Category Archives: Twickenham

Frederick W. Pearce 1866-1928

From the Thames Valley Times – Wednesday 17 October 1928, page 3

DEATH OF BOROUGH SURVEYOR

A Conscientious Official Whose Life was Given to the Public Service

TOMORROW’S FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS.

Resolutions of Sympathy : Morning Service at Congregational Church Abandoned

By the sudden death on Sunday morning, at his residence in Spencer Road, Strawberry Hill, of Mr. Frederick W. Pearce, the borough surveyor and engineer, Twickenham has lost a valued public official. For thirty years he had given of his best to Twickenham in conscientious and disinterested service and with a generous heart and hand.

The sympathy of the whole town goes out to the widow and family in the heavy loss they have sustained. Mr. Pearce’s life was given to the faithful discharge of his duties.

It is our painful duty to record today the sudden passing, at half-past ten on Sunday morning, of Mr. Frederick W. Pearce, F.S.I. who for thirty years had held the responsible position of surveyor and engineer at Twickenham, first to the Urban District Council, and latterly to the Town Council. He was 62 years of age last April.

A native of Somersetshire, Mr. Pearce came to London as a young man full of that boundless energy and thoroughness which characterised him all through his life. Entering the service of the Wimbledon District Council, he occupied the position of assistant surveyor, and on his leaving was made the recipient of a testimonial placing on record his valued services. He came to Twickenham in October, 1898, to succeed Mr. G. B.Raffin* who had obtained an appointment abroad [South Africa], and on Wednesday next would have celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of his work in the district.

Twickenham was at that time little more than a village, with a population of 1,600, but with the coming of the trains, the cutting through of York Street, which had just been completed and the building developments taking place on all sides, Twickenham was fast passing from a village to a town. With that development came the laying out of new roads, seventy of which were made up under his personal supervision in the succeeding ten years, the District Council of those days having wisely decided to undertake its work on a systematic basis. Richmond Road, then a narrow thoroughfare, was widened as we know it to-day. Further road widenings were made with the extension of the trams towards Hampton Court, Mr. Pearce always taking the long view, which succeeding years have proved the correct one, of wide thoroughfares for the traffic he foresaw.

Then came the acquisition of Radnor House and the raising of its grounds several feet so as to prevent the occasional floodings that would have made riverside gardens an impassability. The Teddington Lock was in course of construction, and Mr. Pearce seized the opportunity by arranging with the Thames Conservancy and the contractors to have the excavated material barged down stream and deposited on the gardens, saving the town many hundreds of pounds in so doing.

As the town grew the need of enlarging and reorganising the fire brigade was taken in hand under Mr. Pearce’s personal direction. The old horsed engines were replaced by motors, the fire station enlarged, and latterly, the chief officer of the brigade installed with living accommodation on the spot.

Another important project of those days which threw a heavy responsibility on his shoulders was the construction of the sewage works and refuse destructor, the work of which was so heavy that, at his suggestion, a consultancy was called in, Mr. Fairley, of Richmond, being engaged by the Council.

With the increasing population came the need of new schools and in the construction of these some of Mr. Pearce’s best work was done, for he was a keen educationist and knew exactly what were the requirements of an elementary school. The Orleans Schools, which were erected in 1910, were followed a year later by the Nelson Schools, which catered for the children in East Twickenham and Whitton areas. One of his last tasks was the building of another school at Whitton to meet the demands of that growing area.

War Time Activities

Then, with the need of an isolation hospital becoming apparent, one was erected at Whitton in 1906 from his plans and under his direction, in such a manner that when extension became necessary last year it was an easy and comparatively inexpensive matter, for he had had an eye to the future in the original building.

Then, with the coming of the war, during which the constructional work of the Council was suspended, he threw himself into the activities the Council undertook for the successful prosecution of the war, and how well he did it was nobly expressed in a few words at the meeting of the Congregational Mothers’ Union on Monday afternoon. He became the fuel officer and the transport officer of the Council, but there was much that he did during this trying period that extended far beyond the limits of those offices.

To the improvement of the riverside path between Marble Hill and Richmond Bridge he devoted much personal attention, being careful to preserve the rural amenities of the walk, particularly in the neighbourhood of Marble Hill, when raising the path and filling in the ditch. Trees there were which had to go but not one was taken down in the clearing which impaired the view from the riverside or from Richmond Hill.

