Wandsworth Central Labour Party was renamed Tooting Labour Party in 1971.
St James' Infirmary, Sarsfeld Road, was opened by the Wandsworth Board of Guardians in 1910. It was linked to the nearby St James' Workhouse. In 1922 it was renamed St James' Hospital. There was an additional entrance in to the hospital in Ouseley Road. In 1930 the London County Council took over the management of the hospital. In 1948 with the introduction of the National Health Service the hospital passed in to the hands of the Wandsworth Hospital Group. It continued to expand steadily during this period, with the construction of a new Outpatients Department in 1953 followed by a new Central Block. The hospital closed in 1988 after merging with St George's Hospital, Tooting. The site was sold and the buildings demolished.
Wilson's Garage was located on Spanish Road, Wandsworth Common.
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Harry Frederick Cusden was born in Balham on 30 June 1870. His father Jonathan Cusden was a builder and later opened an off-licence at High Street, Tooting, near Longley Road. Jonathan Cusden was also a member of the old Tooting Vestry and was one of the first members of the Wandsworth Borough Council. Harry left school to work his father's business which had expanded to also sell groceries. Harry married Gertrude Mountier in September 1896 in Tooting Church. They first lived above the shop but later moved in to her family home in Devonshire Road, Colliers Wood. In 1893 Harry opened his own grocery shop in Longley Road, Tooting. He added an off-licence to the shop and as the area around Longley Road expanded so did the business. He added a butcher's department and greengrocery and soon had a row of shops in Longley Road. His business expanded and he opened 8 branches, including ones in St John's Hill, Clapham Junction; Garratt Lane, Earlsfield; Oldridge Road, Balham; Mitcham and Wimbledon. He was assisted by his two sons Harry and Fred. He also owned other properties in the borough. Harry was a founding member of the Balham and Tooting Traders' Association and was its chairman in 1904 and 1914. He also founded the Balham and Tooting Grocers' Association and during World War I initiated a system of group buying by local grocers. He was also a member of the Off-Licences Association and served as chairman for a time. He was elected to the Council of the National Federation of Off-Licence Holders' Associations in 1927 and served as chairman in 1929, 1939 and from 1943-1945. Harry was a close associate of A.J. Hurley. Hurley convinced him to stand as Councillor and they ran for election together. Harry's brother Albert also served on the Council for a while. Cusden and Hurley founded the Balham and Tooting branch of the National Federation of Demobilised Sailors and Soldiers after World War One, which afterwards became the local branch of the British Legion. Harry also served on the Mitcham Urban District Council following his move there. He was seriously injured in a car crash on Balham High Road in 1921. Harry remained in business through out the war. He was taken ill in December 1946 and took a step back from the business although remained interested. Many of his employees had been with him since they left school. He had two sons and a daughter who took over the running of the business on his death. Harry Cusden died aged 76 on 29 March 1947. He is buried at London Road cemetery, Figges Marsh.
The company was set up by five Morgan brothers who imported crucibles from Germany. Following the 1851 Great Exhibition they won a contract to import the new American crucibles. In 1856 they bought the manufacturing rights from the American company and opened a small factory in Battersea. In 1857 the company was called the Patent Plumbago Crucible Company and they exhibited their new range of crucibles at Crystal Palace. The company expanded and the name was changed to the Morgan Crucible Company in 1872. The company also produced ceramic fibres, carbon brushes and other goods.
The Metropolitan Borough of Battersea was created by the London Government Act 1899 from the former vestry of Battersea, and included Battersea, Battersea Park, Clapham Junction and parts of Wandsworth Common and Clapham Common. In 1965 the borough was combined with the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth to become the London Borough of Wandsworth. Battersea Town Hall, which was built by the Vestry of Battersea, was the administrative headquarters of the Metropolitan Borough, and was on Lavender Hill.
The Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth was formed as a result of the London Government Act 1899 from five civil parishes - Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting Graveney and Wandsworth. Previously these parishes were administered by the Wandsworth District Board of Works. When the metropolitan boroughs were replaced in 1965 Clapham and Streatham became part of the London Borough of Lambeth, and Putney, Tooting and Wandsworth were combined with Battersea to form the London Borough of Wandsworth.
