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Barnes, Church Road c1965
Barnes, Church Road c1965 Ref: B646027
Memories of Barnes, Church Road
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Growing Up In Barnes - 1950s
We moved to Glebe Road in 1952 (Cousland) and it was a wonderful place for children. We had a back gate opening on to the common and made full use of it. The grass was cut every year and baled for hay and we used to rush out and build houses from the bales. Every Friday we were allowed to buy 2ozs of sweets from Mr Brown's sweet shop (just out of shot here) then help carry the shopping home from the new "supermarket" Express Dairies. There was also a greengrocer, another sweetshop (The Crescent) and a dry cleaners. The milkman delivered in a new battery van, and there was a rag and bone man who came round with his pony and cart. At the other end of Church Road there was a very smart ladies dress shop and a shoe shop. All we needed was in Barnes. We could fish in the pond for sticklebacks and scoop up tadpoles in the spring. The swings at Vine Road were heavenly, and there were tennis courts at the end of Ranelagh Avenue. Aged 8 and 9 we would walk across the common to the station and get the train to Richmond Baths. We could also walk to the open air pool across the level crossing and over the Lower Richmond Road. I used to wonder how we could have been safe, but seeing your photos makes me realize how little traffic there was so it was very much easier to cross the road. I went to the Convent just out of sight round the corner and was very lucky to have had a childhood in this loveliest of London suburbs. Liz Cousland Posted: 13/04/2008 09:31 by Liz Mclaren |
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 Barnes, Church Road c1965 (ref: B646027) |
Growing Up In Barnes - 1950s
We moved to Glebe Road in 1952 (Cousland) and it was a wonderful place for children. We had a back gate opening on to the common and made full use of it. The grass was cut every year and baled for hay and we used to rush out and build houses from the bales. Every Friday we were allowed to buy 2ozs of sweets from Mr Brown's sweet shop (just out of shot here) then help carry the shopping home from the new "supermarket" Express Dairies. There was also a greengrocer, another sweetshop (The Crescent) and a dry cleaners. The milkman delivered in a new battery van, and there was a rag and bone man who came round with his pony and cart. At the other end of Church Road there was a very smart ladies dress shop and a shoe shop. All we needed was in Barnes. We could fish in the pond for sticklebacks and scoop up tadpoles in the spring. The swings at Vine Road were heavenly, and there were tennis courts at the end of Ranelagh Avenue. Aged 8 and 9 we would walk across the common to the station and get the train to Richmond Baths. We could also walk to the open air pool across the level crossing and over the Lower Richmond Road. I used to wonder how we could have been safe, but seeing your photos makes me realize how little traffic there was so it was very much easier to cross the road. I went to the Convent just out of sight round the corner and was very lucky to have had a childhood in this loveliest of London suburbs. Liz Cousland Posted: 13/04/2008 09:31 by Liz Mclaren |
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 Barnes, the Railway Bridge c1965 (ref: B646003) |
Year: 1870s
The Howard Family Of Barnes And Hammersmith
My Great-Great-Grandad, William Howard, lived in the early 1800’s - a time of great rural depression - and so he left his Devon home to look for work in London with the result that several generations of my family lived in the Hammersmith area. The story is that he walked all the way. No doubt the stage coach fare was beyond the means of an unemployed labourer. He found work constructing railways which at this time were spreading rapidly all over the country. He may have found lodgings in North London, perhaps in Camden with either his brother or his cousin George Howard. Later he moved to the Hammersmith area and he married in his early twenties. He had (at least) six children, the eldest of whom, Elizabeth, was born about 1840. His son - William Henry (my Great-Grandad) was born in 1847 and the youngest son was Jack who later emigrated. Two of the Howard family daughters, Louie and Mary Jane, did not marry and in later life lived together with their father William at 100 (or was it 104 as memory is playing tricks!) Iffley Road which is about half a mile from Hammersmith Broadway. William found other employment after the great railway boom came to an end. For many years he worked locally in Hammersmith for the Post Office. However he was eventually pensioned off following an accident in which he broke his leg. The family attended the Congregational Church at nearby Brook Green and it was here that William Howard’s elder son, William Henry Howard, met his future wife Jane Esther Goodwill. Great-Great-Grandad William