Ms Lee (maiden name Miss Chun Shui-wai ?) was educated in Saint Mark's School, Hong Kong. She came to England from Hong Kong in 1960 to work as a nurse in Epsom Manor Hospital. While working as a nurse, Ms Lee carried on studying to acquire her academic qualifications. She is currently a university lecturer.
Mr Cheung was a seaman working onboard a cargo ship since 1943, as a result of which he had been to the London Docklands on several occasions. During the Second World War when sea transportation was disrupted, Cheung spent a number of years in India. After the War he left the cargo ship he was working on in order to settle in London. He worked in a number of Chinese restaurants in London before retirement.
Shu Pao Lim was born in Burma in the 1920s. In 1942, with her family, Shu Pao fled across the Burmese border into China. After the war, she was awarded a scholarship in the USA. However, in 1959, she decided to move to London, England. At the age of 50, she went to Oxford University and studied Social Administration. In 1979, Camden Council employed Shu Pao as a community worker with the Chinese and in 1982, she set up the Camden Chinese Community Centre. The centre provides various services for the local Chinese community. Shu Pao later founded the Great Wall Society Limited which provides sheltered housing for elderly members of the Chinese community in London. In 1999, she was awarded the MBE.
Mr Lam was born in the mid 1930s. He emigrated from the New Territories, Hong Kong to England, in 1960. He travelled by ocean-liner where he stopped on route in the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore and India. After disembarking at Marseilles, France, Mr Lam Ying Kau took the overnight train to the English Channel where he caught a ferry to Dover. His frist job in the UK was working in a Chinese restaurant in Luton. In 1976 Mr Lam opened his own Chinese take away restaurant, after the arrival of his family. He retired in 1992.
Before his retirement, Mr Lam worked with various Chinese organizations, promoting Chinese "mother-tongue" teaching. He now lives in north Kent.
Yee Moon Lam was born on 25 October 1916 in Hong Kong. He later moved to the United Kingdom. Before 1962, he worked as a merchant. He then became a waiter and a cook.
Chun Loy So was born 20/01/1937. He arrived in the UK from Hong Kong's New Territories in 1959, under a scheme which aimed to help local farmers by encouraging them to emigrate to London. After moving around the country and living in other towns and cities (including Leeds and Liverpool) Mr So decided to permanently settle in London.
Mr So was employed in the catering trade, eventually opening his own restaurant, "New Maxim". He is now retired, but still plays an active roll within the Chinese community as a regular volunteer.
The account given by Mr So about London tells of the changes taking place in the capital, particularly in the diversity of population and the development in the Docklands.
The company was originally established in circa 1690 by Nathaniel Hadley, manufacturing pumps and fire-fighting apparatus. The first fire engine factory was built in 1738. In 1791 Henry Lott joined the firm and later took over full control of the company and when he retired handed it over to his nephew by marriage, Moses Merryweather (1791-1872). He and his sons, including Richard Moses Merryweather (1839-1877) managed the business and it was known as Merryweather and Sons.
In the 1830s customers included parishes and vestries in London and beyond including Ireland, fire insurance companies including Sun Fire Office and the Hand in Hand, for other businesses and for individuals mainly the aristocracy. In 1840s the company was based in Long Acre. In 1862 a new factory was built in York Street, Lambeth, for the manufacture of steam engines. In 1876 another factory was built in Greenwich Road, Greenwich and three years later the Lambeth factory was closed. The company took Limited Liability status in 1892 and became registered as Merryweather and Company Limited.
By the later 19th century Merryweather had become Fire Engine Makers by Appointment to the Royal Family and sold fire-fighting apparatus across the world. In the 1910s products were distributed to as widely as South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Burma, Egypt, India and Singapore and China.
In the 1980s Calamite absorbed Merryweather and operations were moved from London to South Wales. April 1984 saw a 'moonlight flit' of the company. Siebe Gorman Limited (later Siebe plc) which had moved to Wales from Surrey in 1975, took over Calamite and produced firefighter's breathing equipment.
In 2008 Merryweather and Sons Limited was based at 3 Church Road, Croydon. It was supplying a range of fire extinguishers and fire fighting equipment and providing regular service inspection of fire extinguishers at customer premises to meet fire safety standards.
The "Truth and Justice for Richard Chang Campaign" was set up by the Chang family following the death of Richard Chang (a senior IT business analyst at Abbey National Plc.) in a fall on the 13th July 2004 at the Abbey National building. The campaign was created to investigate the circumstances surrounding Mr Chang's death.
Thomas Martyn was a wealthy gentleman who lived in Putney in the late 17th century. In his will, made shortly before his death in 1684, he granted his estate to his niece Lucy Cook, with the proviso that if she died without children the proceeds of the estate should be used to endow a school for the sons of watermen. Although Lucy married, she died childless in 1701 and the trustees of the will established a Watermen's School in 1718. Scholars were provided with a uniform and tuition in reading, writing and arithmetic. From 1817 the trustees also provided a sum of money towards the apprenticeship of school leavers, to watermen and other trades. The Watermen's School continued in Putney until its closure in 1911, but the charity, now known as the Thomas Martyn Foundation, still exists as an educational trust making financial grants to the sons and daughters of licensed watermen.
