Bulletin 217

BULLETIN No. 217 MARCH 2021

A makeover for Moses! (see p.8)

CONTENTS
Message from the Chairman 2
A Virtual Programme March-June 2021 2
Matters Arising 3
Coralie Glyn, a feminist in Merton – Clive Whichelow 4
Book Review: James Southerton: the Man of Three Counties by Adrian Gault – Dick Bower 6
For your bookshelf: Surrey Census of Nomads, 1913, Ed. Alan Wright 7
One of Rutlish School’s George Medallists: From a Times obituary 7
The east window at St Lawrence church, Morden – Peter Hopkins 8
Bert’s refreshment bar – Robert Bradbury 10
The Young Accumulator Company of New Malden – Norma Cox 11
Drug Stores 13
Help wanted: Herbert Victor Foote – Sonia Gardener 13
House numbering in Merton Park – David Haunton 14
Items for disposal 15

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN

It is a little late for a New Year message, but let me offer you my best wishes for 2021, in the hope that you

are all in good health, and as active in mind and body as the present and so far unending restrictions on social
activity allow. I have twice supposed that we could set a date for an annual meeting, and twice been proved
wrong by events – so you can see that I have never been a successful gambler. Our intended programme of
events – talks, walks and visits – has to remain suspended, though we ought, you would think, be able to
resume meetings in the autumn. There is plenty of history on the internet, for those who have access, but a
lecture through a screen is not the same as a live talk, where speaker and audience can respond to each other

and where we can meet other members of the Society. We have not felt able to offer online events; rather, we

have directed visitors to our website to a featured presentation from another society or institution.

With this edition of the Bulletin you will find some other papers. You will see a further copy of the Minutes of
2019’s Annual General Meeting, the 2019-20 accounts, and a formal report from me. Some of you will also

find a form on which you can record your approval of the Minutes and Accounts, and give approval for the
re-appointment of an Independent Examiner for our accounts. You can offer to become a Committee member,
and you are also invited to make comments and suggestions about what the Society can offer to its members

and to the wider public. Other members will receive this form by email soon after the delivery of the Bulletin.

Lastly, I want to thank you all for your loyalty during so many peculiar months; after the renewal of

subscriptions our membership numbers stand high, and I hope we can look forward to a renewed Society
once public meetings are again permitted. Keith Penny

A VIRTUAL PROGRAMME MARCH – JUNE 2021

While we are unable to have meetings we are suggesting a
LINK OF THE MONTH to some online videos.
These links will be displayed on the Home page of our website each month:
mertonhistoricalsociety.org.uk

MARCH
The Wandle Industrial Museum has produced four videos, some of which cover talks
previously enjoyed at our meetings. But we haven’t yet had the privilege of listening
to Mick Taylor’s illustrated talk on The People and Families of the Wandle Valley –
https://www.youtube.com/user/WandleIndMuseum

APRIL

There are many videos and virtual exhibitions accessible at
https://www.artfund.org/whats-on/exhibitions
from Highlights from The William Morris Society’s Collection
to Vikings Live produced for the British Museum exhibition in 2014

SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR SUMMER STROLLS

Weather and Covid restrictions permitting, why not explore some of

Sarah Gould’s guided heritage trails.

Download the free app to your mobile phone and walk the trails
or watch from the comfort of home – https://izi.travel/en/search/merton
OR
You can generate your own local walks at www.treetalk.co.uk
which will identify the public trees along your selected route, some of which are less common
than you might expect.

Note that our Local History Workshops will not be held for the time being, but
please send any items of interest to the Editor for inclusion in our Virtual Workshops.

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 217 – MARCH 2021 – PAGE 2

MATTERS ARISING

MATTERS ARISING
was in Arizona, where the maximum daily temperature in October is usually 30-34˚C (hot), and the
minimum 17-19 ˚C (warmish), so rather warmer than the average day-time temperature in England. The
professor thus completed the 25 miles at 5.8 mph, while 13 horses were faster and 40 were slower. This is
very satisfactorily near my 6mph estimate for King John’s average speed.

♦ The Wimbledon prisoner of war camp (Bulletin 215, p.12): Charles Toase notes that we mentioned his A-Z
of Wimbledon in connection with the camp. He originally wrote a more comprehensive encyclopedia of the
history of Wimbledon, but the publisher wanted a shorter, more ‘popular’, book and this was considerably
shortened, losing all the sources for research and bibliographical notes. There was a reference for an article
on the camp in the original book: Hooper, A. ‘Wimbledon’s forgotten residents’ in Local History, September
1988 pp. 19-20.
♦ Of the Eisenhower story (Bulletin 215, p.13), Charles Toase comments that this may perhaps be traced
to The Road to Little Dribbling, by Bill Bryson, who says that he had tried to see Eisenhower’s home in
Telegraph Road on Wimbledon Common [the road is actually on Putney Heath], presumably confusing this
with Telegraph Cottage, which is where Eisenhower lived.
♦ Carters Tested Seeds
(Bulletin 215, p.14):
Judy Goodman has both
the Blue Book for 1931
(right) and this publicity
photograph ( right ),
c.1927, copyright by F
Knewstub, photographer,
4 Blenheim Road, SW 20.

♦ The name of Lower
Morden (Bulletin 216,
p.5): Peter Hopkins
informs us that Lower – originally West – Morden WAS the village
of Morden until the 1280s, when cottages started to be built in
what is now Central Road. It was down the hill from what became
East Morden – later Upper Morden – so was literally Lower, and
certainly not lesser!
♦ Baseball on Mitcham Common (Bulletin 216, p.16) Member Charles Hollingsworth, who lived in Dahlia
Gardens from1942 to 1958 recalls:
‘I too remember watching baseball there, I think on Sundays. We used to walk up Watney’s Road from
Commonside East and directly across Croydon Road by the trolley bus stop. Baseball was played by, I think,
Mitcham Royals, who played in blue and white (from memory). The players of both teams were all properly
kitted out and it was a real experience for us, especially as we had only recently been able to buy sweets
without rationing, so observing lots of Wrigley’s chewing gum being consumed by the participants was like
another world. So yes, Lee Fardon’s memories are correct, but I’m afraid that I have no more details to add.’

‘Mitcham Royals’ was the clue that found a little more information, notably about Frank Adey, who played for
both the Royals and the Tigers. The 1958 Handbook of the Southern Association says the Tigers (Mitcham)
were formed in 1936, their ground was Mitcham Common, by the Red House stop on the 630 trolley-bus
route, and their colours were green and white. They played in Division One, against Epsom Lions, Essex
Nationals, Esso Tigers (aha!), Kodak, Sutton Royals, Leatherhead Maple Leafs and Sutton Beavers. These
last two may have been Canadian. (See www.projectcobb.org.uk/handbooks/southern baseball)

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 217 – MARCH 2021 – PAGE 3

Coralie Glyn wrote three novels while living in Merton Park,
was an early advocate of women’s rights, a decade before the
Pankhurst sisters were active, and even started a London club
exclusively for women, but until now very little has been known
about her. Only one photograph of her is known to exist (right),
and even the main women’s studies archives hold virtually
nothing about her. But hers was a fascinating life that deserves
to be better known.