Howard outlived his wife by several years (at least seven). My Great-Uncle Harry Howard recalled the severe winter of 1894/1895 during which he was ill and remembered that his grandfather William used to read to him. Soon after that bad winter, William died at the age of 84 whilst living with his two unmarried daughters at Iffley Road. Great-Grandad William Henry Howard, was artistic and he married into an artistic family. He was a wood carver and in later years taught his craft at Mayfield, Sussex. William Henry Howard married Jane Esther Goodwill at St Peter’s Church, Hammersmith on the 27th September 1873 and set up home nearby at 9 St Peter’s Road, just a short walk from Hammersmith Town Hall. He and Great-Grandma Jane were married by a careless curate who made a mistake on their marriage certificate! Perhaps thinking Jane was an uncultured cockney who dropped her “aitches” he recorded Hester on the certificate though her name was always Esther. William Henry Howard and Jane had six children. They first lived at 9 St Peter’s Road, Hammersmith, later at 20 Chalcot Crescent near the zoo at Regents Park and finally at 59 Ranelagh Gardens in Barnes, SW13, opposite the Ranelagh Club and two doors away from Ranelagh Avenue (opposite Barnes Common). There, at number 59, William Henry Howard died on the 4th February 1917 of apoplexy and a coma. About this time his son Harold Howard returned from the wars in India and moved into number 32 Ranelagh Gardens. My Great-Grandma Jane (his granny) moved in with him. Great-Grandma Jane died in 1931. Great-Grandad William Henry Howard’s daughter Florence and her husband William Arthur Norfolk stayed on at number 59 having moved there in either 1915 or 1916 from St Leonards Road, East Sheen, Richmond, Surrey. Meanwhile the other sons of William Henry Howard were moving around. Frank, the eldest, married Harriett Millicent Eley (“Milly”) and moved to Temple Sheen Road, East Sheen. Either Frank or Milly had previously lived at 16 Hillersdon Avenue, Barnes, near Beverley Brook and it was here that William Arthur Norfolk was lodging after his arrival from Leeds at the time of his marriage to Florence Howard. Milly was a witness at Florence and William’s wedding. Following Frank’s death, Milly and her son Cyril moved to Lonsdale Road, Barnes (by the river). My Great-Uncle Harold Sidney Howard, the next son of William Henry Howard, was born in 1881. He served in India during the Great War and returned in 1917 to live with Great-Grandma Jane at 32 Ranelagh Gardens. My Great-Uncle Len Howard was the youngest son of William Henry Howard – he served with the Royal Fusiliers in the Great War and fought at the Battle of the Somme and lost a leg. Subsequently he lost his wooden leg while walking across a street in Barnes suspiciously close to The Red Lion! William Henry Howard’s only daughter – my Grandma Florence -married William Arthur Norfolk on 9th April 1912 at Barnes Parish Church. I have what is probably an engagement photograph of them bearing her nickname Flossie. William Henry Howard was 66 at the time and he and Milly both witnessed the wedding. The bride and groom slipped out of the back door of the church to avoid the confetti! They set up home firstly at 202 St Leonards Road, Mortlake and later at 59 Ranelagh Gardens with Great-Grandma Jane (who later moved in with her son Frank and even later moved to 21 Ashchurch Park Villas, Hammersmith in the very area where she and William Henry began their married life in 1873. There she died on the 7th February 1931 at the age of 83 almost exactly 14 years after William Henry. Where did Florence and William then live? Perhaps they owned but were forced to sell their home in Ranelagh Gardens to pay off various debts then moved? I am unsure. I suspect that they rented their home in Barnes and then rented a home for a few months only in Ship Street, Brighton. This was followed by renting at (number 86?) The Grove, Hammersmith. So far as I am aware there are no longer any of our Howard family now living in the Barnes area. Posted: 11/01/2008 21:25 by John Howard Norfolk |
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Year: 1930s
The Fire Station A memory of Mortlake, London My Mother was born in the flat above Mortlake Fire Station in 1899. Her Father W.O.Knight was the Officer in charge. I lived there until approx 4 years of age and can remember the two fire engines and many details. The building is still there but has been converted into offices. Last edited: 05/06/2007 09:53 by Joyce Herring |
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 Fulham, The Broadway c1965 (ref: F69028) |
Year: 1968