For more details see LMA/4523/06/01/002.
John Gyford taught at a college in Chelmsford, Essex. He gave lectures to students on social change and housing in London. He used photographic slides to help illustrate these themes.
Gyford later worked at University College London (UCL) and North East and Central London polytechnics, and became a labour historian. He later joined local government and became Leader of Braintree District Council. As of 2009 he was Labour and Co-operative Party Councillor for Witham North, Essex.
The Working Men's College was founded in 1854. The activities of the College grew out of the Workers Association, which in turn, had its foundations in the Christian Socialist movement. F D Maurice, the first principal of the College, is generally credited as the ideologue of Christian Socialism.
Maurice attracted a group of young men including Charles Kingsley [author of the Water Babies], Tom Hughes [author of Tom Brown's School Days] and R B Litchfield. Many of Maurice's followers came from the Association and subsequently became teachers at the College. Once the College had been established the founders managed to attract a number of other high profile teachers including Ruskin, Rossetti and Lowes Dickinson.
In contrast to the Mechanics' Institutes, which had been judged a failure by the mid-nineteenth century, the College syllabus emphasised the a liberal rather than practical eduction. For example the art classes concentrated upon fine art rather than technical drawing. The founders and the other teachers moulded the curriculum and ethos of the College according to their own experiences as Oxbridge graduates.
As well as the formal classes the College encouraged extra-cirricular activities and the records of the student groups form a significant portion of the archive. The Common Room, in particluar, provided a forum for student involvement.
Women were admitted to the College in 1966 after almost 10 years of debate. In 1957 Frances Martin College (formally the Working Women's College) moved in with the Working Men's College premises and after 1965 a formal agreement was made to join the administrations of the two colleges.
The College premises were orginally in 31 Red Lion Square. They moved to 45 Great Ormond Street in 1856 and subsequently to the current, purpose built, building on Crowndale Road in 1904.
The Tower Hill Improvement Fund was set up in 1934 to improve the area around Tower Hill. A major influence in the foundation of the Fund was Rev P B ("Tubby") Clayton who, together with Dr B R Leftwich published Pageant of Tower Hill which advocated the removal of certain unsightly buildings from the area. The first president of the Fund was Viscount Wakefield of Hythe. The inaugural meeting of the Fund was held in December 1933 and an office was opened at 29/30 Trinity Square in January 1934. In 1937 the Fund was refounded as a charitable trust and was renamed the Tower Hill Improvement Trust.
The Trust demolished various buildings to make way for gardens and open public spaces. It also established a beach at Tower Hill (opened July 1934; closed 1971). The Trust is now known as the Tower Hill Trust.
The company website provides the following history:
Having established a pharmaceutical chemist shop in 1856, Thomas James Smith entered into partnership with his nephew, Horatio Nelson Smith, in 1896 to form T J Smith and Nephew. The pair worked on developing medical dressings and saw their business expand between 1914 and 1918 to meet the needs of the military during the First World War. During the 1920s, the company began to develop Elastoplast plasters and, through subsequent acquisitions, have gone on to occupy a significant position in the medical market. The organisation currently operates four Global Business units across thirty-two countries: Orthopaedic Reconstruction and Trauma; Endoscopy; Advanced Wound Management; and Biologics.
Information available at http://www.global.smith-nephew.com/master/our_history_early_history_6184.htm and http://www.global.smith-nephew.com/master/about_us_what_we_do_1205.htm (accessed October 2010).
The Smith & Nephew UK Pension Fund was established in October 1961, and is open to permanent employees with at least three months service and who are over the age of 21. Benefits of the scheme include life assurance protection, a pension based on final pensionable earnings, and the opportunity to make Additional Voluntary Contributions.
Information taken from Smith and Nephew UK Pension Fund: Your Future Security (LMA/4557/01/002).
Doughty was a pupil at the 'old' College of Dulwich, which his father also served as Assistant Master. He later married Jane Hunter Kerr and became rector of Saint Peter Cornhill, City of London. After his death in 1926, his wife emigrated to Saskatoon, Canada to be with their daughter Janet Hunter Elizabeth Lynch.
Manufacturer of vacuum cleaners, especially industrial suction machines. Established circa 1926. Registered office between 1957-1963: Norfolk House, Laurence Pountney Hill, City of London.
Factory in Cippenham, Slough, Buckinghamshire in 1968.
The Blackheath Methodist Church was built as the Blackheath Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in 1864 on The Avenue. The Avenue street name was changed to The Grove (also known as Blackheath Grove) in 1942. The church was destroyed by a V2 rocket in 1944 and not rebuilt.
Keith Waithe was born in Guyana, South America. He first first learned to play the trumpet from his father and then transferred to the flute. He studied music at University of Surrey and the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall. He has been an award winning flautist, composer, teacher and expert proponent of vocal gymnastics system. He has produced and promoted an international musical style, exploring an original fusion of jazz, classical, African, Caribbean, Asian and Western influences. He has performed at Ealing Jazz Festival and The Brecon International Jazz Festival, and has made numerous media appearances on television and radio.
Keith Waithe formed The Macusi Players (see introduction to LMA/4573/02 for further details) and has been Director of Essequibo Music, an umbrella organisation with British artists and musicians working in educational, cultural and performances arenas (see introduction to LMA/4573/01 for further details).
