Blog Archives - The Streatham Society

Geographer Robert Brown

26/10/2020

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)

"Keep 'em peeled"

26/10/2020

Eric Stanley Taylor MBE was born on this day 26th October 1924, known professionally as Shaw Taylor, he was a RADA trained actor and television presenter, best known for presenting the long-running five-minute crime programme Police 5.
Shaw Taylor was a long time resident at 75 "The High" in Streatham and was often seen walking his Pekinese dogs along Streatham High Road

TROOPER DOUGLAS ELDRIDGE SHARP

25/10/2020

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. 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

Camden Town Group Painter

24/10/2020

On This Day 25 October John Doman Turner was born. (25 October 1871 – 3 January 1938). He was a deaf British painter and member of the Camden Town Group.

He lived at 63 Downton Ave, Streatham with his wife Frances Elizabeth

Born in Brixton in London, Turner received artistic training by correspondence from Spencer Gore while working as a stockbroker's clerk. This correspondence still exists, and has been used by subsequent artists, for example Esther Freud in her novel The Sea House.
Turner exhibited twelve works with the Camden Town Group in three exhibitions between 1911 and 1912

During his later life Turner went on to paint four unique scrolls including the Walberswick Scroll, a 123-foot 'Dioramic Pictorial Record of a Suffolk Village' which detailed every dwelling of the Suffolk village of Walberswick. This was followed by the Trinity Fair Scroll, a portrait of a travelling circus, which can be seen at the Swan Hotel, Southwold.

The Walberswick Scroll has made several appearances on TV, the first on ITV News in May 2017, the second on More 4's 'Penelope Keith's Coastal Villages in January 2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeKNBWoa9xg&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0BeQjha-TR56OEMgz_y2pYyAgqxy16s-c6CAiBJdE1dbuznnyNjollMQU

Streatham United Reformed Church and its links to the Derry family

24/10/2020

On This Day 24 October 1911 the Foundation Stone at the Streatham United Reformed Church was laid by Miss Derry.

She was the daughter of Charles Derry a resident of "Woodlands" in Streatham Park, a draper and co-founder of the Department store Derry and Toms in Kensington

The Streatham United Reformed Church was designed by architect James Cubitt FRIBA. It was funded largely by two donors, Charles Derry and Frank Bentall, both department store retailers who lived in Streatham

The adjacent site to the church has been named... Derry Court, 386 Streatham High Road, London, SW16k here to edit.

Available on YouTube Martin Smith's presentation from last months Lambeth Heritage and Streatham Festivals

23/10/2020

You Tube link youtu.be/5fJZ_hxGL00

How about this for a Star Studded line-up - if only I had a time machine

23/10/2020

Flyer for 'The Importance of Being Earnest' at the Streatham Hill Theatre from 23rd October 1939.

Annotated by Lucy Awdry: 'All Star Cast, their first appearance in London since war began'.
In September 1939 all cinemas and theatres had closed down, although within a month or so some were opening up again beyond the West End, as Mrs Awdry also noted in her diary: 'the stars are now acting in the suburbs'.From a series of albums containing newspaper and magazine clippings, assorted ephemera and a diary, kept by Mrs Lucy Awdry of 14 Franconia Road, Clapham, for the duration of World War II and recording wartime life in London.

During the war Mrs Awdry volunteered with the Women's Voluntary Service (WVS) assisting with fire watch duties, and also at the Clapham War Savings Centre. Included in the Lambeth Archives Home Front project

Our #ThrowbackThursday for this week

22/10/2020

STREATHAM CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH c1909

The Streatham Congregational Church was less than 10 years old when this photograph 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, laid the foundation stone on 16th May 1900. 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. 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.rown. (John W Brown and photo courtesy Francis Partridge collection)

New Wavertree building of SCHS opened 22 Oct 1952

21/10/2020

On 22 October 1952, Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, as Patroness of the Girls’ Public Day School Trust, opened the new Wavertree Road building. Much of the old building had been bombed during the war
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.
Image of School in Wavertree Road c1905 before rebuild following V1 bomb of 1944

The Sculptor Ekkehard Altenburger unveiles the Civilian War Memorial in Streatham.

21/10/2020

On This Day 21 October 2006 The Sculptor Ekkehard Altenburger unveiled the Civil War Memorial in Streatham.

A German Sculptor and Streatham resident at the time.
John Brown writes "The Memorial is made of Kilkenny limestone and the surface shows a transition from a roughly hewn to a polished finish"