She was born Alice Coralie Glyn at 41 Beaufort Gardens,
Brompton, London SW, on 5 November 1866. Her father was
Captain, later Vice-admiral, Henry Carr Glyn, and her mother
was Rose, daughter of the Reverend Denis Mahoney of Dromore
Castle, Kerry. The Glyns were a wealthy and well-connected
family. Coralie’s paternal grandfather was George Carr Glyn,

the first Lord Wolverton (a title that later passed to each of her

brothers), and the family banking business of Glyn, Mills &
Co, which had been founded in 1753, existed until 1969 when
it became part of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Both Coralie’s parents died when she was young, her mother
in 1870 and her father in 1884. In 1881, at the age of fourteen,
Coralie was living with her older sister Rose (who was 21) in
Belgravia. The census shows Rose as head of the household at
68 Eaton Place, with just Coralie and eight servants. With their mother dead and father still serving in the
Royal Navy until 1882 perhaps it was the best arrangement that could be found for the two daughters.
According to the census these were the only people living at this address though today the property is

broken up into several flats (which sell for over £2 million each).

It had been thought that Coralie had never married, but it turns out that she was married, divorced and
then engaged to someone else. On 1 April 1889 she married Henry Lister Beaumont in Paddington. His
birth date was given as ‘about 1862’. While married they lived in both Regent’s Park and Richmond.
Various rumours and claims that Coralie Glyn had a daughter and/or two sons have yet to be supported by any
reliable evidence

A
year after their wedding Coralie filed for divorce. The petition was dated 12 April 1890, when they

were living in Sutherland Place, Notting Hill. She said he had assaulted her in front of the servants and
had bruises which had been seen by them. Also, ‘in or about’ June 1889 he had committed adultery and
subsequently admitted this to the commissioner. One of the servants, Elizabeth Fox, was named as corespondent
and Coralie said he had also been unfaithful with ‘other persons unknown to her’. Also, ‘on

or about’
February 6 1890 he returned from abroad suffering from a venereal disease. On February 8

1890 he turned Coralie ‘out of doors’ at 1.00 am in the presence of a servant and since then she ceased

to live with him. After that, he enlisted in C Company of the Rifle Brigade and deserted her ‘with no

means of support’, though she was of course a wealthy woman. She was therefore seeking divorce on the
grounds of adultery and cruelty. The decree nisi was granted on 11 November 1890 but it seems the decree
absolute was never given. The divorce papers mention that Coralie had bought Henry out of the army. The
next we hear of him is in August 1893 when Nellie Ann Field, whom he married in June, has taken him
to court, accusing him of bigamy – but not before she too had given him money to buy himself out of the
army. Once she had got her money back she dropped the bigamy case. Henry died in Kingston in 1909.

In 1891 Coralie was living on her late brother Richard’s estate at Iwerne Minster, Dorset. He had died in

1888 at the age of 27 leaving a fortune of over £42,000 (some £5.5 million today). It was announced in

January 1893 that Coralie had become engaged to St George Lane-Fox. Along with American Thomas
Edison and Briton Joseph Swan, he was one of the pioneers in the invention of the light bulb. The
‘approaching marriage’
of Coralie and St George was briefly mentioned in The Gentlewoman magazine
of March 1893 but then no more was heard of it, though in 1904 George Lane Fox Pitt as he was known
by then stood as the Liberal candidate for Wimbledon.

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 217 – MARCH 2021 – PAGE 4

By 1895 Coralie was living at Merton Cottage in
Church Path, Merton Park (right, photo Judith
Goodman 1990), where she wrote all three of her
novels:

By 1895 Coralie was living at Merton Cottage in
Church Path, Merton Park (right, photo Judith
Goodman 1990), where she wrote all three of her
novels:

The Gentlewoman)
1896 A Woman of To-Morrow (‘distinctly

reassuring’, The Sketch)
1897 A Drama in Dregs (‘entertaining opinions on

literary and other subjects’, The Morning Post)

According to one source there were three editions of

each. The first and third of these have been published

as modern reprints.

A Woman of To-morrow was set a hundred years in the future, in 1996, when women will have the vote, wear
trousers and be called to the bar. There will also be state almshouses, and London clubs for women. Interestingly,
a couple of years later she started a London club for women called The Camelot Club in Queen Square,
Bloomsbury. It was only open on Sundays when other clubs that women could join would be closed, so single
women in lodgings would be able to get a meal. Idyll of the Starflower was the story of a quest by Eric Sunlocks
for the titular flower which will help to heal all nations. A Drama in Dregs was the story, written entirely in
dialogue, of a novelist, Gerald St Olave, who writes a ‘realistic’ modern novel and is then accused of forgery
and exiled to Mexico. Coralie wrote no more novels after this but continued to contribute articles to magazines.

By 1901 she was living in Kensington, staying there until 1906, but by 1911 had moved to a hotel in Tunbridge
Wells where she was described as a ‘boarder’, aged 44 of private means. Also there was her friend Lois

Twemlow, aged 54, as well as 28 short-stay hotel guests and some 25 staff. Coralie lived there until she died
in 1928. She was cremated on 2 October. She left £31,052 (around £2 million today) to Lois Twemlow but
specified that on her (Twemlow’s) death the money be given to Welwyn Garden City to build homes for poor,

elderly women. Lois survived until 1949 and the homes
were built in 1951. The provision was to provide housing
for Protestant ladies over 60, of British nationality,
who were in need, hardship or distress, who could live
independently. Preference was given to those resident

for five years or more in Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield,

Welwyn or Tunbridge Wells. Ten of the bungalows
were for one person each, but four had provision for
two ladies or a mother and daughter to live together.

There are fourteen bungalows in total; they are known

as the Alice Coralie Glyn homes (right, Photo courtesy
HertsMemories.org.uk).

As a feminist, Coralie Glyn would not have been amused at the obituary notice in the Kent & Sussex Courier
of 5 October 1928: ‘Death of Lord Wolverton’s Sister’. It said she was well-known as a writer with a special
interest in social and humanitarian movements, and also that she wrote and lectured on industrial problems and

was a constant advocate of better housing, as well as having some involvement with the Suffragette movement.

Over the years she wrote regularly for magazines such as The Humanitarian, held poetry readings at Merton
Cottage, engaged in public speaking at London clubs such as The Pioneer, and in March 1895 helped to launch
The Ladies’ Tailoring Company on the Brompton Road.

In February 1898 the Illustrated London News had described Coralie Glyn as ‘a woman of word and deed’,

and perhaps that would be a fitting epitaph for a woman who not only spoke up for other women, often less

fortunate than herself, but who also gave practical help to them which continues to this day.