The school was founded in 1863 and was on Trinity Road. In 1894 a separate site was acquired as a department for the Boys School, which was later the Infants School. The original school was bomb damaged.
Battersea Polytechnic Institute was a purpose built college which was founded in 1891 and opened in February 1894. The building was located in Battersea Park Road on the former site of the Albert Palace and was designed by the architect Edward Mountford who also designed Battersea Library and Battersea Town Hall. The Institute took on a more scientific and technical leaning from 1920, leading it to be renamed the Battersea College of Technology in 1957. In 1966 it became the University of Surrey and moved out to premises in Guildford two years later.
The first Wandle School on Garratt Lane was opened in 1904. The school was badly damaged by bombing during World War Two. The school was rebuilt and was reopened for junior and infant pupils on 30 April 1952.
Sir Walter St John's School was founded in 1700 and existed in Battersea until its closure in 1986. The school was founded by Sir Walter St John, 3rd Baronet, of Battersea and Lydiard Tregoze, in order to educate 20 young boys of the parish. As Battersea grew, the school expanded and in 1859 the school moved into a new building on Battersea High Street where it remained until its closure.
Mayfield School was a girls secondary school in Putney. It was also known as the Putney County Secondary School. The school closed in 1986 when it merged with Garratt Green school.
Streatham College for Girls was originally called Streatham High School when it opened in May 1886. It was opened by a Miss van Dordt and was located in Gleneldon Road, Streatham. In 1889 the school moved to The Shrubbery in Streatham High Road. Miss Amy Lefroy was the school's second headmistress from May 1989 until July 1929. In July 1908 the school changed its name to Streatham College for Girls. The third headmistress was Miss A J Broad. The school was closed in July 1933 when the lease on the house could not be renewed.
The school was opened in 1866, and rebuilt in 1908. It was situated on the corner of Este Road and Batten Street, Battersea, and originally known as Christ Church Middle Class Day School for Boys, Girls and Infants.
The school was founded in 1828 on Roehampton Lane. The "bottom" school was built in 1835, and the "upper" school in 1854, originally intended as a separate school for boys.
These are the main title deeds for the West Hill Estate, Wandsworth, which extended from West Hill in the north to what are now Gressenhall Road and Granville Road in the south. Later additions extended it on the west to Tibbets Corner, and on the east and south-east into South Field. Later still, a large part of the Spencers' Wimbledon Park was added to the south. The deeds end with this purchase by the second Duke of Sutherland in 1838. In the next decade the estate was purchased by John Augustus Beaumont for building development. The estate was first purchased, as part of the demesne of the manor of Downe, from the Duke of Bedford in 1759. The new owner was Mrs Penelope Pitt, wife of George Pitt (who later became Lord Rivers) and sister and heiress of Sir Richard Atkins of Clapham Bt. She sold it in 1786 to Sir Samuel Hannay, a Scottish baronet. Mrs Pitt had built a mansion house called West Hill House on the estate, but had not extended the grounds. John Anthony Rucker, a merchant originally from Hamburg, who bought the estate in 1789, and all later owners added to the lands by purchase. In 1804 Daniel Henry Rucker inherited the estate from his uncle; it was settled in trust on his marriage to Caroline Gardiner in 1805, and eventually put on sale by public auction in 1825. The main purchaser, by private contract before the auction, was George Granville Leveson-Gower, Marquess of Stafford, later 1st Duke of Sutherland. He, through his wife the Countess of Sutherland in her own right had added most of the county of Sutherland to his vast estates in the north of England.
On his death in 1833, his son the second Duke inherited.
Anthony Kersting was an architectural photographer, who was born and grew up in 37 Frewin Road, Wandsworth, on 7 November 1916. He attended Dulwich College and then worked in Lloyds Bank, Sloane Square, before turning to photography full-time. In 1939 he volunteered for the RAF and in 1941 was posted to a photographic unit in Egypt, where he took the opportunity to travel. After the war he became well known as an architectural photographer, and died on 2 September 2008, aged 91.