The purchase of York House and the coming of incorporation had placed increasing burdens and responsibilities upon his shoulders. The alterations necessary to York House were much larger than was anticipated when taking over the building, and this work, coupled with the transfer of the offices from the old Town Hall, came at a time when the surveyor and his department were working at their hardest. The Strawberry Vale and St. Margaret’s road improvements were just completed. The demand for Council houses and flats was growing more incessant, the widening of King Street, the pulling down of the old Town Hall, the development of the Richmond House Estate, all had to be dealt with.

The purchase of Orleans Riverside Land, the development of the Cambridge-gardens and of the Cross Deep Estate, and the widening of St. Margaret’s road, Strawberry Vale, and Cross Deep had thrown heavy burdens on his shoulders, coming, as they did, on the top of his other routine work. The Council, realising it, offered him assistance, but he never complained, and worked on cheerfully to the last.

The Church He Loved

Full of boundless energy, even when his health was by no means good, Mr. Pearce, amidst all his manifold public duties, found time for many outside interests. To the Congregational Church on the Green, of which he was deacon for eighteen years, he was a devoted member and supporter, the children, especially, having in him a supporter and friend. He was its church secretary, and it is not too much to say that its existence to-day as a church is in no small measure due to his life and influence. Whilst fully alive to the social side of the church, he never lost sight of the place the church must fill in the spiritual life of its people, and it is a tragic coincidence that a meeting to consider the deepening of the spiritual life of the church was to have been held this week, mainly as a result of the suggestions he had made.

He was a Freemason, being a member both of the Richmond Lodge and Richmond Chapter, and of the Twickenham Rotary Club, whose motto, “Service above self” inspired his everyday life.

Another of his outside activities was the Lower Thames Valley Association of Surveyors, of which he was secretary. He was also a member of the Institute of Municipal and County Engineers and a vice-president of the Twickenham Rifle Club and the Twickenham Philanthropic Society. His many activities and official duties were placing burdens upon the shoulders of the surveyor, which his health, never robust in the past few years would not bear, and of late it had begun to manifest itself and twice on Saturday there were indications whilst he was at work that he was not well. But he worked on, returning to York House in the evening after the office had been closed to attend to some work he desired to see through.

On returning home he complained of feeling unwell and his medical adviser, Dr. Rayner, was called. In the morning he seemed better, but he was persuaded to remain in bed, and almost the last thing he did was to arrange for a message to be sent to the Congregational Church so that the duties to which he usually attended could be discharged to others. Then almost without warning, he passed away in the presence of the members of his family and Dr. G. H. Dupont, the borough medical officer who chanced to be passing the house at the time.

Tomorrow’s Funeral

The funeral will take place to-morrow (Thursday) afternoon. A service will be held at the Congregational Church at 3 and will be attended by the Mayor and Corporation, wearing their robes of office, and the staff at York House and the employees. The service will be conducted by the pastor ( the Rev. J. T. Rhys), who will be assisted by the Rev. Harold Bickley, B.D., of Northampton, a former pastor of the church, who on the occasion of his visit to Twickenham a few weeks ago was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Pearce. The vicar (the Rev. W. P. Cole-Sheane), and the Mayor’s chaplain (the Rev. James H. Watson), will also assist in the service.

The municipal offices will be closed at 2.15 and the workmen in the employ of the Council will leave work at one o’clock.

EXPRESSIONS OF SYMPATHY

Public Pulpit References

Many have been the expressions of sympathy which Mrs. Pearce and family have received, and at most of the churches on Sunday evening there were references to the sad event.

The flag at the municipal offices was flown at half-mast, and was on Sunday the first indication to many of the missing member of the Corporation.

The Parish Church

The sad news was conveyed to the clergy at the Parish Church on Sunday morning by Alderman F.C. Clark.

At the evening service prayers were offered on behalf of the mourners and the hymn “The radiant morn has passed away” was included in the service.
In the course of his sermon, Prebendary H. J. R. Osbourne dealt with the part that religion played in our daily life, and emphasised the close link between this life and the next. They had had that day, he said, a tragic example of that fact in the sudden passing of the borough surveyor, a most valued public official, who had done a great deal for the town; in fact, he worked too hard. It was a beautiful thought at such times to remember that he had been called to higher service.

Twickenham Brotherhood

Mr F. W. Pearce was to have presided at the meeting of the Twickenham Brotherhood at the Congregational Church, at which the address was given by Mr Harry Gosling M.P., the Minister of Transport in the Labour Government, who resides at Strawberry Hill. The chair was taken by Mr J B Potterill, who made a feeling reference to the death of Mr Pearce.