Note: The photograph reproduced here is the only known picture of Coralie Glyn and shows her indulging in
one of her hobbies – cycling. In the late Victorian era it had become fashionable for society ladies and gave
them freedom of movement. Not only in the sense of being able to travel without using their husband’s carriage
or motor car but also in the sense that they could wear more comfortable and less restrictive clothing such as
knickerbockers. Cycling was, therefore, part of women’s liberation.

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 217 – MARCH 2021 – PAGE 5

James Southerton – the Man of Three Counties by Adrian Gault (2020,

Mitcham Cricket Club) available from Amazon at £12.95, or direct from
the author. All profits go to Mitcham Cricket Club.

Cricket probably evolved from a game played in the Middle Ages but

the first report of the sport we would recognise was at the very end of the

16th century. At the MHS meeting last March, Adrian Gault, Treasurer of
Mitcham Cricket Club, told us that Mitcham Green, founded a century
later when cricket was starting to be played more widely, is the oldest
continuously used cricket ground in the world.

Adrian has now published what he says is the first full biography of one of

Mitcham’s foremost players, James Southerton – ‘the man of three counties’.
Born in Petworth, Sussex, in November 1827, Southerton came from a
cricketing family. His father and at least two of his four uncles, all tailors
by trade, played cricket for Petworth. His family moved to Figges Marsh in
Mitcham when James was about twelve, possibly having spent the previous
four years in Lincolnshire. Once he had arrived in Mitcham, he stayed there, cricket tours apart, for the rest of
his life. He ‘caught a chill’ and died rather unexpectedly in 1880, still very involved in Surrey County Cricket,

‘…bowling at the Oval on the Friday …in his coffin on the following Wednesday’. From 1875 he was also the

landlord of the Cricketers pub, which was next to Vestry Hall on London Road opposite the Green, and which
his widow, Sarah, took on when he died.

He was clearly well liked. As Adrian says, ‘Reports on James Southerton record his generosity of spirit,
equanimity and good humour…It is also clear that [he] was not easily pushed around and could have a stubborn

streak’. His coffin was carriedfrom the pub to Mitcham churchyard in a procession at least a quarter of a mile

long. His memorial, erected by public subscription, is still in the churchyard.

Southerton made his living as a hairdresser and is recorded as such at his home in the censuses of 1851 (in
London Road), 1861 and 1871 (both in High Street), by which time he had become a very successful cricketer.
This demonstrates the precariousness of professional sport. Even though he seems to have earned good money
for playing, it was for his appearances and therefore unpredictable. He also sold tobacco and cricket equipment.

His sporting career came at a time when the game was evolving into largely what it is today. The county system

was settling down but was flexible enough in Southerton’s early years for him to play for Surrey, Sussex and

Hampshire (plus Buckinghamshire for one game) in the same seasons, much to the irritation of opponents.
This was resolved at the county conference in 1873, which led to the ruling that a player should decide whether
to play for his county of residence or that of his birth. Pitches were improving and Southerton had a practical
and successful hand in their development for several teams, including Wimbledon whose ground was on the
Common. International tours were starting to be organised and Southerton took part in two visits to Australia,

the first of which did not go very well but the second, which also incorporated New Zealand, was more
successful and included a game in Melbourne in March 1877 that is recognised as the first Test match.

Afew things do not appear to have changed during his career but have done so since: teams consisting of different

numbers of players, presumably to even up the odds (there are frequent instances of county elevens playing
twenty-two members of a club, which seems very strange to me) and matches between married and single men
and, of course, players versus gentlemen, something that faded out relatively recently (I am pleased to say).

His first recorded involvement was at the age of nineteen in 1847. He started mainly as a batsman but he was

also a fast bowler. It seems he was not all that successful but people appeared to retain faith in his talent. It was
as a batter that he was called up to play for Surrey in September 1854. Adrian’s well researched book provides
much detail on Southerton’s achievements, despite the limitations on source material. It shows clearly how his
career really blossomed when he changed his bowling style.

Bowlers were not allowed to raise their arms above shoulder height until 1864, when the MCC removed the

restriction. The following year, Southerton, who had been for Sussex ‘a fine field…a coming bat [and] as

a bowler [of a] pace…a little over medium’, tried his ‘slows’. At least in the next few years, batsmen were
unused to the spin and deviation that he managed to achieve, and he could be almost unplayable on the right
pitch. ‘On a sticky wicket he could get a great deal of work on the ball, and he was very clever in altering his
pace and pitch…Another trick of his was to deliver three balls, causing them to break six inches or more, and

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 217 – MARCH 2021 – PAGE 6

then to put in a fast straight one.’ Overs then consisted of four balls in England. His victim on many occasions
was the famous Dr W G Grace, with whom he had a rather turbulent relationship, but they did respect each
other. The success of Southerton’s slow bowling can be seen in the early statistics: during each of the years

then to put in a fast straight one.’ Overs then consisted of four balls in England. His victim on many occasions
was the famous Dr W G Grace, with whom he had a rather turbulent relationship, but they did respect each
other. The success of Southerton’s slow bowling can be seen in the early statistics: during each of the years

of about 14 runs. To put this performance into context, the most successful bowler in England in 2011 was
Monty Panesar of Sussex who took 69 wickets.

It could be said that Adrian’s book will be appreciated more by the aficionado than the dilettante. It has a great

deal of detail about Southerton’s various matches and it is not until one reaches the later chapters that one gets
more of a feel for the man and the life he led. Nevertheless, it is an enjoyable read for anyone with an interest
in the history of Mitcham or cricket in this formative period. I found the account of his second tour to Australia

and New Zealand particularly vivid.

Dick Bower

FOR YOUR BOOKSHELF

Surrey Census of Nomads, 1913, Ed. Alan Wright (Surrey Record Society, 2020, £20)

This is a parish by parish survey of people of ‘no fixed abode’on two dates in 1913, undertaken in the belief
that Surrey was regularly home to 10,000 or more such. In fact, local police officers counted only some 1600

men, women and children, sleeping in carts, ‘vans’, tents, farm buildings, sheds or the open air. There are very
few in our area, apart from nine families of gypsies (with three children, all at local schools, and eight infants)
inhabiting ‘roadside waste’ in Manor Road, Mitcham. Occupations comprise a fascinating list of showmen,

gypsies, pea-pickers, hawkers, field hands, farm hands, men seeking work, tramps, and even three people ‘of

independent means’, evidently enjoying a camping holiday on ‘enclosed ground’ in Chiddingfold.

ONE OF RUTLISH SCHOOL’S GEORGE MEDALLISTS
From a Times obituary:
Colonel Michael Drummond Hall, OBE, GM, bomb disposal expert, was born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey,
on February 2, 1939, and educated at Rutlish School, in Merton, south west London. He died on April 26,
2020, aged 81.

