Who was Janusz Korczak?

Amongst the reasons given by English Heritage for making Louise House, Dartmouth Road a Grade II listed building was the “decisive impression” it made on Janusz Korczak when he visited in 1911. Korczak is little known in this country and it seemed worth finding out about him.

Born Henryk Goldszmit in Warsaw in 1877 he took “Janusz Korczak” as a pen-name when he began writing in his early 20s. He studied medicine, became a paediatrician, a teacher and then worked in an orphanage, where he began developing his ideas about working with children.

In the Autumn of 1911 Korczak visited London. Political unrest in Warsaw, with rising anti-Semitism, left him uncertain about his future, feeling that his life was “unordered, lonely and alien” and he hoped his visit would relieve this depression. While in London he came to Forest Hill. It seems highly likely that he already knew about the two industrial homes established here in the mid-1870s and he came specifically see how they cared for destitute and orphaned children. Louise House and Shaftesbury House (in Perry Rise and demolished a few years ago) were founded on principles similar to those Korczak was developing; giving respect, care and support to needy children.

The founders of the industrial homes believed that children thrived best in a secure and supportive family environment. Because of unemployment, sickness or death some families were unable to provide this support and the industrial homes attempted to offer their children something approaching a family life, away from their home environment. They also offered a basic education and taught skills that would allow the children to find employment.

His visit to the industrial homes made a deep impression on Korczak. In a series of brief notes he described his visit. There were two houses, similar in style (they were designed by the same architect). In each house there were 30 children. The girls had a laundry, and were also taught sewing and embroidery. They walked each day to the local school (Kelvin Grove). Korczak also mentions an aquarium and rabbits, guinea pigs and pigeons kept as pets “like a miniature zoo”. There was also a kitchen garden, where the children could grow food, and a small museum.

In a letter written many years later Korczak described how affected he was by this visit and added: “I remember the moment when I decided not to have my own family. It was in a park near London…” He decided that rather than having children of his own he would “serve all children”.

Thus inspired, Korczak returned to Warsaw to develop his own orphanage along similar lines to those he saw at Louise House. In one of his books he wrote: “Children are not the people of tomorrow, but people today. They are entitled to be taken seriously. They have a right to be treated by adults with tenderness and respect, as equals. They should be allowed to grow into whoever they were meant to be.”

Korczak believed that children had rights and his proposals were eventually incorporated into the United Nations 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child. Rules in his orphanage were discussed and agreed by the children, who also imposed sanctions on those who broke the rules. The children were also encouraged to write their own newspaper which was published as a supplement with the Warsaw daily newspaper.

His orphanage thrived, his enlightened ideas influencing teachers across the world, until 1 September 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. In 1940 the Warsaw Ghetto was created, a small area of the city to which Jewish people were confined. Korczak was told that he would have to move his children and staff to premises within the ghetto. Korczak was given many opportunities to leave, but each time he refused saying he would not abandon his children.

On the morning of 6 August 1942 German soldiers ordered the occupants of the orphanage to line up in the street. Korczak made sure his children were dressed in their best clothes and carried a favourite toy. The orphanage staff and 192 children were then herded through the streets of Warsaw towards the railway station, with Korczak at their head. During that fateful walk Korczak was again given the opportunity to escape, and again refused. Eye-witnesses said that his only concern was to comfort, reassure and support his children. The group was forced onto a train bound for Treblinka extermination camp. That is the last that was heard of them.

By an extraordinary coincidence Dietrich Bonhoeffer, another anti-Nazi who also chose death rather than betray his principles, had strong links with Forest Hill. There is a plaque on the house in Manor Mount where he lived for 18 months before returning to Germany to oppose Nazism. He is commemorated as a “protestant martyr” with a statue above the entrance to Westminster Abbey. Janusz Korczak is also revered as a martyr.

To have two such courageous and principled people, who died for their beliefs, so strongly associated with our area is a rare privilege, and something we should cherish and celebrate.

President Obama at a Korczak memorial
ceremony in Janusz Korczak Square, Jerusalem.
Behind him is the statue “Janusz Korczak and the Children”.

The World of Herbert Brush

In 1937 two men, a journalist and a film-maker, wrote to the New Statesman outlining their plans for a scientific survey of the everyday lives of ordinary people. They proposed that volunteers should keep diaries, recording their daily lives. The project, which became known as “Mass Observation”, was based at Grotes Building, Blackheath. By 1939 some 500 volunteers countrywide had agreed to keep diaries which were sent each month to Mass Observation. Although some wondered whether anybody was bothering to read them most continued writing their diaries throughout the war, and a few continued until the early 1960s.

The diaries offer a unique insight into the lives of ordinary people during this turbulent period. A few years ago a selection of post-war extracts from these diaries was published*. One of the diarists was “Herbert Brush” from Sydenham, a “retired electricity board inspector”. He began writing his diary in September 1940 and continued until March 1951.

“Herbert Brush” was a pseudonym, but the writer left sufficient clues in the diary to identify him. He was, in fact, Reginald Charles Harpur, aged 73 in 1945. He lived at 25 Kirkdale, on the junction with Thorpewood Avenue, from 1939 until his death in 1959. He shared the house with Winifred Gunton (“W” in the diaries and owner of the house), Dorothy Woods (“D”), and a cat. The relationship between the three members of the household is not clear.

View down Kirkdale with Reginald's house just visible behind the long fence.

Reginald spent much time tending his allotment, round the corner in Baxter Field. He was not averse to experimenting: “I have planted out a row of ‘celeriac’ this afternoon. This is the first time I have attempted ‘celeriac’, and I don’t even know what it looks like”. He was disappointed with the results.

Reginald regularly entered a borough-wide competition for the best kept allotment. In 1946 he was dismayed that he was not even given a certificate. The following year he writes: “I have again put my name down as an entrant to the allotment competition though I nearly made up my mind to give it a miss this year, as I was not at all satisfied with the judging last year and suspect that the Labour Council… was responsible.” Reginald was, in his own words, “a Conservative Nationalist” and distrusted both the Labour council and government.

Gerald was regularly stopped by “Old Ing” on his way to the allotment. William Ing was a retired policeman who lived in Lynton Cottage, Mount Gardens. He liked to pass on gossip, which Gerald would record:

“…met Ing on the road... he always has the latest bit of news. Apparently the postman who delivered our letters and parcels has been caught pinching things and when the police visited his house they found about a ton of things which he had stolen…”
“According to Ing, the landlord of the Woodman went to the Derby… he telephoned and told his family to put their shirts on Airborne… which won. Ing was of the opinion that there was a wangle…”

Another person he chatted with in Kirkdale was Miss Hudson “the ninety-three-year-old nurse… with a voice like a foghorn” who, Ing claimed “can drink beer by the pint.”

Sometimes Reginald was inspired to write poetry:

“Is now too hot
To go to the plot
So I’ll sit indoors awhile
And drink barley water
As everyone ought’er
Who suffers a little from bile…”

And sometimes he would think about numbers: “I have been playing with no.37 today, a very remarkable number. A prime number, multiplied by 3 the product is 111, by 6 it is 222, by 9 it is 333 and so on by multiples of 3 up to 27”.

The diary records frequent visits with Winifred to the Capitol Cinema in London Road, or the State in Sydenham Road. In January 1948 he and Winifred went to the Capitol to see “Gone with the Wind”. Reginald writes that “…there was a queue about 100 yards long when we arrived, but we got in.”

During the summer Reginald creosoted the long fence that still surrounds the garden: “…it is rather a slow job, many people stop to talk about the weather and the iniquity of small boys who like to damage garden fences.”

Once, he records, a woman stopped him in Thorpewood Avenue: “… a large hedgehog was lying near the steps which led up to her house. She was afraid to touch it so I put it in her front garden, saying that it would be a useful pet… the animal had evidently tired itself out trying to escape from the pavement, but the only way was up the steps and I don’t think that hedgehogs can climb steps.”

In 1945 Churchill passed through Forest Hill “… so W, D and I went to London Road near Horniman’s Museum to see him go by. We got there about 6pm but it was 7:10pm before he went past in an open car… making his usual V sign and I only caught a glimpse of him…”

Going to his allotment one evening he saw the postman emptying the pillar box in Kirkdale (it is still there) when a man in a car drove up and tried to hand a large envelope to the postman: “the postman would not touch it and said that the man must put it through the slot... the man had to get out of his car and walk round to reach the slot and then had some difficulty getting it through… the postman then picked the letter out of the pillar box and put it in his bag. The man began to curse him and gave him a few unpleasant names. I looked round several times as I walked down the road with my bucket and hoe, and they were still at it when I turned into Charlecote Grove.”