Architects firm, Andrew Carden and W E Godfrey, ARIBA, 120 Chancery Lane, WC2.
The Wandsworth Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1973 although it can trace its origins back to a group of musicians who met at the Putney Literary Institute in 1918. The Orchestra is made up of advanced amateur musicians and two professional musicians. The Orchestra rehearsed weekly at St Mary's Church, Putney and has been led by Keith Stent who has been with the Orchestra since 1963. Mollie Simmonds played cello in the Orchestra.
Deposited by the British Records Association, no 2447.
Mary Ann Brodie lived at 30 Loxley Road, Wandsworth Common. She died aged 68 on 8 June 1920.
The Putney Literary and Debating Society existed from 1922 to 1983, although the society was suspended during the Second World War. Meeting places included Zeeta House, Upper Richmond Road and Lady North Hall, YMCA, Ravenna Road. Members included Sir Hugh Linstead, MP, who was president of the society, 1972-1983, Hugh Jenkins MP and David Mellor MP.
Roehampton Horticultural Society was founded in 1873.
This site was part of the Clapham Junction Estate, Battersea, 5th portion Lot 660, originally part of the estates of Frederick Earl Spencer. Frontage 20' 3" Depth one side 70' on other 69' 11".
The school was founded in 1819 and amalgamated with All Saints, Putney in 1928. All Saints was founded in 1858, and was on Putney Bridge Road. St Mary's School was on Charlwood Road.
Elliott School is a mixed school in Pullman Gardens, Putney. It was opened in 1904 as the London County Council run Southfields School in Merton Road. The school changed its name in 1911 in tribute to Sir Charles Elliott, who was a civil servant in India and chairman of the managers of Southfield School for many years. The school became a comprehensive and moved to the Pullman Gardens site in 1956.
Wandsworth School was a boys school that began as an offshoot of Wandsworth Technical Institute. In 1927 the school separated from the Technical Institute and moved to new premises at Sutherland Grove, Southfields. The school later amalgamated with Spencer Park School to become John Archer School. It has now closed.
The Glengyle Preparatory School for Boys was founded in 1907 by Leonard Augustine Chope. It was originally in Cambalt Road before moving to 4, Carlton Drive in 1914. Walter Vivian Wallace was appointed as Assistant School Master in 1938 before purchasing the lease from Mr Chope and becoming the proprietor/headmaster of the school. He purchased the freehold of the property in Carlton Drive in 1960. His wife Winifred taught at the school and took over its running following the death of her husband in 1981. Mrs Wallace retired in 1986 and the school was sold. It is now the Merlin School.
The 28th County of London (Wandsworth) Battalion Home Guard was established on 11 November 1940. It was made up of volunteers from the V Battalion, men from four companies which had been raised as Home Guard Units by Wandsworth Borough Council and men from factories within the new Battalion area including Young & Co. Ltd at Ram Brewery. The Commanding Officer was Lt Col Sanders until 1942 when Major J Black took command. Many of the men in the Home Guard had seen service during World War I. The Battalion participated in civil defence duties during the War particularly helping the Air Raid Wardens during and after bombing raids. In 1942 the Battalion became responsible for Wimbledon Common and a company from the Wimbledon Home Guard Battalion was transferred to the join the Wandsworth Company. The Battalion was comprised of approximately 2000 men of all ranks and it is estimated that during its existence over 6000 served in it. The Battalion was disbanded following a final parade on Sunday 22 October 1944 although many men became members of the Home Guard Social Club and took part in anniversary parades at Ram Brewery until 1982.