Shortly after commissioning into the Army, he began specialisation as an ammunition technical officer (ATO).

In 1965, during the Indonesia-Malaysia ‘confrontation’, Indonesian agents were crossing from Sumatra to
place improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the coastal towns of peninsular Malaysia. Locally based ATOs
were responsible for defusing them. During the night of October 28, a suspicious object was found in a village
and moved to Malacca police station. As the duty ATO, Hall was called out to deal with it. This would be the
23rd IED he had had to defuse, and he could see that this one was an entirely new type. Built into a large biscuit
tin and sealed, it was impossible to ascertain the components or contents. Hall decided that to help other ATOs
in the future, he would have each stage of his defusing operation photographed and the camera moved away
in case his next move proved fatal. He then planned to cut away sections of the box slowly and deliberately
without causing vibration or activating the explosive contents.

He and his technical assistant, Warrant Officer Brian Reid, also a qualified ATO, then began their task. For

the next two and a half hours, Hall and Reid lay on their stomachs cutting away sections of the metal box and
dismantling the bomb piece by piece. Two mechanical anti-handling devices were exposed and made safe.
The removal of a block of TNT exposed part of an electrical circuit, indicating the presence of a third anti-

defusing device. Hall decided
to reduce the explosive content of the charge to minimise the possible effects.
After a further hour of intense
effort, an extremely delicate electrical anti-handling device was made safe, the

timing device neutralised and the device dismantled. It was found to contain seven pounds of TNT, two hand
grenades and incendiary material. Hall had ensured that IED disposal personnel throughout Malaysia were made
aware of the defusing techniques necessary. He and Reid were both awarded the George Medal in recognition
of their courage and determination.

On promotion to lieutenant-colonel he was appointed chief ammunition technical officer Northern Ireland.

While in charge of a group of ATO teams responsible for defusing IRA bombs and booby-traps, he would

frequently undertake the defusing of devices suspected of being fitted with anti-handling traps as he was the

most experienced man available. He left the army in 1992 to become chief executive of the Royal College of
Occupational Therapists in London.

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 217 – MARCH 2021 – PAGE 7

PETER HOPKINS updates us on
THE EAST WINDOW AT ST LAWRENCE CHURCH, MORDEN

PETER HOPKINS updates us on
THE EAST WINDOW AT ST LAWRENCE CHURCH, MORDEN

probably noticed that the east end was surrounded by scaffolding and hoardings and wondered what was
happening. A £125,000 bequest from a former parishioner, supplemented by a £40,000 grant from the SUEZ
Communities Trust Landfill Fund, enabled the long-awaitedrestoration of the 17th-century glass and stonework

of the east window to take place. A 2017 report on the condition of the glasswork, by Leonie Seliger of the
Canterbury Studios, noted that ‘All parts of the painted decoration are in decaying condition’. In addition, the
stonework was in a terrible condition with serious erosion and decay. As reported in previous Bulletin articles,
it is thought that the 17th-century glass was the work of Abraham van Linge, a glass painter from Emden in
Germany active in Britain from 1625-41 (see Bulletins 178, 207). The glass in the upper sections of the tracery
had been replaced in 1828, the last time a major restoration of the earlier glass had been undertaken. The
accounts still survive at Surrey History Centre (see Bulletin 207).

In spite of a six-week enforced break

during the first Covid-19 lockdown,

the work was completed and the glass
reinstalled in December. The glass had
been removed and taken to Holy Well
Glass in Wells, Somerset, for cleaning and
repair, and the opportunity was also taken
to renovate the stonework of the window
as well as in some other places around
the church building. The church website
has two fascinating short videos, one
examining the stonework after the glass
had been removed, the other recording a
visit to see work in progress on the glass
(see www.stlawrencechurch.co.uk and
click on the Window Project tab). We are
grateful to the rector, David Heath-Whyte,
for permission to reproduce images from
these videos (below and page 1 – Moses’s
head from north side of window) and this
screenshot of the restored window.

For protection, new external metal grilles

have been fitted and the window has been

‘double glazed’, with clear laminated
glass in the stonework where the stained
glass was originally, the stained-glass
windows being suspended inside on a
frame with an air gap allowing for air
circulation around the glass. This is an
innovative but practical way of protecting
the historical glass from the deterioration
that comes through temperature and
humidity changes, while still enabling the
windows to be visible from the outside.

As mentioned in my article about the east window in Bulletin 207, I have often wondered why the 17thcentury
refurbishment of the church retained the 14th-century style of the earlier windows, rather than a more
contemporary design. John Pile has since pointed me to an article in the 2018 edition of the Archaeological
Journal called ‘Propaganda in Stone: Medieval Style in 17th Century Anglican Churches’. The author, Dr
Tom McNeill, was interested in a group of 17th-century churches that deployed motifs from the 14th-century
Decorated style, notably in window tracery, which is exactly what we have at Morden. Rather than opt for the
Perpendicular style, which had arisen in the period leading up to the Reformation, and was therefore seen as

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 217 – MARCH 2021 – PAGE 8

Catholic and Papal in origin, some church leaders considered the earlier style to be preferable, to suggest that
the Church of England was a return to a purer, pre-papal past.

Catholic and Papal in origin, some church leaders considered the earlier style to be preferable, to suggest that
the Church of England was a return to a purer, pre-papal past.

confirmed that the 17th-century work had not utilised the 14th-century masonry, whose stone had probably

been quarried at Chaldon in Surrey, as was certainly the case during repairs to the church in 1406/07.1 ‘Nearly
all of the vertical mullions (typically 95cm long) and jambs of the primary 17th century external east window
of St Lawrence’s Church had an identical petrological match with samples of Headington stone from the
Upper Jurassic (Oxfordian), Oxfordshire. This banded pale cream to yellow-cream open textured shelly
(echinoid and coral) grainstone lies on the easternmost edge of the Jurassic limestone outcrop in Oxfordshire
immediately to the east of Oxford in the villages of Headington and Wheatley, easily accessible to London via
the River Thames (outcrops lie just 6km away). It is in fact the closest limestone freestone resource to London
(80km).’ The same stone was used for the 17th-century quoins set into the south-east and north-east corners
of the east elevation. Unfortunately, this stone is very porous and the sill below the east window was in need
of replacement by the late 19th century. This replacement ‘had a good petrological match with samples of
Clipsham stone from the Middle Jurassic (Bajocian) of South Lincolnshire’, which was widely used in Oxford
from the 1870s. Probably from this period are ‘Five small (15cm high) insets, set one metre up in the vertical
mullions and jambs between the Headington stones in the east window [which] have a good petrological match
with samples of Taynton stone from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) of West Oxfordshire. This much deeper
coloured pale orange brown coarse banded shelly oolitic grainstone contrasts markedly with the much paler
cream Headington stone, forming a two-tone window surround. Outcrops lie close to the River Windrush and
would have been easily accessible by boat to London via the River Thames.’ Although their ‘fresher sharp
edges’ could be due to their ‘lower porosity and durability’, they are likely to be later replacement stones.