Reginald experienced two exciting examples of modern technology. Someone lent him a Biro pen: “I am trying it out, just to find whether it would do for my diary writing”. He was impressed, saying that “the ‘Biro’ pen runs so easily it is a pleasure to write with it”.

Reginald was not so easily impressed with television. In 1948 Reginald and Winifred “went into the Sparks, next door [Seymour Lodge, on the site of Hassocks Close], to wish them a Happy New Year and to look at their television picture of the Cinderella pantomime. My eyes are not good enough to see such a small picture well”.
Reginald also gives his views on the younger generation (for him, those born after 1914): “My own opinion is that they are very much worse in every way. Judging by the ones I come across they have no manners at all… London children are absolutely crafty little liars and clever thieves…”

Gerald finds shrapnel on his allotment, sees people sifting through rubble in the grounds of Sydenham School and long queues to buy a loaf of bread. These glimpses of life in Sydenham in the immediate post-war years give a fascinating insight into the issues of the time and especially the mundane preoccupations of ordinary people.

* “Our Hidden Lives”, Simon Garfield (Ebury Press, 2004)

The theft of the Irish Crown Jewels

Sir Ernest Shackleton, who spent part of his boyhood at 12 Westwood Hill, was one of Sydenham's best-known residents. Heroes are fine, but often villains are more interesting and one of Sydenham's most notorious villains was none other than Sir Ernest’s younger brother, Francis Richard Shackleton, known as Frank.

The story begins with a report in The Times of 8 July 1907 that the “Crown Jewels and other Insignia of the Order of St Patrick”, popularly known as The Irish Crown Jewels, had disappeared from a safe in Dublin Castle, Ireland. This regalia had been created in 1830 from diamonds and rubies once belonging to Queen Charlotte and was used on State visits to Ireland. Queen Victoria used the regalia on four occasions and Edward VII once, in 1903.

On 6 July 1907, during the preparations for Edward VII's next visit to Ireland, it was discovered that the regalia had disappeared. It was clear that this was an inside job as there was no evidence of a break-in, and both the strong room and safe had been opened with keys. The safe was in the office of Sir Arthur Vicars, Ulster King of Arms and guardian of the Crown Jewels.

In the official report of the theft, Vicars was found negligent and forced to resign. One "grave charge" against him was that he “associated with a man of undesirable character” and “introduced this man into his office”. In defence, this man was said to be a friend of influential peers and “came from a well-known and highly respected family”. He is not officially named.

Vicars vigorously protested his innocence. His three assistants resigned. One of these, with the job title “Dublin Herald”, was a young man of “charismatic personality” called Frank Shackleton. Frank was, and still is, widely regarded as the most likely suspect. He was probably the “man of undesirable character”. He “lived by his wits and his charm, ingratiating himself into the highest social circles”. He was also homosexual. I suspect that is what “undesirable character” means.

There have been suggestions that the heralds and others were involved in nightly orgies at Dublin Castle. It is claimed that Sir Arthur Vicars was blamed in order to protect someone else, and that the King himself was involved. In Vicars’ will he states that he was made a scapegoat when they “shielded the real culprit and thief Francis R. Shackleton”.

Frank was never charged with the theft. However some six years later he was found guilty of “fraudulent conversion” when he and another cheated a woman out of nearly £6,000. He was sentenced to 15 months hard labour. On his release he changed his name to "Frank Mellor", and under that name he lived in Cator Road in 1919-1920. He then lived for a time in Penge. In about 1934 Frank Mellor moved to Chichester where he ran an antiques shop. He died there in 1941.

Several questions remain. Why would Edward VII want to protect Frank Shackleton? In early 1907 Ernest Shackleton was making arrangements to lead his first expedition to the Antarctic, an expedition being followed closely by Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. They visited Ernest when his ship was at Cowes on 4 August 1907. In September 1907, shortly before leaving for the Antarctic, Shackleton gave a lecture to the King and Queen at Balmoral where he said the King was “very jolly” and “enjoys a joke very much”. Was the unfortunate Vicars sacrificed to save the family name of a national hero?

Another reason for Edward VII's close interest in the case has been suggested. The Marquis of Lorne, who was married to the king's sister, Princess Louise, is known to have been homosexual. He was also a close friend of Frank Shackleton. At this time homosexuality was still an imprisonable offence. If it became widely known that the King's brother-in-law had a relationship with the man, even then, widely suspected of having stolen the Irish Crown Jewels the scandal would have shaken the Monarchy to its roots.

For many, that is the reason why so many vital documents were destroyed, why Shackleton was shielded and why the inocent and naive Vicars took the blame.

And what of the Irish Crown Jewels? There are various theories including that they were sold to a Dutch pawnbroker, or to private collectors, or buried outside Dublin. They were even, according to an official document, offered for sale to the Irish Free State in 1927. Whatever became of them, to this day their whereabouts has remained unknown.

First published in Sydenham Society Newsletter (1999)

Frightful Accident at the Crystal Palace

On the afternoon of Thursday 18th August 1853 over a thousand mourners gathered in the nave of the partially completed Crystal Palace, on Sydenham Hill. As the clock struck three a procession formed and began the journey down Westwood Hill (then West Hill) to St Bartholomew's Church, described in one account of the funeral as "an elegant modern structure, embosomed in luxuriant foliage, and situated in a most romantic spot". Others joined the procession as it made its way down Westwood Hill. By the time it reached the church there were, according to one estimate, between two and three thousand mourners.

They were paying their last respects to eight men who, with four others, had died while working on the construction of the new Crystal Palace. The men were killed when scaffolding upon which they were working collapsed. Their funeral was conducted "in a very impressive manner" by the incumbent of St Bartholomew's, the Reverend Charles English.

Nearly two years earlier, in October 1851, the "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations" had closed. The exhibition had been held in a wonderful building in Hyde Park, designed by Sir Joseph Paxton and dubbed by Punch "the Crystal Palace". The building was due for demolition and a new site was desperately sought. Eventually a perfect spot was found, on the summit of Sydenham Hill. The erection of a much larger Crystal Palace began on 5th August 1852.

The rebuilding progressed speedily and within a year much of the structure was in place. By August 1853 work was starting on the arched roof of the great central transept, to become perhaps the most easily recognisable feature of the completed building. This transept, which crossed the central part of the main building, was 384 feet long by 120 feet wide and 208 feet high and had to be spanned by a great arched roof. The builders had to construct a series of temporary trusses to support the arches over which the glazed roof would be built. The trusses were made in situ, 170 feet above the ground, on scaffolding that was supported not on the ground but on already constructed galleries around the central transept.

At about 2 p.m. on Monday 15th August 1853 Mr Chamberlain, a medical man, was walking down Anerley Hill. He heard a sharp noise "like the falling of a plank". He then heard "a loud crack" and saw a large part of the scaffolding in the central transept give way. There was "a great cry followed by a tremendous crash" and he saw (in an unfortunate but graphic phrase) "workmen dropping like partridges". Mr Chamberlain hurried to the central transept where he saw, amongst the debris of the fallen scaffolding, "sixteen or seventeen workmen, dead and dying". In fact, twelve men died, five were injured and one, amazingly, survived quite unhurt. The precise cause of the accident was never determined, and the coroner's inquest was unable to apportion blame. However Messers Fox & Henderson, the building contractors, decided that future scaffolding would be built from the ground rather than from the galleries.

The Times reported that the accident was: "...an example of the risks to which the working classes are exposed in the course of their employment... The character of the building in which the accident occurred and the favour in which it is regarded by the public insure for this melancholy event an unusual degree of sympathy. These men have perished while engaged upon the construction of a building unparalleled for its magnitude, for the originality of everything connected with it, for its social objects, and for the manner in which it is to be carried out... How little will these [men] be remembered bye and bye when the people are in full enjoyment of their Palace and everything but its transcendent splendour is forgotten".

But these men are remembered, and the Crystal Palace itself has gone. Ten of the dead share a grave, 16 feet deep, in St Bartholomew's churchyard. Their grave is marked by a large flat stone surrounded by a low railing to the right of the middle path, from Westwood Hill to the south porch. It is shaded by a yew tree. Although the inscription is now barely legible those buried in this grave were: James Wardlow, Joseph Copping, George Rolph Smith, George Topham, William Hardy, John Foreman, William James, Henry Fielding, Henry Reading and William Harris. The last two died in Guy's Hospital and were buried in the grave on the following day, 19th August 1853.

An architectural adviser from English Heritage recently visited the monument, and reported on its condition, giving advice on repair and preservation. It is hoped that resources will become available at least to prevent further deterioration and, perhaps, to restore the monument.


Footnote: this article was first published in 2000; the grave was restored and rededicated in 2003.