He has worked for Ealing Borough Council and has been involved in a number of organisations established by Eric and Jessica Huntley, publishers and community activists in Ealing, including support given to their publishing house, Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications Limited, through Friends of Bogle.
(Source: http://www.keithwaithe.com/index.htmlaccessed April 2011).
As a district, the London South Methodist District was led by a chairman, who was a member of the Connexional leadership team and was appointed by the bishop for a period of 6 years to act as evangelical leader and district administrator. As administrative unities, districts hold a twice yearly synod, which sets direct policy and defines the boundaries of the district. It also holds a ministerial synod for presbyters and deacons, giving the opportunity for ministerial training. As governor of a number of circuits, the district's purpose is to advance the mission of the church by enabling circuits to work together and support each other as well as to link the Connnexion and circuits, especially in training and to approve applications for grant aid to circuits.
The Methodist Church in Britain began to surface during the 1730s as a reaction to the Age of Enlightenment and its attack on religion. The first London Circuit began in 1765, with districts coming into existence in 1791. The Religious Census of 1851 shows that the Wesleyan Methodist and Primitive Methodist areas had extended from Kensington to Poplar, as well as South of the river from Greenwich to Lambeth and Camberwell. Between 1873 and 1932, the districts and circuits within the London and Middlesex areas were divided between the various different factions of the Methodist Church: the Wesleyan, Primitive and United Methodists. Each faction operated differently until 1932, when the three groups were finally united as the Methodist Church. After this unification, six London districts were created: the London North-East, London North, London North-West, London South-West, London South and the London South East. These were changed in 1957 to four districts (London North-East, London North-West, London South-West, and London South-East), until 2006 when all the Methodist districts in Greater London were merged into one, large London District. The areas which were not part of Greater London were distributed into the appropriate South-England districts of: South-East, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex.
http://www.methodistlondon.org.uk/londondistrictmap2010.pdf
http://www.aberdeenmethodist.org.uk/AbriefhistoryofMethodism.pdf
The Wesley Guild was the concept of Reverend W.B. Fitzgerald in the late 19th century and was put forward at the Liverpool Conference in 1896 by Reverend Charles Kelly. The Guild's original aim was to educate young people and improve the body, mind and spirit and provided activities such as camping, cycling and holiday clubs.
The London Guild Council was established in 1899 and functioned to bring together London's local guilds and promote joint projects. The most important event was the London Guilds Rally which was held for many years in the Central Hall, Westminster. The rally included various talks and sometimes a public speaking contest. The council was wound up on 31 October 2011.
Source: http://www.wesleyguild.org (accessed 7 August 2013).
Source: 'Report of the Officers Committee review of the London Guilds Rally' (LMA/4623/01/001)
The Society for the Relief of the Houseless Poor (now known as Western Lodge, also referred to as the Nightly Shelter or Asylum for the Houseless Poor, the Association for the Relief of the Houseless Poor and the Houseless Poor Society) was founded in January 1820, the outcome of a public meeting convened to discuss ways of helping those who found themselves without shelter in the City of London, particularly in the winter months. At the meeting Mr Hicks donated his warehouses on London Wall to the charity, and a refuge, or asylum, was set up to provide lodgings and food for the destitute and houseless, funded by donations and bequests from the public. A second asylum in Playhouse Yard, Whitecross Street, Islington, opened in the 1820s.
Residents, or inmates, were housed in separate men's and women's wards, with a straw bed and medical care. The refuge opened at night for a season over the winter months, typically from October/November until March/April. During the nineteenth century it appears that residents were asked to assist the Society's fundraising by preparing and selling bundles of firewood, doing laundry or completing needlework. A chapel was also in operation at the refuge.
The Society opened additional refuges in Glasshouse Street, East Smithfield, City of London (known as the Eastern Asylum) and Upper Ogle Street, Foley Street, Marylebone (known as the Western Asylum) in the 1840s, and the Playhouse Yard Asylum became known as the Central Asylum.
The Central Asylum moved to new premises in Banner Street, Islington in 1870 with accommodation for 550 men, women and children. Between 1903 and 1914 additional asylums were opened for men at Warner Place, Hackney (open from 1903 until the late 1910s) and women at 88 Carlton Vale, Brent (1903-1909), 21 Nutford Place, Marylebone (active 1907 - 1913, closes before 1915), 39 Homer Street (active 1910 - 1913, closes before 1915), 117 Seymour Place (open for the 1910 season only) and 8 Queen Street (open 1913, closes before 1915). At this time the Society also operated a labour yard in Hoxton Street where men could receive food and a ticket for lodgings in return for two hours week.
Tragically a fire at the Banner Street Asylum on 27 Feb 1903 resulted in the death of one of the inmates, and in 1915 the Banner Street Asylum was sold to Bovril Limited, who owned the adjoining buildings. The Society's work was suspended for the duration of the First World War. In 1920 the Society reopened to male residents at Grove Lodge, 3 Highbury Grove, Islington, and then in 1925 relocated to Western Lodge, 84 West Side, Clapham, where temporary accommodation could be provided for around 28 single men. Initially cases were referred to Western Lodge by the Church Army, the Metropolitan Asylum Board, the After Care Association, the British Legion and other organisations, and later cases were sent from Social Services and other agencies. The Society also took in residents who applied in person.
