On This Day 27 September 1871 James Hill died. He lived at "The Rookery"

James Hill a tobacco Manufacturer, his wife Jane, a daughter and 7 domestic staff. The Census records a Butler, Cook, Lady's maid, 2 housemaids, a Nurse and a footman. (Source Census 1851)
​
Robert and James Hill operated as Tobacco Manufactures from premises in Shoreditch. The Image below is from the Leicestershire Mercury on 30th June 1860 and the Spinet brand of cigarettes 1917
After 6 years of widowhood Jane Adam Hill became the 4th wife of Sir Kingsmill Grove Keyk here to edit.

On This Day 24th September 1914 Sir Owen Saunders was born. He is recorded as born in Streatham and lived at 53 Rudloe Road in the Clapham Park/Balham area.

Sir Owen Alfred Saunders, FREng, FRS (24 September 1904 – 10 October 1993) was an English applied mathematician, engineering science academic, and VC of the University of London

His father was an engineer and was the inventor and designer of the Beckmeter petrol pump, which was widely used in British petrol stations.

Saunders attended Emmanuel School, Wandsworth Common, from 1913 to 1919. After a period of home study, he enrolled at Birkbeck College, in the Chemistry department. In June 1923, he achieved a first-class pass in the London University external general science degree. He then attended evening classes in physics and won a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he began studying in 1923.

He then became Vice-Chancellor of the University of London, overseeing the merger of Bedford College and Royal Holloway College and becoming the first Chairman of the council of the combined college. He retired from the Vice-Chancellorship in 1969.

Saunders was also a full member of the Magic Circle.
​
He was President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1960 and was made an Honorary Fellow in 1965. He died in 1993.

Thrale Hall Hotel, Mitcham Lane Streatham and the Macaskie family

Prior to becoming a Hotel the house was a family hame. One occupant was Charles Frederick Cunningham Macaskie (1858) and his family

Charles was a Newspaper Proprietor and owned the Leeds Daily News- he died in Yorkshire in 1899
One of his children was Eva who was born in the house On This Day 23 September 1886. She married George Albert Day and they had 6 children in 10 years
​
1. Thrale Hall.
2. Charles Frederick Cunningham Macaskie.
3. Eva Macaskie.
4. Eva Macaskie on the far right in car
5. Eva Macaskie on horse

Zeppelin air raid On This Day Saturday 23rd September 1916, ‘The terrifying thunder of incendiary and explosive bombs aroused the inhabitants of Streatham, and then followed the terrible results of one of the most remarkable raids of the series – at all events as far as South London was concerned.’

The Raids on Lambeth and Wandsworth, that the L31 zeppelin, commanded by Heinrich Mathy, was flying ‘unusually high and fast’ at an estimated 12,000 feet, crossing London from south to north and then making its escape.
It is thought that Mathy directed the L31 zeppelin towards London by following the railway line from Eastbourne to London. After Mathy’s flares had dazzled the gunners at Croydon, the airship made its way towards Streatham Common station, dropping bombs on Mr. Tomlin’s vegetable garden at 30 Ellison Road along the way. Some of the railway tracks were then hit, followed by houses on Estreham Road opposite the station.
A shop on Greyhound Lane had its windows blown in by an incendiary bomb which left a small crater in the pavement outside. Special Constables rushed to the scene and with the help of local residents began rescuing trapped and injured occupants of the bomb damaged buildings.
The Red Cross treated nine casualties who were taken to Streatham Common station, where an emergency first aid post had been set up.
The zeppelin inflicted further damage along Gleneagle Road and Leigham Court Road, but according to at least one source ‘the worst incident of the raid occurred outside Streatham Hill Station.’ Streatham Hill Modern School stood on the junction of Streatham Hill and Sternhold Avenue, next to the station.
A bomb exploded in the school’s garden, the blast from which killed four men outright who were on board a tramcar standing outside the station at the time. Another passenger died later from his wounds.
The booking office and waiting rooms at Streatham Hill Station were damaged, as well as surrounding properties. Later, as morning dawned it was discovered that there was an unexploded bomb on the roof of Sainsbury’s opposite the station, which had to be removed to safety.

Further explosions erupted further along Streatham Hill, in Pendennis Road, Tierney Road and Telford Avenue, as the zeppelin progressed towards Brixton and on towards Central London.
John W. Brown reports in his book Zeppelins Over Streatham: ‘During a period of less than 15 minutes, Heinrich Mathy had dropped a total of 32 bombs on Streatham, comprising 10 explosive and 22 incendiary devices. He had killed seven people and had seriously injured a further 27 in what was the worst night of destruction Streatham had ever known.’Heinrich Mathy received military honours from the Kaiser for his efforts in penetrating London’s defences, but the L31’s reign was not to last.
​
Images:
Kapitanleutnant Heinrich Mathy / Imperial War Museums Collection / © IWM (Q 58566)
Streatham Hill c.1910 / Wandsworth Heritage Service Postcards collection
Bomb damage to a girls’ school near Streatham Hill station following the Zeppelin raid on the night of 23 – 24 September 1916 / Imperial War Museums Coll

Click On This Day 23 September 1949 Baroness Floella Benjamin was born

Baroness Floella Benjamin, OBE, DL (born 23 September 1949) a Trinidadian-British actress, author, television presenter, singer, businesswoman and politician. She is known as presenter of children's programmes such as Play School, Play Away and Fast Forward.

Baroness Floella Benjamin, a longtime resident of Streatham, was the Chancellor of Exeter University from 2006-16
​

The Tatler 22 September 1926
​
Miss Ivy Tresmaid at the Robinson School of Dancing
Image © Illustrated London News Group. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

On This Day 22 September 1870 Maria Dickin was born

Maria Elisabeth Dickin (1870–1951), founder of the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA), known by her friends as Mia, was born at 1 Farrington Terrace, South Hackney, on 22 September 1870.
Daughter of William George Dickin (d. in or before 1899), Wesleyan minister, and his wife, Ellen Maria, née Exell. Maria was the eldest of their eight children, and to supplement the family's slender income she established a voice production studio in Wimpole Street.

On 1 September 1899 she married—at the parish church of St John the Evangelist, Westminster—her first cousin Arnold Francis Dickin (b. 1874/5), son of Henry Dickin. Her husband was an accountant living at 4 Orlando Road, Clapham.
​
The 1901 census found the couple living at 12 Mount Nod Road, Streatham, with one servant, and described Arnold Dickin as 'accountants' articled clerk' and Mia as 'professor of singing'. She later gave up her studio to keep house in Hampstead Heath; they had no children.
By 1950 the PDSA was providing in Britain a regular service in 207 communities, not to mention its animal ambulances and hospitals and its five homes for stray dogs.

On This Day 21 September 2019 the Synagogue celebrated the 90th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Congregation.

The synagogue at 1 Prentis Road was formed in 1929 by Samuel Morris Rich and several of his friends who realised the potential for a congregation in South London. The congregation was one of the first Liberal congregations in the UK.