But in addition to his work on the stonework, Dr Hayward also examined the brickwork of the east wall and
concluded that two-thirds of the bricks are of a brown-maroon fabric with small chunks of clinker set within the
fabric, identified as London Fabric 3032 Post Great Fire brick (see detail below, before restoration – PJH). Their
small size and poor quality suggest a date around the middle of the late 17th century. The remaining one-third of the
wall is of a red sandy fabric (London Fabric 3046 – common throughout the period 1450 to 1800) probably produced
from local brickearths. Apparently both fabrics are frequently found used together in the later 17th century. There
are two types of bonding
in the east wall – the 13
courses beneath and level
with the replacement sill
are Flemish Bond, those
above in Old English
Bond. Although Flemish
Bond appears haphazardly
now and again in medieval
buildings, its regular and
consistent use only became
common in the latter part of the 17th century. The same arrangement can also be seen on the south wall of the
church, but not the north wall which is all English Bond. Both bondings include the two brick fabrics.

However, it has long been believed that the freestanding brick facing around the medieval structure of the
church was erected in the 1630s. As we have seen, the 17th-century glass in the east window is very similar to
work known to have been done by Abraham van Linge from the mid 1620s to the early 1640s, and the Morden
glass is usually attributed to him. In his 1792 Environs of London, Lysons states that the building work was
done ‘about 1636’, and all later works repeat this date. Between December 1632 and July 1634 the then lord of
the manor, Richard II Garth, negotiated the allocation of new glebe lands and arranged to hand over the tithes

to the new incumbent, WilliamBooth, who in 1634 became the first rector of Morden since Westminster Abbey

appropriated the tithes in 1301.2 Garth was called Ecclesiae Amicus on his 1639 ledger stone in the chancel,

thought to
reflect his financial support for the building work – though it could
just refer to his restoring the

rectory. Also, in December 1635 a Royal Brief was issued authorising a general collection to be made across
parishes in southeast England ‘towards re-edifying the church of Morden in Surrey’,3 though I recently noticed
that a similar brief had been issued in 1585 for repairs to the church at neighbouring Malden, but that work was
not undertaken until 1610, according to Lysons.

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 217 – MARCH 2021 – PAGE 9

It appeared that the traditional date of the St Lawrence brickwork is several decades too soon. I wondered
whether the description ‘Post Great Fire brick’ should be taken literally or was merely a convenient description
of the type of brick used in London for the buildings erected after 1666, but might be found earlier. Rosemary
Turner kindly passed on my enquiry to Ian Betts, the brick and pottery expert at MOLA, who has helped her

It appeared that the traditional date of the St Lawrence brickwork is several decades too soon. I wondered
whether the description ‘Post Great Fire brick’ should be taken literally or was merely a convenient description
of the type of brick used in London for the buildings erected after 1666, but might be found earlier. Rosemary
Turner kindly passed on my enquiry to Ian Betts, the brick and pottery expert at MOLA, who has helped her

after the Great Fire, but pointed out that bricks made outside London would not necessarily conform to London

datings. He gave me the address of British brick expert Terry Smith, who confirmed that, although earlier

fabrics might have continued to be used outside of the City, it is highly unlikely that Morden was ahead of
the City in using Fabric 3032. So there seems little doubt that our brickwork was not done in the 1630s, but at
some date after 1666.

Two options remain – either the glass is not by Abraham van Linge or it was prepared in the 1630s but not
installed until later. This was the case at University College, Oxford, where windows painted by van Linge in
1641 were not installed until after the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660.

So I pursued the earliest known reference to the subject matter of the east window, published in 1718 in the
second volume of John Aubrey’s Natural History and Antiquities of Surrey. Aubrey began his researches in
1673 and continued revising it until 1692, but the published edition includes mention of Morden monuments
as late as 1704, after Aubrey’s death, so added by his continuator. His manuscript notes are in the Bodleian
Library, Oxford, and they kindly looked through it to see if Morden is mentioned, but found nothing. So all
we can say with certainty is that the glass was in place by 1718. It seems likely that our new glass was ordered
from van Linge in the 1630s, but Richard Garth’s death in 1639, followed by the uncertainties of the Civil War
and Commonwealth period, resulted in a long delay. Which then raises another question – had the intention
always been to add a brick facing to the church, or was that a later decision, made when attempts to insert the
replacement glass revealed that the medieval stonework had deteriorated too far to be retained? If the latter was

the case, the glass would have been ordered to fit the medieval structure and the style dictated by necessity, not

choice. A subsequent decision to reface the whole building in brick would have been a further cause of delay

while sufficient funds were gathered.

Although we are unlikely ever to reach certainty over these matters, there can be no doubt that the resultant
building, and the east window in particular, are a local treasure. As Leonie Seliger commented in her 2017
report, ‘The great rarity of the glazing of the East Window at Morden, together with its unusual subject matter,
makes this window deserving of great care, both to ensure its continued survival, and to bring it to the attention
of a wider audience’. We are thankful that the recent renovation work on both the glass and the stonework
should ensure that they can be enjoyed for many more years.

1 Westminster Abbey Muniments 27364, an account roll for the rectory estate at Morden

2
Hampshire Record Office 21M65/A1/31 ff.10r-13r, the register of Walter Curle, bishop of Winchester
3
Lambeth Palace Library MS 2872 ff.28-29, and copy from the St Lawrence parish chest now in Surrey History Centre

2269/10/1 (2)

BERT’S REFRESHMENT BAR

We have received an inquiry from Robert Bradbury in Australia, who discovered this photo (left) in an album

belonging to his late father. On the back is written ‘Dad’s coffee Stall, St Helier Morden 1930’. Robert believes

his grandfather had bought this Refreshment Bar.

Virtually the same picture appears on Merton Memories (right), where the
write up says ‘A number of stalls had started up and it was thought that they
were supplying refreshments to people working on new roads and housing
in the area’. Somebody remembered the stall being on waste ground

opposite the Prince of
Wales pub in Morden
Road, and as opposite St
George’s school, Phipps
Bridge, so the stall may
have moved around.
Neither of these sites

fits with the description

St Helier. Does anyone
remember it?