Cobb’s Department Store, Sydenham

There are more pictures of Cobb's here

For 70 years or more Cobb's was perhaps the most prestigious department store in SE London. In 1900 The Times mentioned it in the same paragraph as Debenham & Freebody, D H Evans, Harvey Nichols, John Lewis and Marshal & Snelgrove. Cobb's was founded by Walter Cobb in 1860 and closed in 1981.

Walter,the son of Frederick and Maria Cobb, was born at Mercery Lane, Canterbury in 1835. His father was a grocer, his shop within yards of the entrance to Cathedral Close. By 1851, when he was 15, Walter was an assistant at a draper’s shop in Dover.

In 1860 he came to Sydenham and opened his own draper’s shop. It was in a newly built parade of shops called Lawrie Place, between what is now Spring Hill and Peak Hill Gardens. His original shop was on the site of the present 301 Kirkdale and Cobb called it “Regent House”, a name that still survives. Walter Cobb, his new wife Mary and two sales assistants lived above the shop.
Walter Cobb was an astute businessman, and the shop prospered. Over the next 30 years he acquired other shops in the terrace, on either side of his original shop. By 1898 Cobb's store extended from 297 to 301 Kirkdale. He also bought other property in Sydenham: 270 and 272 Kirkdale (St Christopher’s Hospice and the paint shop), a depository in Silverdale (recently converted to flats) and 1-3 Railway Approach where he had an estate agents and funeral parlour. Cobb’s became the leading store for the fashion conscious of Sydenham and a considerable area around. People even travelled from Bromley to shop at there.

The shop that Walter Cobb must have coveted most, the present 301 Kirkdale, on the corner of Spring Hill, remained unavailable. From 1861 it had been a butcher’s shop, owned by William Glass. In about 1900 the shop finally became available and Cobb lost no time in rebuilding it to provide a grand entrance to his department store. The upper floors had large arched windows, the central one surmounted by a pediment with carved decoration and the date it was built, "1902". Above this was a lead-covered dome, topped by a flagpole.

Walter Cobb lived above his original shop for a few years, then in Silverdale Lodge, Silverdale and Peak Hill Avenue. In about 1898 he moved to The Old Cedars (then called "Wunderbau") before finally moving to Sussex where he spent his retirement growing prize-winning orchids. He died in 1922.

On 25 October 1940 Cobb's was hit by a bomb. About "three quarters of the building was destroyed with all contents”. The principal material loss was most of the original Lawrie Place. The surviving parts of the building, mainly the 1902 rebuild, was “adapted and fixtured to maintain the restaurant and other departments in condensed form”. Cobb’s suffered other damage, and after the war was rebuilt and restored.

During the restoration much interesting detail was lost. The arches of the second floor windows were filled in. The stonework in the pediment was plastered over, and “1860” (the date the shop was founded) replaced the original “1902” (the date of the building). Cobb’s declined, and finally ceased trading in 1981

In 1997, when the 1902 building was converted to flats, the the original window arches were exposed and restored and the carved stonework in the pediment (and date) was revealed.

Louise House, Dartmouth Road

To the “disappointment” of some but the delight of many the Girls’ Industrial Home, between Forest Hill pools and the library and popularly known as Louise House, was recently listed Grade II by English Heritage. The EH report noted the building’s historic and architectural interest, its association with several distinguished people and its value as part of a group of striking Victorian buildings.

Industrial Homes developed from the Ragged School movement of the mid-19 century. These schools sought to give children a basic education and sufficient training to earn an honest living. However, it was believed that some children would only prosper if they were removed from the corrupting influence of their home environment; the industrial homes, often established in pleasant locations, provided that refuge; they were intended to be “home” for the children.

The first industrial home in Forest Hill, for boys, was opened in 1873 at 17 Rojack Road. In 1881 a girls’ home was opened at 16 Rojack Road. These two houses (which still survive) proved too small and in 1884 a purpose built boys’ industrial home, Shaftesbury House, Perry Rise, was opened by the Lord Mayor of London in the presence of the Earl of Shaftesbury, patron of the home. This building was needlessly demolished in 2000.

The four buildings fronting Dartmouth Road comprising Holy Trinity School, Forest Hill Library, Louise House (all three listed Grade II) and the pools were built within 25 years of each other and shared a common purpose, the welfare of less advantaged people in Forest Hill, Sydenham and beyond. They provided opportunities for education, religious instruction, exercise, cleanliness and training for a trade. Until fairly recently all four buildings were in use for the same, or very similar, purposes as those for which they were intended.

The history of the site began in 1819 when Sydenham Common (500 acres of open land in Upper Sydenham and Forest Hill) was enclosed. Since time immemorial the common had provided local people with certain rights such as free access, grazing livestock, gathering firewood, hunting and holding fairs. With enclosure the common was divided into small plots that were fenced to keep out trespassers. These plots were awarded to those who already owned land in Lewisham. Thus, as so often happens, the wealthy benefitted at the expense of the poor.

One of the beneficiaries was the Vicar of Lewisham who was awarded the large field on which these four buildings were to be erected. This field, known as Vicar’s Field, was originally let as allotments to those who had lost their common rights. As circumstances changed, the vicar (from 1854 the Vicar of St Bartholomew’s became the freeholder) was persuaded to make parts of this field available for purposes he deemed to be socially worthwhile. During the early 1870s Vicar’s Field was one of the sites proposed for a public recreation ground but the vicar decided such a use was not a good enough reason to deprive the poor of their allotments. An alternative site was found, now known as Mayow Park.

However, the vicar did agree to make part of the field available for a church school and in 1874 Holy Trinity School was opened. This was followed by the pools in 1885, Louise House in 1891 and finally the library in 1901.

Among local benefactors of the industrial homes FJ Horniman was one of the most generous as were several members of the Tetley family, Forest Hill’s other famous tea merchants. Princess Louise retained an interest in the building that bore her name.

Thomas Aldwinckle (1845-1920) was the principal architect of both the pools and Louise House. Although he built hospitals and workhouses across the south east (including Brook Hospital and the water tower on Shooters Hill, and the important Kentish Town baths) he was very much a local architect. He lived in Forest Hill for almost all his working life, at 1 Church Rise, Forest Hill from the mid-1870s until the mid-1880s and then at Saratoga, 62 Dacres Road until about 1908. His house in Dacres Road survives between Hennel Close and Catling Close, and was almost certainly designed by him.

Perhaps the most important person connected with Louise House was Janusz Korczak, a Polish Jew from Warsaw who wrote that he was inspired by a visit to Louise House in 1911 to found a similar institution in Poland. As a result of his experience at Louise House Korczak developed the idea that “the key to a happy and useful adult life lay in childhood; hurt the child and you hurt the adult.” He became an active campaigner for children’s rights which culminated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, later adopted by the United Nations. In 1942 Korczak, 12 members of his staff and 192 children at his orphanage were rounded up by the Nazis. Korczak was given the chance to escape but he would not abandon his children. The group was transported to the Treblinka extermination camp; that is the last that was heard of them.

Louise House remained a girls’ home (the word “Industrial” was carefully removed in about 1930) until the mid-1930s. By 1939 it was occupied by Air Raid Precautions and after the war it became a child welfare centre. Louise House was closed and boarded-up in 2005. The crèche in the laundry block at the back of Louise House, which continued the tradition of caring for young people, finally closed earlier this year after more than 25 years service.

Louise House is a rare survivor of a purpose built industrial home, made all the more important because it is largely intact, both inside and out. We are fortunate that its importance has been recognised and it has been saved for posterity.

All Saint's Church Bell, Sydenham

All Saints Church, Trewsbury Road, cannot now be seen to best advantage. The most visible part is the unattractive west end, which was never finished. The rest of the exterior (now obscured by more recent building), and the interior, are of exceptional quality, and the building is listed Grade II.All Saints’ Bell, which was hung on an external wall under a small shelter at the NW end, has not been heard for many years, perhaps since World War II. It was recently taken down for cleaning and restoration. On removing the corrosion and bird droppings the restorers noticed the remains of an inscription round the waist of the bell. It read “ROYAL EXCHANGE 1844”. Apparently, this discovery caused great excitement amongst bell historians. Research was undertaken to discover how a bell, clearly destined for the Royal Exchange, ended up in a church in Sydenham that was not built until 1903.