The move to Western Lodge saw a shift in the duration of residence, with residents staying for longer periods of time in single rooms rather than the communal wards of the Banner Street Asylum. Initially a wing for 2-3 women or a mother and child was also available for cases referred by the Night Office of the Metropolitan Asylum Board, but accommodation was eventually restricted to men.
The charity was administered by Trustees who, with a few additional members, formed a General Committee of management. Sub-committees were established to oversee individual Asylums. The Committee Rooms were originally in offices at 75 Old Broad Street and then moved to 6 St. Benet Place, Gracechurch Street (1872-1897), 28 St Martin's Lane (1898), 128/130 Edgeware Road (1900-1905) and 55 Bryanston Street, Marylebone (1905 -1917).
The Church Army had been involved with the Society's work since its establishment in 1882, and in 1898 three members of the Church Army's executive committee (Wilson Carlile, Edward Clifford and Colin Fitzwilliam Campbell) were elected as members of the Society's General Committee, and effectively took over the running of the Society when the original trustees retired in 1900.
In 1915 the Charity Commission approved a scheme to register the Society as a charity. The scheme specified that the Society's trustees should include the nominees of the Bishops of London and Southwark, the Corporation of the City of London, Westminster City Council, the Commissioners of the City of London and Metropolitan Police, and the Church Army. A Board of Trustees replaced the General Committee, managing the Society and the investment of its funds and securities, as well as communicating with the Charity Commission and the purchase and sale of property.
The Trustees appointed a temporary committee in 1915 to appoint a Secretary and investigate how best to conduct the Society's business. This committee became the Executive and Finance Committee in October 1915, and became responsible for arranging for the implementation of the Trustees' principles and methods The Trustees then appointed at House Committee in November 1920, who supervised the work of the Society's Superintendent (or warden), who managed the day-to-day running of the refuge with the assistance of a Matron. The Executive and Finance Committee was absorbed into the House Committee in December 1926, and the Committee was renamed as the Western Lodge Committee.
The Society found it necessary to launch a fundraising appeal in the 1970s, called the Western Lodge Appeal. The appeal aimed to raise £17500 for fire precaution work, repairs, furnishing and decoration to the property.
The work of the asylum was highlighted in an article in Households Words in 1856 (issue 309, 20 Feb 1856) which may have been written by Charles Dickens. The Society's work was also discussed by Friedrich Engels in his 'The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844'.
The Society continues to provide temporary accommodation and housing and employment support for single men over 30. The Society moved to new premises at 85 Trinity Road, Tooting, in December 2012 where accommodation is provided for 10 men: the new premises have retained the name Western Lodge.
George Henry Meering (1896-1975) was the eldest son of George Henry Meering, a lace manufacturer in Nottingham, and Ada Meering. After his parents' divorce, George and his three siblings moved with their mother to London, where she later remarried a Mr Geach.
During World War One, George was a corporal with the 'B' Squadron of 1st County of London Yeomanry (also known as the Middlesex Duke of Cambridge's Hussars). On 27 October 1917 his detachment was involved in a battle against the Turkish Ottoman forces on Hill 720, south of Beersheba in Palestine. Vastly outnumbered, the troops put up remarkable resistance, fighting to the last man. George was seriously wounded and taken to a Turkish hospital at Tel el Sheria as a prisoner of war. Left behind by the retreating Turks, he was discovered by the advancing British troops and sent to a British hospital in Cairo and then to Bristol, where in April 1918 he wrote a survivor's account of the battle. In September that year he wrote about his experiences as a prisoner of war. For the rest of his life, he had periodic operations to remove shrapnel from his body.
George was married twice, but both his wives had predeceased him. His first wife gave birth to stillborn twin sons; he had no other children. He died on 16 July 1975 at Kingston Hospital, aged 79.
The papers were deposited at LMA on 27 May 2005 by George Meering's niece, Mrs Pamela Burgess, who also provided some of the biographical information used above.
The Licensed Victuallers and Beersellers Protection Society was a predecessor of the National Licensed Victuallers Association.
Samuel Pepys was born in 1633 in London. His father was a tailor, but had good family connections including a landed uncle in Huntingdonshire and an aunt with an advantageous marriage. Pepys attended Saint Paul's School and Cambridge, after which he became the private secretary of his cousin Edward Mountagu (later the Earl of Sandwich). In 1659 he began his 30 years of service to the Navy when Mountagu was made general at sea. In 1660 Pepys was given a job at the Navy Board, and was part of the group sent to bring Charles II back to England to begin his reign. In the same year he began his diary, which has made him famous and which provides an insight into the life and customs of his day, as well as giving accounts of major events such as the plague and the Great Fire of London in 1666. Pepys ended the diary in 1669, concerned that his eyesight was failing. His career continued to be successful, and he became Secretary to the Admiralty Commission in 1672. He died in 1703 and was buried at Saint Olave, Hart Street.