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 217 – MARCH 2021 – PAGE 10

NORMA COX explores more of our industrial history:
THE YOUNG ACCUMULATOR COMPANY OF NEW MALDEN

NORMA COX explores more of our industrial history:
THE YOUNG ACCUMULATOR COMPANY OF NEW MALDEN

I used the old-maps website to view the 1935 O/S Surrey Series 1:2,500 map which showed the industrial
sites of New Malden and I noticed one such site which I hadn’t studied, namely the Electric Accumulator
Works.1 This factory was situated off Burlington Road, near Shannon Corner, very close to the Kingston Bypass.
It was east of the Beverley Brook and is in Merton. The Electric Accumulator Works were run by The
Young Accumulator Company, founded in 1927.2 The photo (below) shows part of the Young Accumulator
Company’s building, here just visible on both sides of the Odeon cinema at Shannon Corner.3

By 1929 the company had become a public company with the address given as Burlington Works, Arterial
Road, New Malden, the address being later known as Malden Way, Kingston By-pass, New Malden.4 The
reason for the change was that the company was doing so well that the owners decided to convert it to a
Limited Company and went through the formal listing process where one step was a Voluntary Liquidation.5
These formal listings for the Young Accumulator Company can be seen in the London Gazette website for
years 1929 (two entries) and 1931.6 The London Gazette is an official journal of record which is the most
important among official journals in the UK where certain statutory notices are required to be published.7

An accumulator is defined as an energy storage device, which accepts

energy and stores it and then releases the energy as needed. In general
usage in an electrical concept, the word accumulator normally refers
to a lead-acid battery.8 Accumulators such as Exide were used in the
domestic setting to power wireless sets (radios) at home in the 1940s
and there are nostalgic accounts of the weekly trip to the hardware shop
in order to re-charge the accumulator, in time to listen to a favourite
programme on the wireless.9 Adverts for Young Accumulators on
the Graces Guide website show their use was in more specialised
applications such as in the motor-car and aircraft industry, as in this
example (right).10

The Graces Guide website notes an achievement of the company
during the year 1930, when it obtained a patent for electrical storage
batteries.11 In 1932 an entry in the London Gazette showed that the

company had been formally struck off of the register; this is part of

the process of renaming or reorganising a company.12 However, in
1933 there was an advert for it in Who’s Who in British Aviation.13
In January 1933 the listings in the London Gazette saw a petition

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 217 – MARCH 2021 – PAGE 11

for a reduction
in capital of the company from £225,000 to £75,000; in February 1933 this was approved.14

Also in February 1933 the London Gazette listings showed that the company had been renamed the Young
Accumulator Company (1929) Limited.15 In 1934 there were patent improvements in and relating to electrodes
of secondary batteries and the making of them.16 At a meeting held at the Company works in 1935, the
chairman, Lt-Col L P Winby, spoke of the Super-Armoured Battery which had been adapted for car-starter

and lighting batteries as well as for the heavier commercial vehicle and traction batteries for which it was first
designed. The Super-Armoured Battery had brought the company into the electric traction field. The speed of

the electricity grid and the expansion of facilities for nightly charging of batteries of electric traction vehicles
would cater for local deliveries (such as their use in milk vans,

both ‘sat-in’and ‘led-along’; another example for local deliveries

was the famous Harrods van (right). This had increased Young’s
position in the market. The company also increased its sales for
marine work, having success with record-breaking speed-boats
and there was also increased demand for aviation purposes, such
as the big starter batteries for the larger more powerful engines
which were under development, and to a much lesser extent the
‘Prime Movers’ which were beginning to be used for moving big

aeroplanes around airfields.17

Major events in 1936 and 1937 were noted in the Graces Guide.
In 1936 the Young Accumulator Company formed Associate
Electric Vehicle Manufacturers Limited, a private company.
The Young Accumulator Company held a large interest in this
new company for the purposes of acquiring two electric vehicle
manufacturers, namely Electricars of Birmingham and A E Morrison
Sons of Leicester. These two companies made 70% by value of
UK production of such vehicles, both being customers of Young
for traction batteries. In 1937, at the British Industries Trade Fair
Stand No Cb 902 of the ‘Electricity: Industrial Domestic Section’,
Young Accumulator Company was acknowledged as Accumulator
Manufacturer of the ‘Renown’ Battery, the ‘Super-Armoured’ Battery
the ‘Exchange’ Battery.18 A contemporary advert for a Young
Accumulator battery for electric traction claimed this battery was

chosen by many of the largest operators, giving ‘unqualified satisfaction

every user’. The advert also claimed that for electric traction batteries
which had to stand up to several strains and tests, the performance of
Young Accumulator battery was recognised as outstanding (right).

On 12 July 1940 a listing in the London Gazette showed that
Young Accumulator Company had a petition to wind up the company of

&
the

on
the
and

to
the

the
A J

Holland & Sons Limited, of which the Young Accumulator Company was a creditor.19
On 3 September 1939 World War II was declared and on 16 August 1940 New Malden was bombed by German

aircraft; this raid was later called the ‘Malden Blitz’. It affected the railway and the area around Shannon

Corner. It was presumed that the bombers were aiming for the transport connections of the railway line and
the road connections of the Kingston By-pass at Shannon Corner where there were also many factories.20
According to Haunton ‘Only four bombs hit Merton west of the Kingston By-pass. These (bombs) fell south
of Burlington Road on an area occupied by the Young Accumulator Company works and petrol station’.21

After the raid the Young Accumulator Company was still functioning. Graces Guide showed that in 1941 the
company was acquired by Crompton Parkinson, an electrical engineering company and manufacturer of a wide
range of electrical components.22 In 1942 Young’s reverted to being a private company.23 An advert for 1948
showed the Young Accumulator Company Limited at an address in Astor House, Aldwych, London WC2,24
though it was not clear whether the Young Accumulator Company had left New Malden. The Graces Guide
1953 Who’s Who in the Motor Industry listed two addresses for the Young Accumulator Company Ltd, Battery
and Accumulator Manufacturers: the Supplier Division was at Crompton House, Aldwych, London WC2, and
the Office at Burlington Works, Malden Way, New Malden.25 The London Gazette for 12 January 1960 and 4
November 1960 (there were two entries for 4 November 1960, London and Edinburgh) lists special exemption

orders for the employment of women and young persons; these exemptions lasted only for one month.

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 217 – MARCH 2021 – PAGE 12

Also shown was an address of the company at Stephenson Road, Newport, Monmouthshire.Also shown was an address of the company at Stephenson Road, Newport, Monmouthshire.Graces Guide
for 1961 also showed the company as Crompton Parkinson Ltd (Young Accumulator Co Ltd) with an address
in Newport.27 To try and find out if the Young Accumulator Company was still in New Malden, I used the
old-maps website to examine the site, which showed that in the 1949 O/S Plan 1:10,560 of New Malden the
factory site was shown as ‘Electric Accumulator Works’. In the 1953 O/S Plan 1:1,250 the site of the Electric
Accumulator works was now called Navigational Aids and the part of the Kingston By-pass in front of the
Navigational Aids works was now called Malden Way. Yet in the 1954-55 O/S Plan 1:2,500 the site was
referred to as Electric Accumulator Works.28 This was rather contrary but maps are often very slow in noting
changes. It would seem that the Young Accumulator Company Ltd was still in business in the Burlington works
in New Malden in 1953.