Mr Gosling said that Twickenham had lost a really valuable public servant. Alas, he had gone, and someone else must take his place. Life today was calling for high endeavour on the part of all of them and while they took off their hats in memory of their late brother, let each of them resolve to work a little harder in good causes than they might hitherto have done.

At the close of the gathering the congregation stood as an expression of their sympathy with Mrs Pearce and her family while the orchestra played Chopin’s “Marche Funebre.”

Congregational Church

The news reached the Congregational Church just as the pastor, the Rev. J. F. Rhys was about to ascend the pulpit for the morning service and was received with something approaching consternation; the deacons at once arranged that the service should be abandoned. The Rev. J T. Rhys who was deeply affected, made brief, but feeling, allusion to the great loss the church had sustained by the death of one of its deacons and its church secretary. He read the 23rd Psalm, offered prayer, and the service concluded.

At the evening service a resolution of sympathy with the family was moved by Mr. W Purchase, seconded by Mr W. Gould and supported by Mr E Dawe, and carried in silence, the members rising.

There were touching tributes of esteem and affection at the Mother’s Meeting of the Congregational Church on Monday afternoon at which a resolution of sympathy was moved by one of the members and supported by the Rev. Luther Caws Burden (Isleworth).

It was at first suggested that the wreath to be sent should be provided out of the funds of the meeting but the members unanimously rejected this saying they desired to be allowed to contribute personally to the wreath they would send.

One of the members expressed the thoughts of the gathering. She would never forget how quietly and kindly he had helped the mothers whilst their husbands were at the war. Another member expressed what the employees felt. “He was the chief of the workmen but a most lovable master.”

Education Committee

At the meeting of the Twickenham Education on Monday evening which held at York House, the chairman (Alderman V. G. Heptonstall) said; Before we commence the usual business it is my sad duty to say a few words of the terrible loss the town suffered yesterday by, as most of you know by now, the sudden death of our borough surveyor to this committee. It seems almost impossible to realise that only last week at the mayoral banquet he was laughing and joking with the rest of us. He had had thirty years service to the town and was a most thorough and capable man. To those who knew him a rather severe exterior covered a heart of gold. His great fault – if he had a fault – was in trying to do too much xxx xxx. He tried to do those things which perhaps he might have passed on to his subordinates. He did this because of his great love of the town. He never hurried. He was always deliberate in his opinions and work and had a restraining influence on many, whom I might call impetuous members of the committee and Council. The town had been built up in the last ten years and many of the things he did we shall like to look upon as monuments to his memory, for the improvement of the borough coincided with his period of office. I have found his help of immeasurable value when attending on our behalf, conference with Government officials. His eloquent and masterful way of presenting our case has been of the greatest assistance to us and the town. He loved Twickenham as few men do, and I feel sure that his death was hastened by the vast amount of work he did. We have suffered a heavy blow but we have yet to realise how exceedingly heavy that blow is. I move that a letter be sent to Mrs Pearce and family conveying the sympathy of Twickenham education authority.

The Town Clerk said: On behalf of the staff of the Corporation, and as town clerk and the education secretary, I should like to take this opportunity of associating myself with what your chairman has just said. Mr Pearce would at the end of next week have completed thirty years service with the District Council and the Corporation. During the whole of that time I have been associated with him in the conduct of the work of the town. By the courtesy of the Mayor, I understand that I shall have the opportunity of amplifying my remarks at the next meeting of the Corporation, but in the meantime I should like to state that by the death of Mr Pearce the whole staff has lost a valued colleague, one whose assistance and advice were always readily and willingly given to any member who required it and xxx whose loss will be deplored in the municipal offices for many years to come.

The resolution was carried in silence, the members rising and standing with bowed heads in memory of a faithful colleague in the public service.

Other Public References

Feeling references to the death was made at the luncheon of the Twickenham Rotary Club on Monday by the president (Councillor C.H. Farthing) and a resolution of sympathy with the relatives was passed.

At the evening service at the Twickenham Green Baptist Memorial Church the pastor, the Rev. H. H. Gardiner expressed the sympathy of his congregation with the family and said how his death would be a great loss, not merely to the Congregational Church of which he was an active member, but to the other churches of the borough.