The Royal Exchange was destroyed by fire in 1838, and was rebuilt during the early 1840s. It stands between the Bank of England and the Mansion House, at the heart of the City of London. The bells of the Royal Exchange have been an integral part of the sounds of the City since at least 1601. When the Exchange was rebuilt it was agreed that a suitably impressive peal of bells should be part of the design. However, there was protracted controversy over the quality of the bells, experts disagreed and acrimoniously questioned each other’s competence, new bells were cast, and still there was disagreement.
The company that cast the bells, Mears of Whitechapel, invoiced a bell to “The New Church at Sydenham” on 21 Dec 1844. The term “New Church” is misleading. St Bartholomew’s, then only 12 years old, was often referred to as the new church, but it already had a bell. However, in 1845 the Episcopal Chapel (on the corner of Sydenham Road and Trewsbury Road - see illustration) was “thoroughly repaired… when a small spire in the early English style was added”. If there was a spire, there should surely be a bell to go in it. From the end of the 18th century, Christ Church, as the chapel was then called, was a chapel of ease for the fairly distant parish church of St Mary’s, Lewisham. The congregation had little money to buy a bell, so they bought a reject, or “scrapper”, one of the bells originally intended for the Royal Exchange.
When All Saints (the dedication was changed to avoid confusion with Christ Church, Forest Hill) was built in 1903, and the Episcopal Chapel became All Saints Church Hall, the bell was moved to the new church. It is likely that around this time the spire on the chapel was removed. The restored bell will soon be reinstated and, after fifty years of silence, a sound that first summoned the faithful of Sydenham to prayer nearly 160 years ago will be heard once again.

Forest Hill Station

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During the early 1880s people were writing to the local papers complaining about the shabby condition of Forest Hill Station; the grubby appearance and poor accessibility of the station underpass; trains that were untidy, over-crowded and often late - issues still causing anxiety and annoyance to Forest Hill residents.


There was also an East London Railway, connecting Liverpool Street station with East Croydon. It used Marc Brunel's pioneering Thames Tunnel, a pedestrian tunnel opened in 1843, and still used by the ELL between Shadwell and Wapping. The tunnel was converted to rail use, and by 1876 a service was in operation, connecting Croydon with Liverpool Street via New Cross Gate. This service continued until 1913.

The present uninspiring station is Forest Hill's fourth. The second was built to the south of the present subway, in 1854. By the 1870s letters were appearing in the local press vigorously criticising the station's inadequacies. It was too small, uncomfortable and often over-crowded. In bad weather, passengers waiting on the platforms for the frequently delayed or cancelled trains were offered little protection from the elements and, when the trains did arrive, they were often over-crowded and dirty. In 1879 the local newspaper, The Sydenham, Forest Hill and Penge Gazette, described the station as "a scandal to the locality". So began a campaign led by local businessmen, residents and the press, and supported by the local authority, to persuade the operator, the London Brighton & South Coast Railway, to improve matters.

Work on a new station began in early 1882 and was completed by March 1883. However, the campaigners kept up the pressure with a barrage of complaints about how long the project was taking. By today's standards, a mere four years from the time these grievances were first aired at a public meeting to the opening of the new station (including road widening and rebuilding the underpass) seems expeditious.

The new station was indeed impressive. Older readers may remember the unusual Romanesque building, with its imposing clock tower. A worthy centrepiece to Forest Hill, it came about largely in response to the vociferous campaigning of local residents, supported by the local press.

The original subway, built in the early 1840s, was sloped rather than stepped. Although described as dirtier than a pigsty, it was easily accessible. From its opening in 1883 the rebuilt subway attracted criticism for its inaccessibility, principally for the "27 steps … a piece of positive cruelty". There are still 27 steps, and they are still causing difficulty for many users.

The station was severely damaged by a flying bomb in 1944 and demolished in 1972 to be replaced by what is the smallest, meanest and least attractive of all the stations that have served Forest Hill.

It is a sad irony that local people are still voicing the same concerns about the station, about the underpass and about over-crowded and unreliable trains as they were 120 years ago.

W Reginald Bray, the autograph king

For more information, and examples of some of his cards, there is an excellent site on W Reginald Bray here

In 1899 a young man began sending postcards to people who had achieved some measure of success or notoriety. He asked them to sign the card, and return it to him. In time he accumulated several thousand cards, autographed by soldiers (for example, Lord Roberts, who had a house in Sydenham for a short time), politicians (Lloyd George, Woodrow Wilson), sportsmen (including W G Grace, who lived in Lawrie Park Road), churchmen (he wrote to the Pope in Latin), actors, explorers (including Shackleton, who lived next to St Barts), scientists (John Logie Baird, who lived in Crescent Wood Road) and authors.

He also collected the signatures of many less well-known people: the first person to write while flying in an aeroplane, the policeman who stopped Churchill driving the wrong way up a one-way street and he wanted the entire population of Tristan da Cunha, although they didn't all sign. He claimed to be the owner of the largest collection of modern autographs in the world, and he proclaimed himself "The Autograph King".

He was, in reality, W Reginald Bray, born at 155 Stanstead Road (on the site of the present fire station) in 1879. Reggie (as he was called by his family), attended St Dunstan's College from 1889 to 1895. His family moved to 135 Devonshire Road in about 1899, and at this time Reggie began sending postcards and other postal curios.

Bray was a clerk in the City and each evening, on his return from work, he would write his cards, and post them. There was, and still is, a pillar-box almost directly outside his house in Devonshire Road. It is an octagonal "Penfold" (designed by the architect J W Penfold in 1866, with several variations). There are two Penfolds in Devonshire Road, both listed Grade II. The box outside Bray's house is of the fifth type, and is one of only eight surviving examples. One would like to think that the presence of such an unusual pillar-box outside his house provided the inspiration for Reggie's lifelong passion.

Between 1899 and 1939 Bray amassed a collection of over 15,000 autographs. He posted over 30,000 requests and, as he pointed out ruefully, half of those failed to respond, including George V, Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler. After several requests to Hitler he received a firm but polite refusal, stating that as the Fuhrer was already overburdened with work would Bray "refrain from further letters in this regard".

Many of Bray's cards were chosen to reflect the recipient's interests; the stationmaster of Forest Hill station signed a postcard of the station, MPs were asked to sign cards of the Palace of Westminster and I have a postcard of an advertisement for Nestlé's Milk, signed by Henri Nestlé.

During the 1930s Bray appeared on the radio programme "In Town Tonight", not because of his autograph collection but as "The Human Letter". Apparently, he posted himself. One imagines Reginald, wrapped in brown paper and stuffed into a mailbag, but the truth is simpler. He lived not far from the then newly opened Postmen's Office in Devonshire Road. I suspect he turned up there, perhaps with an address label and the correct postage, and was taken home by a postman. He also claimed to have posted, amongst other things, a turnip with the name, address and message carved on it!

Reginald seemed to enjoy challenging the postal service; his addresses were often inaccurate, sometimes misleading. One of his earliest postcards was addressed to "Daughter of the Postman who has walked 232,872 miles, Kirriemuir PO". It never reached its destination.

Between about 1909 and 1911 Reginald lived at 13 Queenswood Road, moving to Queens Garth, Taymount Rise in 1912. He lived at Queens Garth until 1938 when he moved to Croydon to be nearer to his family. He died in June 1939.

Sydenham VC holders

Sydenham can boast several VC holders. The earliest holder I could find was Private Harry Hook (1850-1905) who received his VC at Rorke's Drift, Natal, in 1879. He bought his discharge in June 1880 and came to live on Sydenham Hill. However by March 1881 he was working as a groom in Monmouthshire (he probably did similar work in one of the large houses on Sydenham Hill), so his links with Sydenham were short-lived.

Major Francis Harvey (1873-1916) has a rather stronger connection as he was born in Sydenham, although I haven't yet been able to establish where. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916, and his VC was awarded posthumously.

Our next VC technically lived in Camberwell. Commander Gordon Campbell (1886-1953) was the seventh son of Colonel Frederick Campbell who lived at 2 Crescent Wood Road, Sydenham Hill from about 1882 until his death in 1926. Gordon attended Dulwich College and on leaving in 1900 joined the navy. He won his VC in February 1917, as commander of a Q-ship (a tramp steamer armed with hidden guns and torpedoes, intended to lure U-boats). Gordon Campbell's nephew, Lt Col Lorne Campbell (who grew up in a house near the petrol station on Crystal Palace Parade) also won a VC, during World War 2.

However, Philip Gardner had the strongest links with Sydenham. His father, Stanley, lived at 37 Trewsbury Road from about 1914. Stanley ran the family business, J Gardner & Co, Monument Works, Beckenham. They made air-conditioning equipment.

Pip was born in Sydenham on Christmas Day, 1914. He attended Dulwich College 1928-1932 and, on leaving, went to work in the family firm. In 1938 he joined the Westminster Dragoons, Territorial Army (confiding to a friend: "I must do my duty, but I'm no soldier"). In 1940 he was commissioned into the Royal Tank Regiment and in April 1941 was posted to North Africa.

In June 1941 Pip was awarded the MC. Several tanks had entered a minefield in Libya, and become immobilised. The senior officer, inspecting the damage, stepped on a mine. Pip jumped from his own tank and walked through enemy machine-gun fire to the injured officer. He returned to his tank to get morphine, and went back to the officer. The man was dying, so Gardner stayed with him until the end, still under machine-gun fire. He then led the tanks back to safety.