Samuel Pepys, one of the most famous diarists, came to live in the Parish of Saint Olave in 1660. He had a successful career; his achievements include becoming Secretary to the Admiralty, Master of the Clothworkers' Company, Master of Trinity House, President of the Royal Society, and a Member of Parliament. He wrote his diaries from 1660 to 1669, they include eyewitness accounts on important historical events such as the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the Great Fire of London in 1666, and the second Anglo-Dutch war of 1667. The diaries also give an insight into his personal life.
The Club was founded on 26 May 1903 to mark the bicentenary of the death of Samuel Pepys. The founders of the club are Sir Fredrick Bridge (Organist of Westminster Abbey), Sir D'Arcy Power (Surgeon and medical writer), George Whale (writer and bibliophile), and Henry B. Wheatley (editor of the 3rd edition of the diary). The membership was initially restricted to 50, but later increased to 70. Well-known admirers of Samuel Pepys were invited to become members of the club. In 2006, membership was increased to 140 UK members and up to 20 overseas members. The criterion for membership is an interest in Pepys, his friends and his diary, and a degree of knowledge about him.
In the early years, club activities consisted of dining, readings from the diary and lectures on various aspects of Samuel Pepys' life. In later years, the club began annual memorial services for Pepys. Papers, which are later published, are read at these memorial services. The club also have annual dinners and outings to places that have historical connections with Pepys. The first dinner of the club was held on 1 December 1903 in the Clothworkers' Company Livery Hall. In 1953, a jubilee dinner was held in Vintners' Hall.
The Swiss Benevolent Society was founded as Fonds de Secours pour les Suisses Pauvres a Londres on 1 January 1870, although its history can be traced back to the Société de Secours Mutuels des Suisses a Londres (Société des Suisses), which was founded in 1703. It has undergone many transformations throughout its history, but its main aim of providing help to its compatriot members in cases of illness and hardship has remained the same and continues to this day. Those receiving help have included 19th-century economic migrants, 1960s' au pairs, and now, increasingly, the elderly.
For more information about the Society's history and activities please see their website: https://swissbenevolent.org.uk
Edward Eleazer Pool was born to parents Samuel and Marie Anne Van Cleef Pool in London in 1851 the eldest son (he had four siblings). His parents were from Holland and Samuel was an importer and salesman of Cattle who was granted naturalization in 1854. Samuel remained a cattle dealer until his death on 18 December 1886. Edward must have joined his father in the trade and the first evidence of him trading at Smithfield Meat Market appears in an entry in the London Post Office Directory of 1875 as a meat salesman of 32 Central Avenue. By 1880 he had moved to number 158 and in 1881 the tenancy registers of the market show him renting both 157 and 158 at a weekly rent of nine pounds three shillings and four pence.
The market tenancy registers show a partnership with other meat salesmen, Arthur Curnick and William Godsell Curnick in the later 1880s and early 1890s. In 1891 Edward took over the business of 'Lambert and Sons' at 91 Central Avenue. The business would remain at number 91 until the 1960s. In 1900 the partnership with the Curnicks was dissolved and Edward became the sole tenant of number 91. The trade directories also show that he carried on business at the Foreign Cattle Market in Deptford.
In 1873 Edward Pool married Phoebe Bernstien at the Willis Rooms in King Street, Westminster. The couple had five children. It was under his only son, Gordon Desmond (born 21 April 1882) that the business continued following Edward's death in 1915.
Gordon Desmond can be seen in the market tenancy registers becoming the joint tenant of number 91 with his father in 1911. Gordon continued the business at Smithfield Market, expanding into number 54 and also into trade at 48 and 49 Aldgate Street, an area known informally as 'butchers' row.'
Gordon Desmond had two sons. His eldest Peter was killed in action in the Second World War so the business fell to his youngest son, Edward Gordon (who received a military cross for his part in the Normandy landings sustaining injuries which meant he lost his left foot), he also had three daughters including Phoebe Pool (art historian). Edward Gordon was married four times and it was during his second marriage to the sculptress Elizabeth Frith that he sold the business.
The last entry for the business in the London Post Office Directories is in 1964.
The Northern Friendly Society was established on 31 January 1837 with the objective of being a sociable organisation which could share information of interest in the trade. An extract from the Pawnbrokers' Gazette reporting on the Jubilee of the Society in 1887 stated it was formed, "to protect the Trade against 'duffers' and to exterminate a class of vermin called 'common informers.'" The names of the founding members have not all survived, from later minutes it can be established that one was Mr James Telfer (of Ponders End) and a second was Mr Sharwood who in the Jubilee year of the Society (1887) was aged 86 and acted as the chair of the meeting, he resigned in October 1888 due to 'old age and its consequences.'
Membership was to be restricted to master pawnbrokers or gentlemen connected with the trade. The membership was limited to fifteen members according to a list of rules drawn up in 1844 (later expanded to thirty members), each paying a subscription. On occassion, Honorary Members could be elected by unanimous vote. Members were also often members of the Bouverie Society, a social club for master pawnbrokers (see CLC/034).
The subscriptions were used to defray the costs of the meetings and also to make special purchases. In the Jubilee Year of the society (1887) a silver loving cup was purchased at a cost of £35 4s; according to an inventory attached to an insurance schedule of 1965 the value of the loving had risen to £58 and this was just one of seven pieces of silver that belonged to the Society with other pieces having presented to the society by members and one piece a plain silver cup and cover with wood plinth in a case commemorating the Bouverie Society versus the Northern Friendly Gold Challenge Cup.