At the luncheon of the Teddington club yesterday, at which the Rev. Dr. Tatchell gave an address, feeling references to the death of Mr Pearce were made by the chairman (Mr. Carman).

* * * * *

* Mr Pearce’s relationship with the Council was apparently a much happier one than Mr Raffin had enjoyed. At the Council meeting where Mr Raffin’s resignation was reported Councillor Morrow ‘proposed that the resignation be accepted with pleasure’. ‘Where does the pleasure come in?’, asked the chairman. ‘Because it will be a great satisfaction to the residents to know that they are getting rid of him (shouts of ‘oh!’) and in future business will go on more satisfactorily than in the past’, came the reply. Councillor Beard said that he ‘believed Mr Raffin to be as honest and straightforward a man as ever came to Twickenham’. Mr Webb said that when he got notice of the resignation he thought it a happy release for the Council, after all they had gone through. Mr Goatly urged that the motion be not put as the resignation was a matter of fact and could not be refused.

Fred Pearce was appointed at a salary of £260, rising by £20 annual increments to £400. The RTT recorded the votes cast for each candidate: Pearce: 13; Webb: 6; Scott: 2; Towlson: 1; Morley: 1 and Maxwell: 0. One has to feel some sympathy for Mr Maxwell’s public rejection, but no doubt Mr Pearce was gratified by the clear majority he received. He was later described as Twickenham Council’s greatest public asset. According to a contemporary sketchwriter, “Yes I did say so, and meant what I said. I am sorry I cannot make myself plainer, but the facts are as I have stated and I have nothing to withdraw or add” would be his standard reply to anyone who questioned what he said.

Thanks to Dr Dick Cashmore for bringing this account to my attention and to Annie Morris for transcribing it

The British School

Leave a Reply

The British School and other schools meeting on the church site

Lady Shaw’s school provided the first known home for the Church, and during the Victorian period the Church was to repay the debt by providing a home for several schools. These were not run by the Church itself, but by the local committee of the British and Foreign Schools Society (BFSS). The society concentrated on training teachers at its colleges. The first, at Borough Road, London opened in 1808 and moved to Isleworth in 1890. The society would only provide teachers for a British School on condition that the school was “open to the children of parents of all religious denominations … the lessons for reading shall consist of extracts from the Holy Scriptures; no catechism or peculiar religious tenet shall be taught in the school, but every child shall be enjoined to attend regularly the place of worship to which its parents belong“.

The BFSS Annual Report 1897 ( from which the last extract is taken) included a list of British Schools that were now closed. Included in the list is “Turnham Green Lady Shaws’s School est. 1834” – this almost certainly refers to Twickenham. Lady Shaw’s schoolroom was registered for public worship in December 1835, when the schoolmistress was Mary Clift. The 1836 BFSS report shows 66 girls attending, each paying 1d per week. Lady Shaw’s school also appears in the P.O. London Directory 1845, Mrs Sarah Draper being mistress.

This school must have subsequently closed, because in 1861 a British School for Boys was opened in the Baptist schoolroom, to be followed the next year by the Girls school which “met under the direction of Miss Hollingshed in the schoolroom adjacent to the Independent Chapel … very kindly placed free of rent for the use of the Committee“. About 80 boys and 50 girls attended the schools, each paying 2d per week. The Secretary of the schools was Mr J.N. Goatly. Within a decade the school ran into problems. In July 1871 a teacher, Mr Langley, resigned on being advised “that the school was to be closed when I give the holidays next Friday, the reason being that they (the committee) were much involved in debt...” . On Christmas Day 1876 Abraham Slade wrote in his Journal: “The last year has been an eventful one… the turn out of nearly all the congregationalists & school over to the Baptist… “. This was an unsettled time for the church which was dissolved in 1879 then reconstituted in 1882.

The Church minutes record that the school re-opened on December 31st 1883 under the management of a new committee chaired by Augustin Spicer. “116 children were present from 4 to 13 years of age“. A manuscript note states that in 1882 “Miss Ramsay, Head of Briar Road Infants School, took the lot of them to the ‘old British School’ in First Cross Road, because the rearrangement of the Briar Road building was unfinished“. The truth of this is uncertain but a return for the school, dated December 1884, survives in the BFSS archives. It is signed by Miss L.J.Ramsey, “certificated 1st Class” teacher. There were 240 children on the roll and an average attendance of 147. The need for the BFSS and other colleges can be gauged by the statistic that in 1881 less than half the teachers in the country were certificated, and of these, one third had not been to college.