Five months later, at Tobruk, Pip won his VC. He took two tanks to assist two armoured cars, broken down and easy targets for enemy gunfire. Pip tied a tow-rope to one of the cars. It broke, so he returned to the car and, despite wounds to his arm and leg, he managed to carry a wounded man back to the tank, and eventually safety, all the time under heavy fire. The citation said: "The courage, determination and complete disregard for his own safety … enabled him, despite his wounds and in the face of intense fire at close range, to save the life of his fellow officer in circumstances fraught with great difficulty and danger" or, as he put it in a letter to his parents: "I went back again and got the poor chap out of the car and on to the tank and set off again".

Pip Gardner died in 2003 aged 88. He showed genuine heroism, all the more impressive because of his modesty. One obituary described him as "the most delightful of men, combining modesty, courage and charm with sensitivity and strength of character". When he was 71 he caught a robber in the street, and held him until police arrived. Afterwards he commented to his companion: "Well, that got the adrenaline going a bit!"

Pip sold the engineering side of the business in 1988, but remained chairman of J Gardner Holdings until 2001. Although he long ago moved from the area, the Gardner Industrial Estate, in Kent House Lane, is a tangible reminder of his close links with Sydenham.

I am very grateful to Jan Piggott for providing much information on Pip Gardner.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a theologian, author, vehement opponent of Nazism and martyr. He was also, for a short time, pastor of the German Church in Dacres Road.

The original German Church was consecrated in 1882, but was severely damaged during World War 2. It remained a burnt-out shell until the late 1950s when the present church was built on the site, and named after its most famous pastor.

Bonhoeffer was at the church for 18 months, from late 1933 to Spring 1935. During this time he lived at 2 Manor Mount, Forest Hill where there is a plaque, hidden by a large shrub. The Parsonage, as it was called, consisted of two rooms at the top of the house; the rest was occupied by a German girls' school. The house was described by one of Bonhoeffer's visitors as "uninviting and cold… damp air penetrated through the windows" and it was infested by mice. Things got worse. The same visitor wrote that the housekeeper had "all of a sudden gone mad and had to be taken to a home".

In 1935 Bonhoeffer returned to Germany to continue the struggle against Nazism. He was an active and outspoken critic, who offered one of the first clear voices of resistance to Adolf Hitler, and for this he paid the ultimate price. He was arrested by the Nazis in Spring 1943 for helping a group of Jews escape to Switzerland. He was held in various concentration camps, and finally hanged on 9 April 1945.

In 1998 Bonhoeffer was one of ten 20th century Protestant martyrs commemorated by statues on the west front of Westminster Abbey.

A brief history of the Dolphin

Records suggest that Sydenham's three oldest surviving public houses were founded within several years of each other; the Greyhound in 1726, the Golden Lion in 1732 and the Dolphin in 1733.

The earliest mention of the Dolphin is in the Parish Register of St Mary's, Lewisham which records that on 1 July 1733 "Stephen son of Richard Peke from Sippenham, ye Dolphin" was buried (note the earlier spelling of "Sydenham"). Stephen had been baptised in St Mary's only a couple of months earlier.

It is likely that the building occupied by Richard Peake was a farmhouse, the centre of a farm that extended towards Perry Vale. At the start of his tenancy Peake was probably principally a farmer, but also a publican. Berryman's Lane and then Mayow Road follow a field-path on his land between Sydenham Road and Perry Vale.

Richard Peake was at the Dolphin from 1733 until 1769, not only the first but also the Dolphin's longest serving publican. For more than 200 years after his tenancy ended there was a long succession of publicans who generally only stayed for a few years.

The Dolphin was on Sydenham's largest estate, centred around the Old House. This estate extended along Sydenham Road from the Dolphin to the Greyhound, and north as far as Perry Vale. It was created by Edward Hodsdon between 1713 and 1719. It cannot be coincidence that although the Greyhound and the Dolphin were on the estate, they were at its margins. It seems likely that both were encouraged to become public houses as a further source of revenue for Edward Hodsdon, who made his money as a Southwark wine merchant, but kept at a safe distance from his house.

After the death of the last owner of the Old House estate, Mayow Wynell Adams, in 1897 the land was sold, mostly for development. It was probably at this time that the Dolphin was acquired by Courage, of Horsleydown, Bermondsey.

During the 1930s whatever remained of the original building disappeared when Courage decided to rebuild the Dolphin. Their in-house architect, F M Kirby FRIBA, drew up plans for a new building in the then popular "Brewers' Tudor" style. It had lounge, saloon, private and public bars (patrons were carefully segregated by social classes and gender). The plans were approved on 28 Nov 1935 and during 1936 the new building was opened for custom.

One question remains; why was a pub so far from the sea called "The Dolphin"? Although dolphins feature in the arms of the Borough of Lewisham that was only from 1966. However, for centuries dolphins were believed to protect sailors and, by extension, became emblematic of safe travel, kindness and charity. "The Dolphin", therefore, is a most appropriate name for an inn at which travellers would rest and take refreshment before continuing their journey.

The Greyhound, Sydenham

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There has been an inn on this site since 1720, and possibly as early as 1713. Joseph Hyde was the first recorded landlord, mentioned in 1726, and the inn is first referred to as The Greyhound in 1727, and again in 1729 when parish registers record the burial of Joseph Hyde in St Mary's Church, Lewisham. The oldest part of the building, made of timber, was demolished several years ago. Its outline can still be seen at the side of the Greyhound, from the car park.

The inn was built on the south eastern edge of Sydenham Common. The Common, now covered by Upper Sydenham and much of Forest Hill, was used by local people for grazing animals, gathering wood, recreation, hunting and holding fairs. The earliest inn faced the common (looking across Spring Hill), and had unbroken views to the summit of Sydenham Hill. Two tracks crossed the common, one leading to Dulwich (now Westwood Hill) and the other towards London (now Kirkdale).

In about 1640 mineral springs, with alleged healing properties, were discovered on Sydenham Common, in the present Wells Park Road and Taylor's Lane area. Demand for the water increased and several wells were sunk to ensure adequate supplies. Their popularity increased and one visitor complained about the "rabble of Londoners" who came to visit the wells. Visitors were accused of mixing the water with "brandy or other strong liquors" (supplied by local inns), and then blaming their hangovers on the water! Wealthier visitors to the Sydenham Wells would have required lodgings and this could have been one reason for building the inn. The popularity of the Wells peaked with a visit from George III (in about 1760) but then declined. The wells were filled in. During the late 19C the last remaining well was described as "a dirty pool and the water very nasty".

The Greyhound Inn, like inns at Dulwich, Streatham and Croydon with the same name, was used as a meeting place for local hunts. Greyhounds were bred for hunting, using speed and keenness of sight. During the 18C and until 1812 or later, the Old Surrey Hounds (the fictional Jorrock's pack) would meet at the Greyhound. The Old Surrey hunted an area that covered Brockley, Sydenham, Dulwich, Peckham and Croydon. Sydenham and Forest Hill were particularly noted during the 18C for having a large fox population.

Trade at the Greyhound Inn was boosted with the building of the Croydon Canal, which operated between 1807 and 1836. The canal connected Croydon with the Thames and followed roughly the line of the present railway track from New Cross Gate to Sydenham and beyond. The inn provided refreshment for the 'navvies' who built the canal and was also a resting place for those who used the canal for work or recreation.

The poet Thomas Campbell lived on Peak Hill between 1804 and 1820. He regularly used the Greyhound and apparently entertained some of his distinguished visitors (who included Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron, George Crabbe and Sarah Siddons) at the inn. Sir Charles Bell (a Scottish surgeon) writes of an evening spent with Campbell at the Greyhound when the poet returned home "not drunk, but in excellent spirits". Other accounts suggest that there were occasions when he had to be helped home to bed.

An early painting shows pleasure boats moored against a landing stage near the inn, known as Doo's Wharf. Certainly in 1807 the inn had a boat and boat-house, as the landlord was accused of not allowing his boat to be used to rescue a man who had fallen into the canal reservoir and drowned. The man had been trying to retrieve a duck he had shot.

A major change to the character of the area resulted from the passing of the Enclosure Act of 1810. This proposed the enclosure of all common land in Lewisham, except for Blackheath. From about 1820 what had been open common, from the Greyhound to the top of Sydenham Hill and from Westwood Hill to Honor Oak Road, was fenced in and gradually built over.

The Croydon Canal failed and in 1836 the London & Croydon Railway Company bought its assets. They built a railway, roughly along the line of the canal, which opened in 1839. A station, almost adjacent to the inn, gave yet another boost to the Greyhound.

