 June 1896), born Elizabeth Jane Thompson, was a popular English music hall performer of the Victorian era known as "The Vital Spark" and "the Queen of the Halls". Her repertoire of songs included "'Arry", "The Boy I Love Is in the Gallery", "The Little Vagabond Boy", "I've Been a Good Woman to You" and "If I Only Bossed the Show"

Jenny Hill was born in Paddington, London, to Michael Thompson (1812/13–1881) a Marylebone cab driver. Her stage début was made at the age of six or seven, when she performed as the legs of the goose in the pantomime Mother Goose at the Aquarium Theatre in Westminster. In about 1860 she made her professional debut at Dr. Johnson's Concert Rooms, traditional "Song & Supper Rooms" in Fleet Street 

On 28 May 1866, aged 18, she married John Wilson Woodley, an acrobat known by the stage name Jean Pasta; he later abandoned her, leaving her with three children, one of whom became the music hall performer Peggy Pryde she died at Peggy's home in Brixton

In London, Hill was engaged for a tryout at the London Pavilion, a music hall, where her song stopped the show. The popular entertainer George Leybourne led her back onto the stage for an encore. By 1871 she was earning £6 a week at the London Pavilion. The theatrical agent Hugh J. Didcott gave the expressive, witty and vivacious Hill the sobriquet "The Vital Spark", which she used throughout her career

On 25 March 1889 she appeared on the same bill as Bessie Bellwood at the Canterbury Theatre of Varieties. Her repertoire of songs included 'Arry, The Boy I Love Is In The Gallery, The Little Vagabond Boy, I've Been a Good Woman to You and If I Only Bossed the Show.

Eventually, she earned enough by dancing the "Cellar Flap", singing her song The Coffee-Shop Girl and by her male impersonations to buy The Hermitage and its farmlands at Streatham
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She is buried at Nunhead cemetery
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Rudy Narayan

28/6/2022

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On This Day 28th June 1998 Rudy Narayan died

Rahasya Rudra (Rudy) Narayan (11 May 1938 – 28 June 1998) was a barrister and civil rights activist.
He migrated to Britain in the 1950s from Guyana. He lived at 23 Woodbourne Avenue
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A plaque commemorates him at his practice in Brixton
(Image Slideplayer)
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Lord Robens of Woldingham "Alf" Robens

27/6/2022

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Lord Robens of Woldingham - "Alf" Robens - died On this Day 27th June 1999. He lived with his wife Eva at 13 Prentis Rd. ( Streatham Society member Betty Searle was a secretary of his)

The Guardian obituary describes him as the classic Mr Might-Have-Been Man. He might easily have become leader of the Labour party and, in 1964, prime minister instead of Harold Wilson. Instead, he had a remarkable and successful, not to say lucrative, career as an industrialist.
Robens took over Britain's coal industry in October 1960 for his Ten-Year Stint (the title of his own 1972 book).

When Robens became Chairman of the NCB's there were 698 pits employing 583,000 miners. Ten years later, when Robens left, there were 292 pits employing only 283,000.
The largest single blow to his reputation came from his reaction to the catastrophic 1966 industrial accident at Aberfan

He held a number of prominent positions and was a director of the Bank of England, on the board of Times Newspapers, the first Vice Chancellor of the University of Surrey and Chair of Governor's at Guys Hospital.

He retired to Laleham Abbey once the home of Lord Luchan
Image ©National Portrait Galley ( Creative Commons License 91157)
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Miss Johnson at the Telford park Tennis Club

27/6/2022

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This appeared in the Norwood News On This Day 27 June 1930. Miss Johnson winner of the Ladies Championship at the Telford Park Tennis Club and appeared at Wimbledon that year

The Telford Park Tennis Club, Tennis first played  1st August 1880. Officially founded in 1884, the second oldest Tennis Club in London, preceded only by Wimbledon
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Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
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Sir Ralph Richardson in the "The White Carnation" and the Bob Miller orchestra at the Locarno

26/6/2022

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Streatham was the place to be in June 1953

Norwood News On This Day 26 June 1953 

Sir Ralph Richardson in the "The White Carnation" and the Bob Miller orchestra at the Locarno
Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
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Mick Jones of the Clash

26/6/2022

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Mick Jones was born On This Day 26th June 1955

Lead guitarist of the Clash and then formed Big Audio Dynamite.
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Lived with his grandmother at Christchurch House, Streatham
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The latest edition of our newsletter - 254, Autumn 2023 are now being posted or delivered to local addresses


​Our next event is on Tuesday 2nd January 2024. an Illustrated Talk by Mireille Galinou "London's South Bank, The History"














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