Miss Ramsey was to run her school for the next 30 years. During its first decade the school appears to have become independent of the BFSS. The 1897 Annual Report mentions the Twickenham school (founded 1861) in the category of closed schools, immediately under the entry for Lady Shaw’s School mentioned above. Arthur Brazier, who attended the school about 1890, recalled:”my parents sent me to Miss Ramsey’s school … and we had to pay 4d a week … Two old ladies used to run this school – I stopped there about two years and then I transferred to the Archdeacon Cambridge School, … my parents were better off then – they only had to pay 2d a week“.

Further competition came when Trafalgar School opened in 1904, providing a free education and most of the children transferred there. One to move was Emily Potterill (Mrs E.Cumber), a member of the Church until her death in the 1980’s. When she attended Miss Ramsey’s school, at the start of the century, there were two classes. One, taken by Miss Ramsey herself, was for the older children (8-12), and the other, taken by a Miss Henley, was for the younger children (3-8). About thirty boys and girls attended. The charge of 6d per week was waived in cases of hardship. Miss Ramsey removed her school from First Cross Road in 1906, the Church waiving the rent she owed. She was evidently still running a school in 1914 – that March the Church considered a request from her to use the premises, but no agreement was reached.

See ‘A Century of Education: being the Centenary History of the British and Foreign Schools Society 1808-1908’ H.B.Binns 1908. Sadly most of the BFSS archives were destroyed during the Blitz.

 

The church’s founder: Lady Amelia Shaw

Leave a Reply

The history of Twickenham United Reformed Church (Twickenham Congregational Church to 1972)

The church’s founder

Early accounts of the church history may be inaccurate in many respects but all agree that the formation of the church was due in no small part to Lady Amelia Shaw. The little that is known about her is outlined here.

Lady Shaw was the second wife of Sir Robert Shaw, a Dublin banker and politician of Scottish ancestry.

Sir Robert’s great great grandfather, William Shaw, went to Ireland and fought for King William at the Battle of the Boyne in 1689, and was rewarded by the grant of land there. William’s great grandson, Robert (snr) moved to Dublin in the mid-eighteenth century, prospered as a merchant and became Accountant General of the Post Office. In 1785 he acquired Terenure House, an estate of 35 acres. His eldest son, ‘our’ Robert, was born on 29th January 1774.

On 7th January 1796 Robert married Maria, daughter and heiress of Abraham Wilkinson, and as a dowry received £10,000 together with a 110 acre estate, Bushy Park (possibly named after our local park here in Teddington) which adjoined Terenure House. Six months later Robert Sr. died leaving his son in possession of both estates. He sold Terenure House in 1806 and Bushy Park House became the family home (and was occupied by members of the Shaw family until 1951). See the Bushy Park House and Terenure College, pages on the Terenure 2000 web site for more information on these estates and a picture of Robert Shaw.

Robert had a dual career, as a partner in Shaw’s Bank (merged into the Royal Bank of Ireland in 1837) and as a politician. From 1798 he was an MP in the Irish Parliament (voting against the union with England) and served Dublin as its MP at Westminster from 1804-26. He was created a baronet (i.e. becoming Sir Robert) on 17 August 1821, being formally invested by George IV when he visited Ireland in 1822.

Maria died in 1831 having borne nine children. Sir Robert’s cousin, Bernard Shaw, had died in 1826 and Sir Robert had provided Bernard’s widow, Frances, with a cottage on the Terenure estate where she lived for the next 45 years. One of Frances’ grandchildren, George Bernard Shaw, was to be a regular visitor. On several occasions Sir Robert proposed to Frances, but he was turned down each time

… and now to matters of more local interest

The Times, Friday July 4th 1834: “On Wednesday the 2d inst, at Twickenham [Parish] Church, by the Rev Mr Snow, Sir Robert Shaw, Bart of Bushy-Park, County of Dublin, to Amelia Spencer of Twickenham, daughter of the late Benjamin Spencer MD, formerly of Bristol“. Dissenters would only be allowed to be married in their own chapels after the passing of the Marriage Act 1836. Amelia, in her early forties became the second Lady Shaw. Part of the marriage settlement involved the purchase of a house in Twickenham (see the church site) which was placed in trust for her (at this time married women could not own property). The trustees were Frederick Shaw (second son of Sir Robert), Henry Pownall (local landowner and owner of much of the Great Tithe) and John Bridges.