Sydenham was becoming a thriving and populous suburb and there was obviously a need for a more modern and prestigious inn. In 1873 an application was submitted to the Board of Works by Abraham Steer, a Norwood builder, to add an extension to the southern side of the building, fronting on to Kirkdale. Much of the interesting detail of the inn dates from this time.
The character of the Greyhound Inn has undergone a number of changes over more than 270 years. It has, at different times, provided strong refreshment for visitors to Sydenham Wells, been a meeting place for local huntsmen, refreshed those boating on the Croydon Canal, played host to Georgian literati and quenched the thirst of clerks returning from their offices in the City.

Kirkdale Learning Centre

As it now seems probable that the main part of the Kirkdale Learning Centre was built to the designs of Sir Joseph Paxton, I thought it might be worth tracing the history of the building, and its contribution to the community.

Incidentally, although it has been suggested that the Kirkdale Learning Centre might be used to raise funds for changes to Forest Hill Pools, I have been assured that this is really not the case.

The origins of the building can be traced back to about 1853, when the Crystal Palace was still being erected on Sydenham Hill. Sir Joseph Paxton, architect of the Crystal Palace, was approached by John Scott Russell, (also closely involved with the Crystal Palace) who had just moved from his cottage in Charlecote Grove to be nearer to the Palace. Scott Russell asked Sir Joseph about the possibility of building a scaled down version of the Crystal Palace, as an "Institution" for the working men of Sydenham.

Nothing further is recorded until in 1858 a meeting was held where it was agreed to build a lecture hall in Sydenham along the lines of the Mechanics' Institutes. These institutes were intended as "self-improving working men's adult education colleges", often funded by wealthy local people and offering free lectures on arts, science and technical subjects. They might include a library and newspaper reading room, and sometimes also a school.

A suitable site was bought with the help of a loan from Robert Harrild, of Round Hill. Sir Joseph Paxton was asked to produce designs for the building, which he did. Unfortunately funds were not sufficient to follow his designs fully, and they were modified by Henry Dawson. The foundation stone was laid on 12 October 1859 by Alderman David Wire, Lord Mayor of London, who lived at Stone House, Lewisham Way.

The building was officially opened by Sir Joseph on 15th January 1861. From the beginning he had been closely involved with the institute and was described as its "originator". He was appointed its first president and a trustee. Other trustees included Scott Russell and Sir George Grove.

The building included provision for a school on the ground floor. The British School, which had been founded near the Golden Lion in 1851, moved into the new building in January 1861. A girls' school opened a couple of months later, apparently on the first floor. British Schools were non-denominational, set up as an alternative to the National Schools, such as St Bart's, which were strongly Anglican.

As it now seems probable that the main part of the Kirkdale Learning Centre was built to the designs of Sir Joseph Paxton, I thought it might be worth tracing the history of the building, and its contribution to the community.

Incidentally, although it has been suggested that the Kirkdale Learning Centre might be used to raise funds for changes to Forest Hill Pools, I have been assured that this is really not the case.
Since its opening the building has been used almost continuously for community and educational purposes. In 1876 the School Board for London became responsible for the British School, and it was renamed Sydenham Central School for Boys. Then, in 1905, the LCC took over responsibility. They renamed it Sydenham County Secondary School (and, for a while, Shackleton Girls School). In 1917 the school moved into new premises in Dartmouth Road to become today's Sydenham School.

The building was enlarged in 1904 with wings and large chimneys at each side, and a single storey extension across the front. Above the entrance are the words "Sydenham Central School". Behind these extensions the original building rises, in a style described as "Italian Renaissance". The detail and colour of the brickwork are worth a close look.

The contemporary drawing above, which has recently come to light, shows the building as it was intended, with two towers that were never built, and extending further back, but the main block appears very much as it survives today. Although much of the building is now pebble-dashed, I suspect this was applied when the Edwardian extensions were built. The outline of the five tall ground-floor windows can still be seen within the modern extension. All this suggests, therefore, that the present building is nothing less than the central block of Sir Joseph Paxton's original design.

Boys' Industrial Home, Perry Rise

Early in 2000 Shaftesbury House, 67 Perry Rise was demolished. This building was the "Forest Hill Boys' Industrial Home".

The original Boys' Industrial Home was opened at 17 Rojack Road on 3 May 1873 "for the reception and industrial training of destitute boys". There were just six boys in the home in 1873. By 1875 the home included 16 Rojack Road (both these houses still survive), and the number of boys had increased to nine.

The purpose of the home was to ensure that "a boy is rescued from the perils of the street, fed, clothed, housed, educated [they attended Christ Church School] and taught a trade [shoe-mending for the older boys while the younger ones made bundles of firewood to sell], and finally started in life with a fair prospect of doing well".

The home was largely supported by voluntary contributions. As usual, F J Horniman was a major benefactor - he subscribed 18 guineas a year, the annual cost of supporting one child. Further support came from the Reformatory and Refuge Union. This was a national organization, founded by the great philanthropist the Earl of Shaftesbury, to offer grants and advice to homes set up to help deprived and destitute children. The Union also provided annual inspections and reports on the homes.

Admission to the home was carefully controlled. Children needed a recommendation, and the committee offered places to "those whom they know to be destitute, or the children of poverty-stricken parents".

By 1881 there were 25 boys in the home. The committee felt that having the school in two houses was inefficient. Finally they found a suitable site for a new home in Perry Rise. Thomas Aldwinckle, an active member of the committee, was a young architect living at that time in Church Rise, Forest Hill. He agreed to make plans for the new home. Aldwinckle was responsible for several other local buildings including Forest Hill Pools, the old Ladywell Baths and the Girls' Industrial Home at Louise House, Dartmouth Road.

As the president of the Boys' Industrial Home the Earl of Shaftesbury laid the foundation stone on 18 June 1883. The 83 year-old earl returned to Forest Hill on 13 May 1884 to attend the formal opening. This was clearly quite an event. The Daily Dispatch reported that the Lord Mayor of London "attended in state". Other guests included Viscount Lewisham and the Hon and Rev Canon Augustus Legge, vicar of St Bartholomew's Church. "The road from the Forest Hill station", the paper continues, "which is known as Perry Rise, was gaily decorated with bunting...a large number of residents turned out to cheer the Lord Mayor". The Home was called Shaftesbury House, in honour of its president. Shaftesbury House continued as the Boys Industrial Home until at least 1939.

The Girls' Industrial Home originally opened in Rojack Road on 20 July 1881. In 1891 Louise House, Dartmouth Road had been completed, also to the designs of Thomas Aldwinckle. The Girls' Industrial Home gave girls the skills needed to become domestic servants.

When I realised that the building had been demolished I contacted the Council Planning Department to find the reasons. They knew nothing about it. I finally spoke to someone from the Education Department who admitted that they were responsible for the demolition. The principal reasons he gave were that squatters had occupied the building, and the land would allow an extension to the adjacent school. He was unaware of the historical significance of the building, or that an important local architect designed it. When I mentioned these points to him he implied that they were irrelevant. He also saw no need to consult with, or even take account of, local opinion. Four years on the site is derelict, with only a pile of rubble to show where the Forest Hill Boys' Industrial Home once stood.

Scandal of Lewisham's first mayor

The closure of the Sydenham branch of Barclays Bank and its reopening as the ACTS Credit Union, opposite the Greyhound, set me thinking about the colourful career of one of its former employees. During the 1880s the bank was known as the London & South Western Bank (it was taken over by Barclays in 1918) and its manager was Theophilus William Williams, a man described (perhaps with some exaggeration) as "the biggest crook the borough has ever known". He was also, for many years, the most powerful political figure in Lewisham (one account describes him as "virtually dictator").

Williams came from humble origins. He was born in a workhouse in East London in 1846. By March 1871 he was lodging in a house in Longton Grove and working as a bank clerk.

In December 1871 he married Jane Dexter, a wealthy heiress, at the Church in the Grove, Jews Walk (now the Grove Centre). Although only a bank clerk his marriage certificate describes him as a "gentleman". Probably from the time of his marriage (he has, after all, married into money) he was living at Shirley House, 133 High Street (now Dartmouth Road, on the site of Sydenham School). By 1876 he had risen to become the manager of the L&SW bank. He had also moved house, to Borrowdale, 13 Westwood Hill (this still survives, on the corner of Lawrie Park Gardens).