The Jewish Historical Society of England was established in 1893. Its founders included Lucien Wolf, Frederick David Mocatta, Isidore Spielman, Joseph Jacobs and Israel Abrahams.
The society aims to publish and make available scholarly research into the history of Anglo-Jewry. Papers read at society meetings are printed in the society's Transactions and shorter notes appear in its Miscellanies.
The society administers annual lecture series including the Lucien Wolf lecture and the Arthur Davis Memorial lecture as well as the Asher Myers and Gustave Tuck essay prizes. It was also instrumental in setting up Anglo-Jewish Archives, a society which aimed to preserve Anglo-Jewish archive collections, the archives it collected are held by the University of Southampton.
F.D. Mocatta bequeathed his library to the Jewish Historical Society and arrangements were made in 1905 to house the library at University College London (UCL). In 1932 the Gustave Tuck lecture theatre was constructed within UCL as a base for the society, and a special library and museum were built in the college for the Mocatta Library and Museum, which also housed the Gustave Tuck collection of ritual art and antiquities. The Mocatta Library was bombed during World War II and many volumes, including early archives of the Jewish Historical Society, were destroyed.
The society has several regional branches, which have included Israel, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester.
Merchant Investors was incorporated in 1970 and underwrote high net worth life and pension products mainly for Independent Financial Advisors. The company was taken over in 2003 by Sanlam, a South African investment company. As of 23 December 2003, Sanlam Life and Pensions UK Limited operated as a subsidiary of Sanlam Limited and provided life insurance, pension, and investment products in the United Kingdom.
Philip A Knight was Pensions Manager to the company, was involved with setting up the pension scheme and became the first member-nominated trustee of the scheme.
Community Health Councils were established in England and Wales in 1974 "to represent the interests in the health service of the public in its district" (National Health Service Reorganisation Act, 1973). Often referred to as 'the patient’s voice in the NHS', each Community Health Council (CHC) served the public and patients in its local area by representing their interests to National Health Service (NHS) authorities and by monitoring the provision of health services to their communities.
CHCs were independent statutory bodies with certain legal powers. CHCs were entitled to receive information about local health services, to be consulted about changes to health service provision, and to carry out monitoring visits to NHS facilities. They also had the power to refer decisions about proposed closures of NHS facilities to the Secretary of State for Health. For this reason, CHCs were sometimes known as the ‘watchdogs’ of the NHS. The co-ordinated monitoring of waiting times in Accident and Emergency departments led to ‘Casualty Watch’ which gained national press coverage. Locally, many CHCs represented patients’ views by campaigning for improved quality of care and better access to NHS services, and by responding to local issues such as proposed hospital closures.
Each CHC had around 20 voluntary members from the local area. Half were appointed the local authority, a third were elected from voluntary bodies and the remainder were appointed by the Secretary of State for Health. Members met every month to six weeks and meetings were usually open to the general public. Guest speakers or guest attendees were often invited, particularly when a specific topic or issue was under discussion.
All CHCs employed a small number of paid office staff and some had shop-front offices, often on the high street, where members of the public could go for advice and information about local NHS services. CHCs published leaflets and guidance on a wide variety of topics from ‘how to find a GP’ to ‘how to make a complaint’.
Within the guiding principles and statutory duties of the legislation, CHCs developed organically in response to the needs of the communities they served and for this reason considerable variation can be found in the records of different CHCs.
Lambeth CHC began life in April 1974 as the St. Thomas Health District CHC, later known simply as St. Thomas’ CHC. Its aim was "to provide a new means of representing the local community’s interests in the Health Services to those responsible for managing them" (Minutes of Inaugural Meeting, April 1974). The CHC initially met in hospitals and community spaces before finding a permanent base at 2 Cleaver Street from 1977 onwards. Members were appointed by the borough of Lambeth, voluntary organisations and the South East Thames Regional Health Authority.
In the NHS Reorganisation of 1982 St. Thomas’ Health District (Teaching) became the West Lambeth Health Authority. A new CHC was set up accordingly. The last meeting of St. Thomas’ CHC was held in June 1982 and the inaugural meeting of West Lambeth CHC was held in July 1982. Some former members were retained and some new members joined. The records of the CHC continue seamlessly between the two organisations.
A further change occurred in 1993 following the Regional Health Authority’s decision to re-align CHCs along borough boundaries. Lambeth CHC was set up and received three members allocated from the former Camberwell CHC. The first meeting of Lambeth CHC took place in April 1993. The motto of Lambeth CHC was "your voice in the NHS". As before, the records of the CHC continue seamlessly between the two organisations.
Community Health Councils in England were abolished in 2003 as part of the ‘NHS Plan (2000)’. However, the last records held for Lambeth CHC date from 2000. The last file was labelled with the note "Lambeth CHC 1997 - 2000 (NB: no later records available)" indicating that records for the period 2000 - 2003 are not in this collection and may not have survived.
Miss Betty E M Bartram was born in July 1930 and lived at 202 Queens Road, Walthamstow and later looked after her parents Henry William Bartram known as 'Harry' and Ethel Daisy Bartram. She was the youngest of four children with two sisters and a brother. Betty left school on 19 February 1945 and soon began work and trained as a typist at educational classes.