Mum And Dad Grew Up In Fulham A memory of Fulham, London Mum remembers going across Parsons Green durig the war and the air raid had gone off, then she heard a doodlebug above her, she ran into the gents toilets and heard it land somewhere near, she never been that frightened since. Mum and Dad both lived next door to each other in Broughton Road, Fulham, they were big houses, one family lived on top floor, another downstairs. I remember having to go through downstairs living room to get to outside loo, they let me when it was raining. My dad died 2 years ago, he remembered having to go to school with no shoes on, they were so poor, and his mum died young and they were looked after by an old aunt, if they asked for more food they were given a worm cake to eat. I remember waiting outside Fulham baths for my nan, who would visit on the bus and train, but sometimes she wasn't there so I was sent to wait ouside for her. We were lucky at our house, we had a bathroom, but nanny seemed quite happy when she came out from the public baths, and I walked home with her, she smelt all clean and fresh. Dad didn't talk about the war he was in, we saw photos of him driving a jeep and he said he drove right across India and had to eat a lot of currys, later in life he would not eat anything other than meat and two veg, anything else he said was foreign muck, it used to drive my mum crazy. My dad's sister is still alive and lives in Sunbury on Thames which is where my mum also lives, they all moved away from Fulham to the suburbs, in the 1960s. My mum often tells us about our grandad penny pinching, but I think they were just so poor he had to be careful. She remembers her mum, my nan, telling all four of her children to search the flat high and low so they had enough pennys to buy a quarter of mince for grandad's tea. He worked in the Sunlight Laundry in Fulham. I don't remember my nan ever working, she suffered with bad legs and died fairly young from something to do with one of her legs, it didnt help that they lived on the first floor of the house. They had to have their washes and clean teeth etc in the tiny kitchen as they had no bathroom, it was a bit of a sqeeze when grandad got home from work and needed a wash and nanny was trying cook dinner in a 12ft x 6ft kitchen. I particularly remember being excited because I often got sent to the corner shop which was only 10 doors away but I was allowed to get the penny refund on empty R. White's lemonade bottles to buy a sweet. If I was lucky I was also allowed to buy nan's bread and milk. I still see Sunlight Laundry vans about even now in 2008. Going back to my dad's memories of the war, he did finally tell us a bit, he said he had to go on to the D Day beaches to clear up all the dead bodies, and that's all he ever told us, I presume it was so horrible that he just couldnt repeat it, he was only 17. I miss him, I used to drop him off to the British Legion 7 nights a week, always at the same time, pick up 8.45, then I'd go home then go back at 10.45 on the dot, he would always be standing outside Sunbury library so as not to keep me waiting. He had been a regular there for fifty years, the only nights he missed were the occasional holidays, then he would moan and said it was not the same and he wanted to get home to go down the Legion. He struggled to get out of his chair on one Wednesday and I helped him into the car even though he and I knew he wasn't well, he'd been suffering for two years with his lungs. That night he wasn't waiting so I drove round and went in and helped him out of his seat, they all said 'Goodbye Arthur, take care mate', he was well liked and admired for being a respectable independent man, was never drunk, always only had his two pints a night. He didn't go for the next few nights, early on the Saturday morning Mum phoned me, he wasn't good so I phoned an ambulance. He was coughing up blood, but not too much and was able to talk to us, that was Sat am. I remember that afternoon in the hospital, I had gone and got him a paper, The Sun, he said 'I don't read that rubbish', as he was used to The Mail. I thought 'You can't be too bad', he was sitting up and talking. I had phoned all the family, I took my mum home 5.30. cos she was exhausted, she kissed him goodbye and said she would see him tomorrow. When I came back my sister Sheila said she had to go but to phone her if any change, they moved him to a differnt ward, he died peacefully twenty mintes later, I phoned my sister, when she got there he had gone. He had kept pulling the oxygen mask off so I left it ofs as the staff said it wouldn't be long, he was more comfortable. I held his hand and kissed his forehead and said 'Sweet dreams'. He hated doctors and hospitals, he was lucky he never got to stay, and he didn't suffer. I thank God for that. I have just brought my grandson who is two a new pair of leather shoes, we are all so lucky the way we live now and I am thankful to all the men and women who fight and die for us. Last edited: 12/08/2008 14:15 by Laura Warden |
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Year: 1959
Our Local Church - St Johns A memory of Fulham, London WE LIVED IN FARM LANE FULHAM SW6, IN A LOVELY O'L PREFAB. OUR LOCAL CHURCH WAS ST JOHN'S. Last edited: 10/05/2007 09:56 by Margaret Young |
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