On December 4th 1835 Hull Terrell, Solicitor, made an application to the Bishop of London to register as a place of worship “a certain building situate in the parish of Twickenham in the county of Middlesex in the diocese of London in the occupation of Mary Clift called Lady Shaws school room to be used as a chapel for religious worship by protestant Dissenters …” and this was duly registered on December 28th.

In 1840 the church called its first minister, Benjamin Kluht (see the first pastorate). Following his ordination service on March 10th 1841, “a number of ministers and friends dined at the George Inn. Sir Robert Shaw presided; and his excellent lady was also present“.

Three years later Lady Shaw gave up some of her garden and advanced the money for the construction of the first chapel: “The foundation stone of a new Independent chapel was laid .. on 10th April 1843. The ceremony was performed by Sir Robert Shaw, Bart, acting for his excellent lady, who has been the principal means, under God, of introducing and sustaining the gospel in the neighbourhood, and who, beside giving the ground on which the chapel will stand, contributes liberally towards its erection.“. The financial side was formalised in the 1848 trust deed, where the trustees accepted liability for a debt of £550, being the sum advanced by her for the construction of the chapel.

The Times, 13th March 1849: “The venerable Sir Robert Shaw expired after a rather brief illness on Saturday evening (10th) at his seat, Bushy-Park, in the County of Dublin, in the 76th year of his age. … He is succeeded in his title and principal estates by his eldest son, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Shaw, and a portion of the County of Dublin estates, the property of the late Lady Shaw, devolve on the Rt. Hon. Frederick Shaw, as her second son“. The present holder of the title, Sir Robert Shaw, 7th Bart, lives in Calgary, Canada. A manuscript note in the church archives states that quarrels between Lady Shaw and a Mrs Litchfield led to the closing of the chapel for a period in 1849, but more probably this was connected with Sir Robert’s death.

Amelia remained in the house in Twickenham but by 1851 had acquired a house at 10/11 Kensington Gore [subsequently renumbered to 8], a few yards from the site of the Great Exhibition. The Census lists her at this address, aged 60, with two servants also listed. The P.O. London Directory 1851 and 1852 editions Court Directory list her as living at ‘Kensington Gore and Twickenham’. She died at her Kensington home, aged 68, on 11th January 1860 and was buried in the catacombs at Brompton Cemetery.

Unfortunately for the church, Lady Shaw died intestate, with no surviving close relatives. On 28th January 1861 Letters of Administration were granted to Edward Payson, an American farmer who was the sole executor of the will of Penelope Martin, Lady Shaw’s late cousin. The estate was assessed as being just under £10,000 (probably something like £1m in today’s money). An advertisement in the London Gazette, April 9th 1861, requesting any claims against her estate cites her as ‘Lady Amelia Shaw of No 8, Kensington Gore, London, and of Tay Down House, Brighton …’. Payson claimed back the money Lady Shaw had advanced twenty years earlier, temporarily leaving the church in a very uncertain position. Fortunately steps were taken to raise this money and secure the future of the church.

 

.
See ‘The Shaws’, Nathaniel Harris, Dent, 1977, Sir Robert and Lady Shaw’s Marriage: The Times 4th July 1834; Sir Robert Shaw’s obituary: The Times 13th March 1849, Gentlemen’s Magazine May 1849, p.541; Lady Shaw’s obituary: Gentlemen’s Magazine March 1860, p.306

Three prominent members

Leave a Reply

The history of Twickenham United Reformed Church (Twickenham Congregational Church to 1972)

Three prominent members

In March, April and May 1998 the church newsletter carried short biographies of the three members known to have appeared in the pages of Who’s Who and they are reproduced below.

But to place them in context, first read Tony Bryer’s editorial from the May 1998 newsletter:

As soon as I finished writing the first of the three mini biographies of former members who made the pages of Who’s Who, I realised that this might be open to misinterpretation – does it look like name dropping or imply that we value some people more than others? This was certainly not my intention.

I think that it is more than coincidental that all three were among the 62 people to join our church during the eventful pastorate of F.T.Simmonds (our minister from 1899-1907). Before then the recognisable names on our membership roll are those of local shopkeepers and tradesmen. At the turn of the century new development brought in those engaged in middle class occupations, and the nature of the area – reflected in the membership of our church – changed, not for the first or last time.