Florence Mary Turtle was born on 19th November 1896 in Lambeth, the daughter of Charles E and Florence AM Turtle. After living in Hackney and Fulham, where Florence attended Sherbrooke Road School, the family settled at 135 Putney Bridge Road, Putney, where Mrs Turtle ran a fur shop. In 1917 Florence got a job at Finsbury Library, and then at a branch of W H Smith, before going to work in Harrods book department in 1921. In 1923 she started working at John Barkers department store in Kensington, and by 1929 had become the buyer for the book department. As well as this, she subsequently became a buyer for Barkers' sister store, Derry and Toms. In 1930, at the age of 34, Florence moved out of Putney Bridge Road and into 9 Ranelagh Gardens Mansions, Fulham, where she lived with her younger sister Barbara. Two years later, Florence, Barbara, and their brother Bernard moved into 28 Kingscliffe Gardens, Southfields. In 1933 Florence started volunteering on Saturdays at St James' Hospital in Balham where she would distribute books to the patients. Florence was an avid reader and took an interest in a wide range of subjects, taking evening classes at various times in French, German, public speaking, creative writing, and mothercraft. She occasionally wrote articles on bookselling and related subjects for publications such as 'The Publisher and Bookseller'. She was a member of the Book Craft Guild, serving as chairman in 1929/30. In 1938 she became a member of the Buyers Association of Great Britain. In 1941 Florence became the stationary buyer for British Home Stores, where she worked at their Baker Street headquarters until retiring in 1960. Throughout her life, Florence attended St Etheldreda's church in Fulham, where she was an active member of the choir. She also enjoyed going to the theatre, walking on Wandsworth and Wimbledon Commons, holidaying in the countryside, gardening, and having baths. She was an admirer of antiques, ornaments, and beautiful furniture, and enjoyed visiting the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Her lifelong friends since school were Connie Cowgill (nee Bishop) and Gwen Foot. She never married, and continued to live at Kingscliffe Gardens with her brother Brian until her death in 1981.
Geoffrey Haines was born in Barrow-in-Furness in 1899 before his family moved to London. He was educated at St Paul's school. In December 1917 he joined the Inns of Court Officers Training Corps at Whitehall before being sent to Cambridge. In 1918 he had a severe case of Spanish Influenza and subsequently never saw action. After the war he moved to London and worked firstly as an account in his father's company before getting a job as accountant with the London Association for the Blind where he was to remain for the rest of his career. He married Olive in June 1927 and they moved into a house in Balmuir Gardens Putney before moving to Larpent Avenue in Putney in 1934. Their daughter Anne was born in 1928. During World War Two Geoffrey was an Air Raid Warden for the B7 division in Putney and later became a Bomb Reconaissance Officer alongside his wife Olive. The Warden's Reporting Post was in his front room at Larpent Avenue. In 1956 Olive Haines was appointed Mayor of Wandsworth and their daughter Anne was her Mayoress. He had a keen interest in antique coins and he built up an impressive coin collection which he sold to the Barber Institute at the University of Birmingham in 1965. He received an OBE in 1968 and was also made Vice-President of the Blind Association after thirty-seven years of working there. He was the Treasurer of the Royal Numismatic Society and was a member of numerous other institutions. Geoffrey was also involved with the Masons and held several key positions at the Lux in Tenebris lodge and within the larger organisation including Deputy Chair of the Royal Masonic Institute, a position he held for 18 years. He died on 14 September 1981.
Edward Thomas was born on 3 March 1878 in Lambeth, and was educated at Battersea Grammar School, St Paul's School and Lincoln College, Oxford. He married in 1899, and began writing reviews for newspapers and magazines, particularly the Daily Chronicle. Despite regular reviewing work he had consistent financial worries, and made several attempts to find alternative work, few of which were successful. He suffered from depression for several years, including considering suicide, and spent time away from his family in the care of doctors in attempts to recover. In 1915 he decided to enlist in the Army, and was killed in action during the Battle of Arras on 9 April 1917.
The Wandsworth Area Social Democratic Party (SDP) was set up in 1981. The Party was active until 1988 when the SDP merged with the Liberal Party. In the years in which the party was active they worked closely with the Liberal Party in the area to forming the SDP/Liberal Alliance to run at Local and General elections.