At the end of May 1948 she left a wine works and in June 1948 started working at Winstone’s leaving there in October 1950. In the same month she began her employment at Strauss, Turnbull and Company Limited, stock brokers in the City of London. She left in March 1961 to join William Brandt's Sons and Company Limited, leaving four months later to start work at Consolidated Gold Fields (registered offices in 49 Moorgate, City of London, later 31 Charles II Street, St James's Square, Westminster in 1986) on 24 July 1961. Betty Bartram's duties included operating the telex machine. She took early retirement after 28 years service on 14 July 1989.
She and her father were affected by the proposed redevelopment of Queens Road area by the London Borough of Waltham Forest in 1967. She was also involved in Saint Saviour's Church, Walthamstow as Sunday School teacher with other roles in the church. Her parents also attended the church and her father assisted with the reconstruction of the church after it was hit by a landmine and badly damaged. Betty regularly visited the Anglican Benedictine Community of Saint Mary at the Cross in Edgware.
She moved from 202 Queens Road, Walthamstow to a care home in Grays, Essex in 2018.
Since 1361 the Justices of the Peace met in their court of Quarter Sessions to try offences, and also, from the mid Sixteenth Century to deal with county administration. It was from this latter date with the increase in their workload that Justices began to do some of their business (minor legal and specific administrative tasks) outside of the formal sessions, either singly or in small groups.
Over the next century meetings outside of sessions became more regular, and more matters were dealt with there which had previously been heard at full sessions. They were often carried out at the magistrates' own homes, sometimes at special session meetings in a local court house, tavern or other meeting place. From 1828 all courts of Quarter Sessions were able to create districts or divisions specifically for petty sessions, either new areas or formalising any earlier informal divisions.
It was not only routine administration which was dealt with at these meetings, but some of the judicial procedure which needed carrying out pre-trial. Magistrates would examine alleged offenders and witnesses, take sworn statements (depositions), issue warrants for arrest or summonses to appear at court, bind over individuals to appear, and commit the accused to gaol to await trial or further investigation. Increasingly, they went further and began to sit without a jury to dispense immediate summary justice - either alone, or as a group of two or more known as the 'petty sessions'. They were, of course, hearing very minor cases such as those involving common assault, drunkenness, apprenticeship disputes, byelaw infringement, and (from 1664) attendance at illegal religious assemblies. The punishment they gave here was binding over with a recognizance to keep the peace; committal to prison for a short time (with a discharge before a main trial at the sessions started); or arbitration between the parties concerned to reach a settlement.
Offences which required a jury trial would still be heard at Quarter Sessions or the Assizes (Gaol Delivery Sessions at the Old Bailey), but petty sessions avoided the expense and hassle of a full trial for what were literally petty cases.
The court of Quarter Sessions was the place in which the Justices of the Peace exercised their judicial and administrative functions for the county, and generated a variety of records from that role. This class includes records deposited, filed (enrolled) or registered 'by statute' with the Clerk of the Peace, to be kept with the sessions records, and be available for inspection. These were records presented to the justices in a session, and certified before them, but which were not part of the normal sessions work, although sometimes it is hard to make the distinction. Indeed, statutes ordering the creation of these records often stipulated that returns or registers should be 'filed on the rolls of the Sessions of the Peace" or "be deposited with the Clerk of the Peace to be registered and kept with the records of Quarter Sessions"; which means in practice that many records which were created outside the normal sessions work are found on the sessions rolls (see MJ/SR), in the sessions books (see MJ/SB) or in the sessions papers (see MJ/SP), as well as in their own series.
These are records reflecting the political and social concerns of the times; the development of transport and travel; and the nineteenth century utility schemes for gas, water and railways; the control of law and order and social structures through such measures as the prevention of treasonable meetings and literature, secular and religious, the registration of foreigners in the capital, knowledge of those able to serve in the local militia in times of internal and external trouble and the limiting of those eligible for jury service or to vote in elections as determined by the value of the property they held. All aspects of life were regulated from slaughterhouses and hospitals to the price of corn in markets, and building practices. The overriding fear of government from the seventeenth century to early nineteenth century was the threat perceived to be posed by non-conformists - Roman Catholic or Protestant - anyone considering public office had to show that their loyalty was greater to the state than to their faith by taking a variety of oaths or producing certificates confirming their allegiance to the established church.
The Custos Rotulorum (Keeper of the Rolls) was responsible for the care of the county records. Appointed (since the fourteenth century) in the Commission of the Peace (see MJP/C), he was a leading justice, unpaid and holding the post for life; and from the seventeenth century usually also holding the office of Lord Lieutenant of the county. His Deputy was the Clerk of the Peace who was in practice the actual keeper of the records, and who drew up, registered and oversaw the storage of the records.
David McIntosh acquired substantial land holdings in the Bromley by Bow area, including Bromley Hall. According to an 1882 auction catalogue listing his estate, which was being sold off after his death, the rental value of his property was £1,200 per annum.
See http://www.londonancestor.com/misc/misc-mcintosh.htm for the auction catalogue (accessed August 2011).
A marriage settlement was a legal agreement drawn up before a marriage by the two parties, setting out terms with respect to rights of property and succession.