Williams was a lay preacher at the Church in the Grove during the 1870s and, apparently, could draw large crowds. However, it was in local politics that he used his oratorical skills to best effect, and through which he pursued his ambitions. In 1876 he was elected to the Lewisham Vestry, and was elected to the Lewisham Board of Works the following year. In 1882 he became Chairman of the Board of Works, a position he held until the board was dissolved in 1900, when the Metropolitan Borough of Lewisham was formed. He was then elected Mayor of Lewisham and, in 1901-1902, served a second term in that office. During this time he represented Sydenham on the council. For twenty years, between 1882-1902, he was the most powerful politician in Lewisham. He was also a magistrate, and he represented Lewisham on the LCC.

During the mid 1880s Williams retired from the bank and became proprietor of the Kentish Mail, a small chain of local newspapers. A sympathetic newspaper is perhaps the most useful aid an ambitious politician can have.

It is clear that Williams was a persuasive public speaker, and a person of some charm and charisma. Many years later a former employee described him as "a dominating personality … (with) tremendous charm and forcefulness". He was a veritable model of the Victorian self-made man, with a seemingly selfless devotion to public service. It was during his second term as Mayor, however, that "unwholesome rumours" began to circulate about his private life.

In fact, Williams was not self-made. Other people paid for his respectability and extravagant lifestyle. Through fraud and embezzlement he persuaded them to part with their money. He had, after all, been a bank manager, and people trusted him. He spent both his wife and sister-in-law’s inheritance, under the guise of managing it. He was the trustee of a widow, and lost her money; he embezzled his employees out of their savings (it was claimed he forced them to invest in his companies as a test of loyalty).

It was not until 1908 that matters finally came to a head. He was summoned to appear at Lambeth County Court to face bankruptcy proceedings. The investigation was impeded because Williams had burnt most of his business records. It is clear that his business affairs were highly irregular, involving his use of false names; business colleagues who had died, gone missing, or whom he simply couldn’t remember; loans to himself from trusts he was managing and gifts to people whom he "didn’t know". During the proceedings Williams attempted to flee to France, but was recognised and arrested at Liverpool Street Station.

As a consequence of his bankruptcy examination he was summoned to appear at the Greenwich Magistrates’ Court (where he himself had been a magistrate) to answer charges of obtaining money under false pretences.

However, the case never came to court. On the day of his trial, 11 Nov 1908, the magistrate was informed that Williams was dead. The inquest was held a few days later. Williams had taken an overdose of morphia (it seems that he was a regular user of this drug, at least during the last weeks of his life) and the jury returned a verdict of "suicide during temporary insanity". The coroner quibbled with this and the agreed verdict was "death from an overdose of morphia, self-administered". This avoided the stigma of suicide – clearly an attempt by the coroner to save something of the reputation of the former mayor and magistrate.

This was not the end of Theophilus William Williams. His name lives on, particularly in Sydenham and Forest Hill. It is to be found on the foundation stones of Forest Hill Library, Forest Hill Swimming Baths, and the Jews Walk fountain. Elsewhere in the borough it is on the foundation stones of the old Lewisham Central Library and Ladywell Swimming Baths. It is ironic that a man so corrupt should leave behind such a worthy legacy.

A Brief History of Lawrie Park

Lawrie Park takes its name from the Lawrie family, several generations of whom owned extensive land and several large houses in Sydenham. In 1806, Andrew Lawrie bought the newly rebuilt Sydenham Hall (to which Hall Drive once led). He was a major under Wellington, died at Burgos in 1812 and has a memorial in St Bartholomew’s church. The family also owned Westwood House, which was on the site of the Shenewood estate.

When the Great Exhibition of 1851 closed, the Crystal Palace Company was formed to re-erect an enlarged building within a grand park. To this end they bought nearly 400 acres of land on the slopes of Sydenham Hill. An 1852 map of their property shows that the estate included not only the present Crystal Palace Park but also (with a few exceptions) the present Lawrie Park estate. The original site acquired by the Company extended from Crystal Palace Parade in the west to the railway line between Sydenham and Anerley in the east. The southern boundary was Anerley Hill, and in the north, Westwood Hill formed the boundary. It is clear from the map that as early as 1852 the Company intended to raise funds by building along Crystal Palace Park Road and Sydenham and Lawrie Park Avenues.

Lawrie Park was one of five local estates built during the early 1850s and in 1858 a writer commented that Sydenham had many parks “consisting not of open spaces, but of good roads and detached or semi-detached villas”. Lawrie Park, being so close to the Palace and under the direct influence of the Crystal Palace Company, was probably the most prestigious.
George Wythes of Bickley Hall bought the site enclosed by Crystal Palace Park Road, Lawrie Park Road and Westwood Hill. Wythes made his fortune building railways, so developing housing was a new venture. On the strength of his success at Lawrie Park, he went on to develop Bickley Park. It was surely no coincidence that Wythes was a good friend of Sir Joseph Paxton.

Wythes employed William Goodwin as his builder. The Goodwin family had built houses in London Road and the Jews Walk conservation area. They now turned their attention to Lawrie Park. By 1858 there was “a large manufacture of bricks on the upper part of the land”. Charleville Circus, the final development, was built over the brickworks in the mid-1880s.

William Goodwin built Cecil House, 191 Lawrie Park Gardens, for himself in 1860, and lived there until 1862. Interestingly, Luis Zorilla, an exiled Spanish anarchist and friend of both Camille Pissarro (who painted the best known image of Lawrie Park in 1871) and Paul Gauguin, was living here in 1885. According to Gauguin’s
biographer, he travelled from France “to Cecil House in Lawrie Park where Ruiz Zorilla was now living”. So both Pissarro, in 1871, and Gauguin, in 1885, visited Lawrie Park.

Several distinguished architects have been associated with the estate. Charles Barry, the architect of Dulwich College, designed several buildings including, possibly, Holmbury Dene, 2 Lawrie Park Road. It is possible that Watson Fothergill designed Burnage Court, Lawrie Park Avenue, in 1888. Joseph Fogerty, who lived at Ashbourne, Lawrie Park Gardens, did some work for what is now Sydenham High School, including the extraordinary stable and coach-house. His daughter, Elsie, went on to found the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Other architects who lived on the Lawrie Park estate, and may have designed some of its buildings, included Henry Currey (St Bart’s lychgate and St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road), Edwin Nash (interior of St Bart’s and St Michaels School, Lower Sydenham), John Norton (houses in Crystal Palace Park Road and Tyntesfield, Somerset) and James Tolley (ACTS Credit Union building in Kirkdale). Even Forest Hill’s best known builder, Ted Christmas, had an influence. He converted Bolney Court, 3 Lawrie Park Road, to flats where he spent the last few years of his life, dying there in 1935.

Although so few of the original buildings survive, the wide roads, grass verges, mature trees and views have helped Lawrie Park retain much of the quality and character envisaged by its creators and captured so vividly by Camille Pissarro.

The Armoury, Perry Vale

At the junction of Perry Vale and Hindsley's Place, on the opposite corner to the Foresters Arms, stood a two storey cream-painted building with a slate roof. At one time, this building played an important role in the social life of Sydenham and Forest Hill.

It is possible that between about 1847-1849 the Foresters Arms originated in this building before moving to the opposite corner of Hindsley's Place. However, a decade later the building was used for a rather unexpected, although better documented, purpose.

During the first half of the 19th century there were periodic panics over the intentions of the French, and fears that they were planning to invade England. As a result of such a scare in 1859 the Government encouraged the formation of local volunteer forces, prepared to defend the realm (or, some cynics of the time suggested, the property of the wealthy) in the event of a French invasion.

Sydenham and Forest Hill were not slow to respond to this patriotic call. A public meeting was held at the Dartmouth Arms on 29 June 1859. John Scott Russell (a naval architect of considerable note, who constructed the Great Eastern steamship) was in the chair. The proposal put to the meeting was: "That in the present state of Europe and with the view of maintaining an imposing neutrality it is essential that the defences of the Empire should be such as to defy attack. That with this view it is desirable that a volunteer force should be enrolled & that a rifle company be raised within this district to be called the Sydenham Rifle Company." There were just three dissenters who supported an amendment that it was not desirable to raise a Volunteer Rifle Corps.

A committee was formed, under the chairmanship of John Scott Russell, to carry through this proposal. Other wealthy and influential local people served on the committee, including Robert von Glehn of Peak Hill, Rev Taylor Jones of Sydenham College and Edwin Clark, an engineer who built canals in Russia, docks in India and Peru, and the time-ball on the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. Before a local force could be recognised, the Government insisted that a number of conditions be met. These included an adequate and safe firing-range and secure storage for the weapons. The committee met regularly over the following months (principally at John Scott Russell's house, Westwood Lodge, or the Forester Inn, Perry Vale) to try to resolve these and other issues.