It was however a report from the early days of Decca Radar which clarified the situation of the Young Accumulator

Company site. In 1953 Decca Radar took over the buildings of the Young Accumulator / Crompton Parkinson
Motor Company on the A3 at Shannon Corner, New Malden. This site mainly housed the GRPU (General
Radar Production Unit).29 The last entry on Graces Guide for the Young Accumulator Company was for 1961
where it was listed as manufacturer of electric batteries for motor vehicles at Newport, with 370 employees.30

Thanks are due to Peter Hopkins, MHS, for his help in finding the image of the Young Accumulator Company
building and to Sarah Gould, Heritage Officer, for use of the photograph. Thanks also to Andrew Tweedie,

Editor of Graces Guide, for the image of a Young Accumulator advert 1933 and for the British Industrial
History information in Graces Guide relating to the Young Accumulator Company.

1 www.old-maps.co.uk Use postcode of B&Q (KT3
4PT) for easy site access.

2 www.gracesguide.co.uk/Young_Accumulator_Co

3 Local Studies Library Morden, photograph reproduced
by permission of London Borough of Merton.

4 Information from Note 2

5 A Private Company is a legally distinct entity with its
own assets, profitsand liabilities. The personal finances
of any shareholders are protected by limited liability,
meaning their liabilities are limited to the value of
their shares. Shares in a private company cannot be
offered
to
the
general
public.
A
Public
Company
is
a company whose ownership is organised via shares
of stock which are intended to be freely traded on the
stock exchange.

6 https://www.thegazette.co.uk/all-notices/
notice?service=all-notices&text=young+accumulator

7 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_London_Gazette

8 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accumulator_(energy)

9 http://www.museumoftechnology.org.uk/objects/_
expand.php?key=191

10 Illustration with permission from Note 2

11 Information from Note 2

12 Information from London Gazette, Note 6

13 Illustration with permission from Note 2

14 Information from London Gazette, Note 6

15 Information from London Gazette, Note 6

16 Information from Note 2

17 Company Meeting. http://archive.commercialmotor.
com/article/14th-june-1935/54/young-accumulatorcompany-
1929

18 Information from Note 2

19 Information from London Gazette, Note 6

20 Malden blitz. www.maldenblitz.co.uk/memories.htm1

21 WW2 Bombs on Merton. www.mertonhistoricalsociety.
org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/BULL166X.pdf

22 Information from Note 2

23 Information from Note 2

24 Information from Note 2

25 Information (Company still in New Malden in 1953)
from https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/1953_Who%27s_
Who_in_the_Motor_Industry:_Companies_Y

26 Information from London Gazette, Note 6

27 Information from Note 2

28 Information about the Young Accumulator Company,
seen on www.old-maps.co.uk for 1949-1955. See Note
1

29 http://www.woottonbridgeiow.org.uk/decca-legacy/
chapter3.php

30 Information from Note 2

DRUG STORES
Norma’s interest in this subject (first evident in Bulletin 2012) was such that she was scheduled to give
a talk at the annual conference of the British Society for the History of Pharmacy in March 2020, which
was cancelled owing to the Covid pandemic. She has written an extended article based on her talk, now
published as ‘Parkes of Battersea and the drug store business’ in the Wandsworth Historian (Journal of
the Wandsworth Historical Society) no.110, Autumn 2020.

HELP WANTED – HERBERT VICTOR FOOTE

Sonia Gardener is researchingthis man. In 1939 he is recorded as an oven builder (bakery) living in Whitfield

Gardens, Mitcham. Does anyone know if there were oven manufacturers in Mitcham at that time? A family
story goes that Herbert went to Jersey at that time, presumably through his job but we have no evidence.

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 217 – MARCH 2021 – PAGE 13

THE EDITOR offers a squib

HOUSE NUMBERING IN MERTON PARK
or Be Kind to your Postman

It is a commonplace that, in a well-behaved street, house numbers start at one end and continue to the other,
with even numbers on one side and odd numbers opposite. Within Merton the allocation of numbers to houses
happened in 1915, before which date houses were named, not numbered. The area was mostly built-up, but

with some streets only partly filled with houses, and partly laid out in plots. Local interests seem to have been
allowed some influence, as several streets, such as Charnwood and Charminster Avenues, were laid out without

number 13 (as was Merton Park Parade, on Kingston Road, which has a car park between nos.12 and 14). As
late as 1935, estate agents were concerned that ‘people would not wish to live at no.13’.

Obviously some changes occurred over the years – 19 Melrose Road never existed because in the 1920s a
builder erected a single house on a double plot, while 18 and 20 Aylward Road no longer exist as they were

demolished to make way for Hadleigh Close. Ahiccup of a different sort occurs in Kenley Road, which sails

blithely across Circle Gardens without deigning to notice it. Between 71 and 72 on the west and 73 and 78
on the east (what happened to 74 and 76?) there is a gap of more than 200 yards. At least when Poplar Road
continues on the other side of Circle Gardens, it has the decency to declare itself Poplar Road South, with its
house numbers in the reverse direction, starting at Crown Lane. Incidentally, Tybenham Road is the only road
of the five converging at the Circle to start numbering from Circle Gardens. Who needs consistency?

However, not all streets are as well-behaved as this. Take, eg. Shelton Road, which originally ran east from
Station Road to Kirkley Road. The south side of this street is entirely taken up by the sides of the end properties

in Kirkley, Mina, Winifred and Branksome Roads, so the officer who allocated house numbers simply labelled

the houses on the north side of Shelton consecutively eastwards from 1 to 33. Little did he know! The western
65 yards of the street bounded the old (unnumbered) Rutlish School playground, so when the school moved to
Watery Lane and the site was redeveloped, a dilemma ensued. Were the new homes to be numbered 1A, 1B,
1C, etc? No! A Gordian knot solution was adopted – the west end of Shelton was renamed Charles Road, the

new-build flats numbered westwards, with only even numbers allocated. Thus now no.1 Shelton adjoins Flat

2, Charles (right). And, of course, in the interim Station Road has been renamed
Rutlish. ‘You that way, we this way’ (King Lear)

A rather sweetly misbehaving street is Grasmere Avenue, which is the only one
in the area distinguished by having three ends. If we start at Crown Lane, we may follow the odd numbers
on the east side smoothly all the way to Kenley Road, with nary a hitch. However, on the west side, we may
follow the even numbers as far as 74, where we meet – Grasmere Avenue! Turning sharp left, we go past long
garden walls on our side to the end of the street, cross Grasmere part two, and discover that the end house in
this bit is – 12A Poplar Road South. Ah. Hm. However, the correctly-numbered no.76 Grasmere is next door,
so staying on that side of the street, we can follow the even numbers back to the junction with Grasmere part
one, and continue left down Grasmere part three (still with me?) to Kenley.