Godwin and Basley, Auction and Agency Offices, were based at 28 Cadogan Place, Belgrave Square.
At the time these documents are dated (1818-1829) a "John Souter" frequently appears in The Times newspaper advertising newly published books which can be bought at his shop, 73 St Paul's Churchyard. As the John Souter in these documents was a member of the Stationers' Company it is possible that they were the same man.
The church of Saint Saviour was established to serve a new district with a rapidly expanding population. The building was constructed between 1874 and 1875, designed by E.C. Robins in a Gothic style.
From: Survey of London: volume 26: Lambeth: Southern area (1956), pp. 100-105.
The church of Holy Trinity was constructed in 1839, designed by Edward Blore. The site of the church was formerly part of Lambeth Palace kitchen gardens. The interior of the church was renovated in 1915. THe building was badly damaged during the Second World War.
From: Survey of London: volume 23: Lambeth: South Bank and Vauxhall (1951), pp. 75-76.
There has been a place of worship on the site for over a thousand years. The current church was built between 1774 and 1777 and was damaged by fire in 1830. The churchyard was closed for burials in 1856. By 1881 Lewisham had become a suburb of London and its population had increased significantly. It was therefore decided to enlarge and alter the building. Further changes were made in 1995.
The Board of Guardians for the parish of Saint Mary, Lewisham, administered poor relief under the Local Act 54 Geo. III c.43 (18 May 1814). The Board of Guardians was dissolved under the Local Government Act 1899.
The original church of Saint Paul was built between 1882 and 1883 by Herbert D Appleton and Edward Mountford at Waldenshaw Road, Forest Hill. The church was bombed in the Second World War (1939-1945) and was demolished.
A former Congregational Church in Taymount Rise, Forest Hill (built in 1863 by J Hine of Plymouth and T Roger Smith, and which by 1940s had become Saint Luke's Church of the Spiritual Evangel) was purchased and consecrated on 24 January 1965 as the new Saint Paul's Church.
In the 1980s, a partnership was formed with Christ Church, Forest Hill and on 1 December 1991 the benefice and parish of Saint Paul was removed by Order in Council and Christ Church with Saint Paul, Forest Hill was created. The church building was declared redundant and sold for residential use in 1996.
Consecrated in July 1871, Saint Peter's Church was closed in May 1941 because of war damage and services were held at Saint John the Baptist, Eltham High Street. After the war a temporary church was provided until a new church was built in 1960 as a daughter church to the Good Shepherd, Lee. This church has in turn been replaced by a new building.
Christ Church was consecrated on 17 July, 1855. In March 1977 the building was found to be unsafe; it was closed and later demolished, The parish was united with Saint James, Sussex Gardens (P87/JS).
The parish of Saint Michael and All Angels, Paddington, was established in 1864, taken from part of the parish of Saint John the Evangelist, Hyde Park Crescent (P87/JNE1). The church building had been constructed in 1860-61. The church was closed on the union of the parish with All Saints, Norfolk Square (P87/ALL) and Saint John the Evangelist on 10 May 1965. The church was demolished in 1969.
The parish of Saint Mary Magdalene, Paddington was created from the parishes of Saint Saviour, Warwick Avenue (P87/SAV) and Holy Trinity, Bishop's Bridge Road (P87/TRI). Services were first held in 1865 in a small temporary church on the banks of the Grand Junction Canal. The permanent church was designed by George Edmund Street. The foundation stone was laid in 1867, the nave and chancel opened in 1868 and the completed church was consecrated in 1878.
The Saint Mary Magdalene Convalescent Home was a home for fallen women, but not for those "abandoned to an immoral life". It opened in 1865 at 30 Weymouth Street. It later moved to 26 Ranelagh road, Paddington. Single women under the age of thirty were admitted before and after the birth of their first child which would have taken place at Queen Charlotte's Hospital. It was managed by the Sisters of Saint Mary, Wantage.
Saint Peter's originated in a temporary mission church established in 1866 as a chapel of ease to the parish of Holy Trinity (P87/TRI). A permanent building was constructed in 1870 and a parish was created, taken from Holy Trinity. The church was replaced by a modern building in 1975-1977.
The church of Saint Andrew was destroyed by bombing during the Second World War. The parish was subsequently united with Saint Mary, Bow (P88/MRY1).
The church of Saint Mark, Cadogan Terrace, Victoria Park, was established in 1872. The parish has now been united with Saint Paul, Saint Stephen's Road, Old Ford (P88/PAU).
Poplar Chapel was founded by the East India Company as a chapel of ease to Saint Dunstan, Stepney (P93/DUN). In 1823 the new church of All Saints, Poplar (P88/ALL1) was consecrated and became a parish church for Poplar. The records of Poplar Chapel were transferred to All Saints' Church. The chapel remained in use and in 1867 it was consecrated as Saint Matthias Poplar and was given a parish.
Saint Matthias' Church was declared redundant in October 1977 and the parish was united with the Parish of Poplar.
The church of Saint Nicholas was established in 1900. It was destroyed by enemy action in 1940 and closed in 1941. The parish was united with All Hallows in 1955, to create the parish of Saint Nicholas with All Hallows, Aberfeldy Street.