Tooting Bec Hospital, just off Tooting Bec Road, was opened in 1903. It specialised in mental health care for the aged. Friends of Tooting Bec Hospital were active between 1961 and 2002. They were a group of volunteers who visited patients at the hospital, organised fundraising activities and tried to raise awareness of the work of the hospital and mental health issues. From 1995 they changed their name to The Bec Community Friends. The hospital was closed in 1995.
T H Adamson and Sons was founded around 1790 in Chiswick, by Thomas Adamson, and was re-named T H Adamson and Sons in 1852, by the original founder's son, Thomas Henry Adamson, with works at Putney, Chiswick and Ealing. The Putney works were at 129 Putney High Street, the site of Essex House, which was demolished in 1872. As well as general building works, the firm also carried out decorative works, and had a showroom at 145 Putney High Street. They were responsible for the stonework on the Cromwell Statue in Westminster Hall Gardens and the Gladstone Memorial on the Strand, as well as repairs to the Clerestorys and the construction of a new Rose Window in Westminster Abbey. The firm worked on several churches, including All Saints, Putney and Trinity Church, Streatham, as well as the Regal Cinema in Putney and Westminster School.
Stanley Bollans was born in 1911. He lived at Penwith Road, Southfields and attended Wandsworth Technical Insitute. He was a keen cyclist and athlete and was a member of the Wandsworth Technical Institute Cycle Club.
Herbert Thomas Charles Battcock was born around 1896. He married Gladys Matthews in Wandsworth in 1921, but was widowed before any children were born. In 1939 he married Aileen O'Callaghan, and a daughter, Celia, was born in 1944.
In a deed of 1922 (D157/3/5) his occupation is given as 'printer', and in 1927 'printers machine manager'. By the time of the Second World War he was working in the Foreign Office, and belonged to the Home Guard. He retired from the Civil Service in 1962.
Herbert Battcock was initiated into the Freemasons Lodge of Affinity in 1927, and was a founder member of the Earlsfield Lodge which was consecrated on 10 October 1938. He received honorary membership of the Earlsfield Lodge in 1979. He died in 1981.
Martin Colin Tupper was born on 20th June 1950 in St James Hospital, Balham. From 1954 to 1960 he attended Hearnville Primary and Balham Central [Chestnut Grove] schools. In 1967 he joined the Libraries Department of Islington Borough Council, where he developed his interest in local history and archaeology. He remained there until his last illness in 2006.
He was a resident of Balham and active in the local Labour Party, which he joined in 1970. He was elected a Wandsworth Borough Councillor in 1986 and combined his interests in local history with membership of the Clapham Society, the Co-operative Movement and the Socialist Educational Movement. He was also connect4ed with the Battersea Churches Chairty and Battersea Combined Charities. Within the Labour Party, he was chair of the Nightingale Ward of Battersea Labour Party 1975-1977. He became secretary of Balham Ward 1978-1982, and publicity officer for the same ward in 1982. He became secretary of Battersea Labour Party 1982-1985. He was chair of Balham Ward 1991-1992, and vice chair towards the end of the 1990s. He attended some meetings of Wandsworth Labour Group in the 1980s, possibly in his capacity as councillor.
He was a governor of Alderbrook Primary School, Balham, 1973-2002, taking the role of vice chair and chair at various times through the 1980s and 1990s. He was a governor of Chestnut Grove School, formerly Hydeburn School, Balham, 1977-2005, taking the role of chair 1981-1984, vice chair 1988-1989, and chair of the exclusions panel 1998-1999. He was a governor of Hearnville Primary School, Balham, 1973-1991.
Wandsworth Common is an important historic common, the remains of more extensive commonland which earlier went by a number of names including Battersea West Heath and Wandsworth East Heath.
It was part of the wastes of the Manor of Battersea and Wandsworth; by the 19th century it had been sub-divided by the railway and encroached upon by building as London was developed, with some 53 enclosures between 1794 and 1866. The larger areas enclosed were taken for building the Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, the industrial school of St James, Allfarthing Piece, McKellar's Triangle, the Justices of Surrey.