Now let us stroll down Sheridan Road, which runs west from Dorset Road, and crosses Church Lane and

Mostyn Road. No.2 is where you could expect it, close to Dorset; however no.1 is more than a hundred

yards away, beyond Church Lane, and opposite no.6. Subsequent development led to new houses before no.1
(ie. between Dorset and Church Lane) being labelled Orchard House 1, 2 and 3. Langley Road, parallel to

Sheridan, is relatively normal, being enlivened only by the first three odd numbers being 3, 1 and 5, rather than

following the conventional order.

Now try Church Path, a street which has an interesting mix of house names and numbers. At the east end we find

the churchyard opposite the side wall of Church House garden (the house itself lies in Church Lane). At the end

of this garden the first house we meet is no.10. An antique wall surrounded 10 and its associated property (you

may remember the riding stables). Development has given us three new houses within this enceinte (16, 18,
20), though to reach 16 you have to march down the length of the (conserved) old wall, turn in through a new

gap and march back past 20 and 18. Returning through the gap, we find 22 to 30 in their expected positions,

followed by two new, named but numberless, properties. Hang on, though, there is 32 on the other side of the
Path – oh, no, that’s 32 Mostyn Road. On the south side of the Path, after the churchyard we have the vicarage
at 3, so presumably St Mary’s Church is officially no.1, with which few Merton Park residents would disagree.
From there the odd numbers proceed in sequence to Mostyn Road, though uniformity is cunningly avoided by
7, 9 and 11 being tucked into their own little cul-de-sac, partly hidden by a less-historic wall, and by the parish

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 217 – MARCH 2021 – PAGE 14

office, church hall and car park being treated as merely a large annexe to the manager’s quite small house at

office, church hall and car park being treated as merely a large annexe to the manager’s quite small house at
Once across Mostyn Road, regular numeration is abandoned and almost every house proudly displays its
name alone, though numbers have crept onto some.
And finally we have to contemplate Church Lane. Pay attention, this is the advanced class. The Lane runs

south from Kingston Road, crosses Langley, Sheridan and Melrose Roads and ends at Merton Park Primary
School. An early development was on the east side by Kingston Road, where eight houses were built, labelled
‘Oakwood Villas’ and numbered 1 to 8. Apparently because of this, it was decided to continue the numbering
southward down the east side to the school, and then continue back northward up the west side to Kingston
Road. This seems a simple scheme. But at some point the original 1 and 2 disappeared (development or wartime
bomb?) and were replaced by a new 1A and 1. Leaving these behind, we cross Langley, pass 3 to 10, and reach
Sheridan, where we notice the anonymous end of a Sheridan Road house where 11 should be. No – it is no.11,
which was built sideways on a narrow plot, and whose front door opens onto Sheridan. Someone (no doubt
exasperated) has installed a neat notice insisting that it is ’11 Church Lane’. Supporting this statement is the
fact that 11 faces 10A Church Lane, built in the back garden of 10, but also opening onto Sheridan. Obvious,
really. We continue past 12 to no.23. This is one-half of a semi-detached house, and we would expect the other
half to be no.24 in the Lane. But we would be wrong – it is 2 Melrose Road. We cross Melrose to reach the

extensive Old School, numbered 30 (and now divided into ten numbered flats). Beyond are 31 to 36, and then

56. Oops – we have missed the narrow gravel driveway at right angles to the Lane, which leads eastwards to
no fewer than nineteen houses (37 to 55). Numbers then continue ‘properly’ up to 60 next to the school, which
is number-free but claims allegiance to the Lane (though having a much greater frontage along Erridge Road).
Crossing the Lane, and starting northwards, we pass the churchyard, Church House, and Church Lane Playing
Fields to reach 70 and 71. We cross Sheridan, pass 76 to 79, cross Langley, and pass side fences and 85 (why
so many missing numbers?) to arrive at the large site of the now defunct Church Lane Practice Clinic and the
large block of flats at Andridge Court. Both buildings arose after the original 1 and 2 had disappeared, and

instead of being labelled something like 90 and 95, some a-historical and possibly innumerate person allotted
them 2 and 2A respectively. What can one say?

All these local quiddities have to be learned by apprentice mail persons, and I have little doubt that similar
oddities occur elsewhere in the Borough. So, please – be kind to your postman.

[A version of this essay was first published in the John Innes Society Newsletter no.220.]

ITEMS FOR DISPOSAL

The MHS Committee decided some time ago that we should dispose of most of the various items once held in

the MHS store, as they now take up space in members’homes. Some have already been discarded; a selection
of the remaining items is shown here. One or two have found homes, others are on offer to potential curators.

Items offered to Merton Local Studies include:

♦thepainted iron Crown pub sign from London Road, Morden
(see photo overleaf);
♦ the wooden ‘Ancient Lights’
sign from Hughes Ironmongers, Hartfield Road;
♦ a metal ‘Keep off the grass’ sign;
♦
a metal Byelaw
notice about riding of
bicycles, from the footpath between Lower

Morden Lane and Tudor Drive;

♦ the three arms of direction guide post from
A239/B278 junction, Central Road and Green
Lane (one arm shown here, and the whole in situ)

♦Doulton earthenware foot warmer (plus an advert,
and a note replying to Bill Rudd’s enquiry);
MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 217 – MARCH 2021 – PAGE 15

♦
♦,
advertising Mitcham Lavender, side and

underneath views.
Items offered to preserved railways include
enamelled metal dog food advertisements, from
Spratts (Rodmin and dog cakes, each 30ins by 20ins),
Spillers (Osoko and Shapes, each 12ins square)
and Winalot (10ins by 24ins).

The startling advert for

Cape fruit and three brightly

coloured card adverts for

‘Big D’ peanuts (only the least raunchy

shown here), were gratefully snapped

up by the Brand Museum. But where

did they come from ? A pub? or a

cinema?

We also have for disposal (a) three
different Hurricane Lamps, one USA, one
German, and one small USA, (b) a battered red
road safety lamp inscribed ‘Wimbledon 7622’ and
‘Podmore Lamps’ and (c) a very rusty Auxiliary
Fire Service helmet, complete with liners, with
a small faded AFS device on the bowl, a small
elaborate ’66’ on the outer rim, and ’38/241386′
painted or etched (?) under the rim.

Most items have no context other than a bald statement of where they were found
(if that), so if you recognise any item and can add to its history, the Committee
would be delighted to be informed, via our normal email address:

mhs@mertonhistoricalsociety.org.uk or by letter to the Editor.
Or, of course, if any member would like to give a good home to any of these
wandering but solid memories, could they get in touch as above?

MHS is bound by the EU General Data Protection Regulation.
Please see the MHS website regarding how this concerns your personal data.

Letters and contributions for the Bulletin should be sent to the Hon. Editor, by email to
editor@mertonhistoricalsociety.org.uk. The views expressed in this Bulletin are those

of the contributors concerned and not necessarily those of the Society or its Officers.

website: www.mertonhistoricalsociety.org.uk email: mhs@mertonhistoricalsociety.org.uk

Printed by Peter Hopkins

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 217 – MARCH 2021 – PAGE 16