By the end of July 1859 the committee had found suitable land for their firing range. Mr William Dacres Adams had offered a strip of land between Forest Hill and Sydenham stations, on the eastern side of the railway line. The firing range followed roughly the present line of Dacres Road, from near its junction with Perry Vale to just past the junction with Inglemere Road. However, within six months Mr Adams was expressing concern at the amount of disruption caused by building the butts (banks of earth at the Inglemere Road end of the range, intended to stop stray bullets). He was also worried about the safety of the range, but the committee managed to reassure him. When completed the range was some 325 yards long.

The committee appointed a drill sergeant (a professional soldier who would train the volunteers). He demanded accommodation. The committee still needed a secure place for their weapons. They also required headquarters for the volunteers and a meeting room for themselves. They found a building that could combine all these functions. Mrs Goding offered a house on the corner of Perry Rise and Hindsley's Place, built about 1845. It would be rent- free on condition that the committee undertook certain repairs and improvements. This they accepted. The building was renamed The Armoury and, in early 1860, became the headquarters of the Sydenham Rifle Corps. It consisted of an armoury, committee rooms and accommodation for the drill sergeant. Outside, there was a drill ground. This would have been at the back of the building, on the area now covered by a large extension.

The next task was to enlist sufficient volunteers. This proved difficult, which is hardly surprising as drill practice was held three times a week, at 7 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and at 7 p.m. on Saturdays. They eventually mustered a roll of 60 volunteers.

By the end of December 1860 the conditions required by the Government had been satisfied and the Sydenham Rifle Company became officially known as the 8th Kent Rifle Volunteer Corps. The committee felt a little aggrieved that they were only the 8th rifle corps in Kent. They were, in fact, the first to pass a resolution to form a volunteer corps but because of difficulties of recruitment, only 8th to gain government recognition.

John Scott Russell was appointed the first Captain-Commandant of the Corps in 1859, a post he held until 1861.

Life for the Rifle Volunteer was not all drill and target practice. Several members formed a dramatic club and in 1869 they gave a performance of three one-act plays (including "the laughable farce of “The Charming Pair"') at the Foresters Hall, Clyde Vale.Political circumstances changed, and interest in the volunteer corps waned. The 8th Kent Volunteer Rifle Corps was disbanded in 1871. The Armoury survived until a couple of years ago.

Ted Christmas, builder

Estate agents are fond of describing certain local houses as “Christmas houses”. Of course, these houses have nothing to do with the festive season. They are the work of a local builder, Ted Christmas whose buildings have a reputation for quality and interesting detail both inside and out.

Edward Charles Christmas was born in Lewisham in 1867. By 1871 his family were living above the stables of Prospect House, which is now 79 London Road (on the corner of Taymount Rise). Ted’s father was the gardener at Prospect House. The garden extended from the rear of the house up Taymount Rise to the church (now flats).

At the age of 14, Ted was serving an apprenticeship with a local carpenter. By 21 was able to begin working on his own account so, in 1888, he moved into a small cottage, with a builder’s yard attached, at 55 Dartmouth Road.

In the early years, Ted installed “sanitary plumbing”, electric-bells, burglar and fire alarms, lincrusta wallpaper and “Roman mosaic tiles”. However, as a trained carpenter, his speciality was “artistic joinery” and there were, apparently, many fine shop fronts installed by him. It is unlikely that any of this early work survives.

By the turn of the century, Ted was building on a large scale. He began developing “most of the shops" on the east side of Dartmouth Road. His initials (ECC) are above the first floor windows of 49 Dartmouth Road and the date “1901” on 53 Dartmouth Road. He redeveloped the group of cottages, including his own, between 55 and 57a Dartmouth Road. There is a foundation stone at the side of 55 Dartmouth Road (the entrance to his yard), laid by his wife in 1900.

Ted also built houses. His best-known early development is between Perry Vale and South Road, Forest Hill. In 1901, he completed 108-116 Perry Vale, five substantial detached houses called Linstead (conveniently bearing the date 1901), Ashdale, Ulverston, Rosaville and Aberleigh in honour of his wife, Laura. A couple of years later 131-153 Perry Vale were completed. Their names spell “TED CHRISTMAS”. Round the corner, 72-64 Sunderland Road spell “GRACE”, his daughter. He also built houses in Gaynesford Road and there are several other groups in this area. They are distinctive, and easily recognised.

Ted and his family were living at Arundale, 151 Perry Vale in 1911. Clearly, his business was successful for in 1913 he moved to Newfield Villa, Dartmouth Road, a large semi-detached Victorian house on the corner of Derby Hill, on the site of the present Kingswear House and opposite his business.

The other major development of Christmas houses began about 1930 on a field behind Holy Trinity School when 58-92 Thorpewood Avenue were built. This development also included houses in Round Hill and Radlet Avenue. The Radlet Avenue houses were the last to be built by E C Christmas and were still being completed at the outbreak of war.

Ted Christmas also converted Victorian villas into flats. Perhaps the best-known example is Courtside, off Round Hill, converted from two Victorian villas in 1922. This has the small leaded-light windows that are characteristic of much of his work. Other distinctive features include the elaborately carved bargeboards over many of the porches and the patterns often cut in the lead flashing beneath the windowsills. Such features make Christmas houses distinctive, and quite easy to recognise, although there is a marked difference in style between his Edwardian and 1930s work.

Many Christmas houses and flats were built to let. Letting, and then later selling the properties, led the firm inevitably towards estate agency, particularly when Ted’s son (also called Edward) took over the firm in the late 1930s.

In 1933 Ted Christmas moved from Newfield Villa to Bolney Court, 3 Lawrie Park Road, where he died in 1936. E C Christmas continued to operate as estate agents until the early 1970s. The shop at 55 Dartmouth Road retained its original front until replaced a couple of years ago. There are other “Christmas houses” and conversions scattered around the area. Because of their distinctive style, it is not too difficult to recognise them. For some homeowners in Forest Hill and Sydenham, the spirit of Christmas lasts all year round.

First published in the Sydenham Society newsletter, Autumn 2005.

Fox & Hounds & High Street Buildings

An application was recently submitted to English Heritage asking that they consider listing the Fox and Hounds and the adjacent High Street Buildings, 134-150 Kirkdale. Although we were delighted that English Heritage agreed to list High Street Buildings grade II, it was disappointing that they felt unable to list the Fox and Hounds.

The EH advisors were enthusiastic about High Street buildings, noting the “special architectural interest of their attractive, free Queen Anne style architecture, dramatic roofline, and presence in the streetscape” and remarking on the survival of “original features including three of the five late C19 shop fronts” (a couple of years ago the Sydenham Society successfully objected to plans to remove these shopfronts).

High Street Buildings was erected in about 1896 to the designs of Alexander Robert Hennell, a local architect born in Mayow Road in 1872 and still living in Forest Hill 40 years later. Several other buildings by Hennell have been listed including the Jews Walk fountain and Forest Hill Library. The EH advisor commented that High Street Buildings displays Hennell’s “skill for quirky use of a variety of architectural motifs”.

The name “High Street Buildings” reflects the fact that for more than 100 years Kirkdale, between Wells Park Road and Fransfield Grove, and Dartmouth Road as far as the police station was officially “High Street, Sydenham”. The earliest buildings in the High Street were built during the 1820s, mostly small artisans’ cottages. The area became the centre for shopkeepers and tradesmen, and was Sydenham and Forest Hill’s very first shopping centre. The fortunes of the High Street began to decline when Lawrie Parade, a rather more fashionable group of shops, was built at Cobb’s Corner. Walter Cobb had a small drapers shop in Lawrie Parade (where the Citizens’ Advice Bureau now is) that he called “Regent House”. He gradually took over other shops in the parade and eventually created perhaps the most fashionable store in SE London.

The fortunes of the High Street shops went into further decline with the building of Grand Parade in Sydenham Road, between Queensthorpe and Mayow Roads, in the early 20th century. By 1936 “High Street, Sydenham” had become quite inappropriate, and so it was renamed.

Unfortunately, the EH advisors felt that the criteria for listing the Fox and Hounds were not fulfilled, although they remarked on its “handsome exterior which contributes to the streetscape” and added “there are some attractive details in the two principal elevations; it is also of some historic interest”. The Fox and Hounds was first licensed in 1826, and was thus one of the earliest buildings in the High Street. The present building was erected in about 1891, to the designs of Thomas Haliburton Smith, and the “historic interest” refers to the fact that it was one of the first pubs to have a “saloon bar”, a novel feature in the 1890s. Unfortunately, that was removed some years ago.

The listing of High Street Buildings means that, in this part of Sydenham, the Jews Walk fountain, Farnborough House, High Street Buildings and the adjacent group of buildings (124-128 Kirkdale) are all now listed grade II, as are most of the Victorian buildings in Jews Walk and the buildings in Westwood Hill down to, and including, St Barts. There are, of course, other significant buildings that enjoy no protection whatsoever and we must do what we can to protect those.