Attempts by local people to preserve the common against further encroachment began in earnest in 1868 when appeals were made to the metropolitan board of works to take over responsibility, following the metropolitan commons act of 1866, but this was initially unsuccessful. In 1870 a common defence committee was set up, later to become the Wandsworth Common preservation society. Action was taken in April 1870 to try and keep Plough Green open and in the months following fund-raising efforts and lobbying of support accelerated. Eventually Earl Spencer, Lord of the Manor, agreed to transfer most of the common to the defence committee excluding the area which later became Spencer Park. A bill went through Parliament in July 1871, the Wandsworth Common Act, and the common was then transferred to a group of conservators elected by inhabitants of Battersea and Wandsworth for a £250 annuity paid to Earl Spencer. This annuity and maintenance costs were raised by a special rate levied of the inhabitants.
In 1887 responsibility transferred to the Metropolitan Board of Works who carried out a number of improvements including planting, paths layout, creation of the ornamental lakes from old gravel pits as well as the smaller Three Island Pond near Bolingbroke Grove. In 1898 the common became the responsibility of the new London County Council who in 1912 purchased an area of 20 acres of open land to extend the common. This had belonged to the Royal Patriotic Fund Company but prior to the 1850s had been part of the common. The cost of £12,000 included building a wall between the open space and the Royal Patriotic Fund Company's land. However, before this area could be provided for the public's use, it was taken over in World War One for the third London General Hospital by the Government. When it was reinstated after the war, facilities were provided including a bowling green and tennis courts.
In 1971 responsibility for the common transferred to Wandsworth Council. (From the Wandsworth Council website, courtesy of the London Historic Parks and Gardens Trust).
William Tarlton Rayment Jackson was born in 1856, the son of a chemist, and married Mary Emily Bruton on 15 September 1888, in the parish church of St Andrew, Holborn. Their son Hugh was born in 1890 and their daughter Mary Marguerite - sometimes referred to as Daisy - in 1893. William, known to his wife as Jack, was a commercial traveller for the firm of Blundell, Spence and Co, who manufactured paint. Jackson also had a sister, Louise, to whom he occasionally wrote and also refers to his wife's younger sister Rose. The family seemed to suffer from financial worries, as this is a regular theme within the letters and Jackson makes clear that he has undertaken his long business trips abroad to try and get the family out of these difficulties. Mary Emily was known as Emily, or affectionately by Jackson as "wifie", and was born in Derbyshire in 1856. From the 1881 census she appears to have been a school teacher prior to her marriage.
Blundell, Spence and Co were a Hull firm, who had offices at Anchor Wharf, 9 Upper Thames Street, London. Jackson refers to other employees of the firm, including Bob Cooke and Richmond.
Susan Ward was a Labour councillor until May 1978.
The deeds were received in a bundle together. It is not clear if they are associated.
Edwin Fairland was an assistant surgeon in the 21 Regiment Hussars, Lucknow. He married Emma Thomson in Lucknow on 3 November 1870. They had three daughters. Emma Fairland died on 21 October 1897 and Edwin Fairland died on 6 August 1909. Edwin Fairland died at the home of his daughter, Mrs Mabel Alice Harrison of 76 Prince of Wales Mansions, Battersea.
Where known, full details of the administrative history are in individual catalogue records.
Hotham Road School in Putney opened on 2nd June 1909, and was initially run by the London County Council. Many of the pupils were transfered from the Deodar Road School, which closed that year. In 1948 the name changed to Hotham School, and subsequently to Hotham Primary School. It is currently run by the London Borough of Wandsworth. In 1910 the Putney Evening School was established in the same building as Hotham School. This organisation was later known as Putney Evening Institute, and Hotham Adult Education Centre. It formed part of the Putney Adult Education Institute, which later became the Putney and Wandsworth Adult Education Institute and was incorporated into the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA). In 1985 John Payne, Head of Adult Education at Hotham School, founded the Hotham School Social History Group. This group, with the help of past and present students and staff from the school and the adult centre, organised several events to celebrate the school's 80th anniversary in 1989, and also produced a number of publications about the history of the school. When the ILEA was dissolved in 1990, adult education ceased at Hotham.