Private Douglas Robert McDougall was killed On This Day 31 October 1914. He lived at "Perrymead" 249 Streatham High Road

Born on December 8th 1883, Douglas was the eighth of nine children born to Emma McDougall and her husband, Walter, a wheelwright who passed away when Douglas was five.

Two of his elder brothers preceded him at the College, and by the time he came joined at Easter 1895, one of them, Percy, was already an OA and the other, Harold, would go on to leave that Summer. Douglas stayed for the next six years, and in the last of them was a member of the 3rd XV.

After leaving the College he joined Messrs. Slade & Butler, a firm of auctioneers, surveyors and estate agents, based on Cheapside in the City of London, and was also a regular player for the OAs. In 1907 he went to Southend, where he joined another firm in the same trade, that of Talbot and White. After a trip to Australia in 1909, he returned to his old firm, before later, alongside a man named Horace Tilford, purchasing and running their own business, based in Bromley. He was also a committed army reservist, having spent six years as a territorial in the London Scottish.
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The outbreak of war in 1914 saw Douglas rejoin his old regiment, where he straight away volunteered for foreign service. He went over to France on September 14th and was eventually posted to the Messines sector. He was on a mission on the night of 31st October when he went missing, and as no trace of him was seen again, he was later ruled to have been killed that night.
(Dulwich College)

Gerard Baldwin Brown was born On This Day 31 October 1849 and lived at 7 The Paragon, Streatham Hill with his parents

Brown was born in Kennington, the son of church minister James Baldwin Brown and his wife, a sister of the sculptor Henry Leifchild who lived at Kirkstall Road

He studied at Uppingham and Oriel College, Oxford and became a Fellow at Brasenose College in 1874. He became the first holder of the Watson Gordon Chair of Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh in 1880 and held the chair until his retirement in 1930. In Edinburgh he lived initially at 3 Grosvenor Street in the west of the city before moving to 50 George Square
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Cremated at West Norwood Cemetery

Eliza Brightwen [née Elder], (1830–1906), naturalist and writer, was born On This Day 30 October 1830 at Banff, Scotland, the fourth child of George and Margaret Elder. Following the death of her mother in 1837 she was adopted by her uncle, Alexander Elder, one of the founders of the publishing house of Smith, Elder & Co.

He had no children, and Eliza Elder was brought up in his country houses, Sparrow Hall, Streatham, and Thornbury Park, near Stamford Hill. On 5 June 1855 she married George Brightwen (1820–1883), a businessman. They settled in Stanmore, Middlesex, where Eliza Brightwen lived for the remainder of her life.

From childhood on Elder had a deep interest in natural history, a pursuit that she was well able to exercise during her childhood, roaming the grounds of her uncle's estates and reading from among the thousands of books in his library. As she said of herself, 'the early lessons of Natural History kept me constantly wondering and asking “the reason why”'

Eliza Brightwen believed in educating the public about animal preservation. She opposed falconry, she wrote pamphlets and essays deploring the use of feathers for the trimming of human clothing, she rescued animals, and she lectured in local schools about bird trapping and the destruction of nestlings.
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Many of the photographs used to illustrate Eliza Brightwen's books were taken by her coachman James Leversuch, James and his family lived over the coach house/stables
(Barbara T Gates)

We love this Halloween picture of Hollywood film star and director Ida Lupino
(source @noirgal17)
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Ida and parents and sister lived at 152 Leigham Court Road and she went to School at St Helen's in Streatham

On This Day 29 October 2004 Peter Frank George Twinn died. A mathematician, born January 9 1916 His parents were Frank and Lillian ( nee Tomlinson) and he was born in Streatham

He assisted Turing with the "Enigma code" breaking

Twinn was born in Streatham, the son of a senior Post Office administrator. He went to school at Manchester Grammar and Dulwich College, and read mathematics at Oxford, winning a scholarship for a higher degree in physics but with no clear idea of a career.

Twinn assisted Turing in organising Hut 4's assault on naval Enigma (each major German command used different ciphers) while Knox turned to the Abwehr, German military intelligence. When Knox fell ill with cancer, Twinn took over the Abwehr operation, which underpinned the elaborate allied disinformation campaign that successfully masked the plans for the invasion of Normandy in June 1944 (Churchill's "bodyguard of lies").

At this time he married Rosamund Case, a GC&CS colleague who shared his love of music and played the cello.

His impressive intellectual versatility included musical composition, virtuosity on the clarinet and the viola, and an interest in insects; to photograph them he borrowed the RAE's special cameras. He studied part-time for a PhD in entomology from London University, on the study of the jumping mechanism of click beetles.

He later worked as Director of Hovercraft in the Ministry for Technology
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(Image below Bletchley Park)

"Streatham Worthy" James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was born On This Day 29 October 1740. A Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary, the English writer Samuel Johnson, which is commonly said to be the greatest biography written in the English language.

Streatham Park was home to the Thrale family and became the focal point of the Thrale's social life, and a country retreat for Samuel Johnson, Sir Joshua Reynolds and other distinguished members of Thrale's intellectual and artistic circle. Doctor Johnson had been introduced to Henry Thrale in January 1765 by Arthur Murphy and soon became great friends with him and his wife who treated as a member of the family.

James Boswell's first visit to Streatham Park was on 6th October 1769.

Boswell was undoubtedly filled with admiration for Doctor Johnson and plied him with questions during their meetings and busily recorded his responses in depth in his Journal. However, it would be true to say that he would not be the only person to catch Boswell’s attention. Although Doctor Johnson did not warm to many people, he did have a number of friends in addition to Boswell and Tom Davies who had introduced them to each other and so was not entirely friendless either.
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One of the stained-glass windows of St Leonard's church Henry Thrale and his wife Hester shown with Johnson and Boswell (right)

Below Boswell portrait by fellow Streatham worthy Sir Joshua Reynolds

On This Day 28 October 1936 Carl Davis (@CarlDavisMusic) was born in New York. An American conductor and Composer and married to actress, Bread star, Jean Boht ( both in b/w picture)

Credited with writing music for over a 100 TV programmes and numerous film scores also collaborating with Paul McCartney in the Liverpool Oratorio
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Carl and Jean lived in Ambelside Avenue, Streatham, next door to Cynthia Payne.