When I was a young person, it seemed that most of our church members were civil servants, teachers or nurses; now, as in late Victorian times, we also have a number of members who run their own small businesses. If this newsletter has come through your letterbox, rest assured that we are all just ordinary people like you and your neighbours, and you would, we hope, feel at home among us if you wished to join us one Sunday.

But what of the other 59 members who joined our church during Mr Simmonds’ pastorate? Some we know about, indeed some our older members may remember a few of them, but most are now forgotten – but this does not mean that their contribution to their church and community was any less valuable. In the past Janet Lees has reminded us about some of the un-named women who play a key part in the Bible narrative – and there are many men too. So too in our century.

More than forty years ago a French priest, Michel Quoist, wrote a book called ‘Prayers of Life’. On of the meditations is called ‘The Brick’. It ends:

“I thought, Lord, of that brick buried in the darkness at the base of that big building. No one sees it, but it accomplishes its task and the other bricks need it. Lord what difference whether I am on the roof-top or in the foundations, as long as I stand faithfully at the right place?”

May we each be ready to faithfully serve in the place God has given us, whether in the public eye or not.

Tony Bryer

John Allen Harker, 1870-1923

John Allen Harker CBE D.Sc. was born in Alston, Cumbria, in 1870 where his father was Congregational minister. After school in Stockport (his father moved there in 1871), he then studied at Manchester and Tübingen (Germany) universities. He came to work at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, rising to Chief Assistant and Head of Thermometry. From 1916 he was Director of Research at the Ministry of Munitions. He wrote scientific papers, served on government committees and visited the USA and Canada on behalf of the British government. He was on board the Cunard liner Andania when it was torpedoed off the Irish coast in January 1918 with a loss of seven lives. In 1921 he went into private practice, but died in 1923 aged just 53.

Dr & Mrs Harker lived in Teddington, firstly in Kingston Road, then moving to ‘Alston’, Queens Road: we may guess that he named the house (still there) after his birthplace.

Dr Harker’s delightful account of his first visit to our church (1903?) appears in my church history, ‘Chapel Next the Green’: “Good Mr Purchase was in the porch smiling and gave him a hymn book and showed him into a seat. He did not remember what the sermon was about, and there was not a large congregation, and it was not a grand service, but he went home and told his wife, and after his wife had been to a service, he didn’t know which of them was the more delighted“.

Both became church members in May 1904, just after he had been elected to the Church Committee (which from 1903-9 took the place of the Diaconate); subsequently they both played an active part in church life until around 1920-21 by which time they had moved from the area. Dr Harker’s church membership was formally transferred to Whitefield’s Memorial Church in December 1921

Peter Galloway Fraser, 1862-1925

The second of our three members to appear in Who’s Who, [Peter] Galloway Fraser JP is the one of whom least is known. As you might guess, he was a Scot, who came to London as a Parliamentary reporter for the Dundee Chronicle. In 1890 he went to work for George Newnes, ultimately becoming editor of ‘Tit-Bits‘. In 1899 he moved from Putney to 13 Strawberry Hill Road where he and his wife lived until his death in September 1925.

Mr Fraser joined the church in 1904 (on the same day as Dr John Harker), having been elected to the Church Committee the year before. He served on the Committee until 1906 but does not appear to have held any other church office after this.

On his death, fellow editor and church member, J.H.Broad, recorded in the Richmond & Twickenham Home Journal, “His editorship of Tit-Bits was perhaps his most outstanding position … Since his retirement he has taken extensive interest in local affairs and has occupied some very important positions [unfortunately not detailed]. Twickenham has lost a most capable and loveable gentleman“. In contrast, the Richmond & Twickenham Times [3.10.25] felt that “the fact that he was at one time editor of Tit Bits, not generally regarded as a serious weekly production, does not convey any idea of his abilities … His best efforts appeared in the Scottish papers“. Does anyone know more about him?

Clifford Copeland Patterson, 1879-1948

In contrast to my previous two subjects, there is no shortage of material about the last of the three members to appear in Who’s Who. Sir Clifford Copeland Paterson, son of a tanner and leather merchant, was born in Stoke Newington in 1879. After school he trained in general and electrical engineering then came to the newly established NPL in 1903, specialising in light and lighting. He was awarded an OBE in 1916 for his work on the Paterson-Walsh aircraft height finder.

Mr and Mrs Paterson joined the church in 1906, on transfer from Stamford Hill. They lived at 28 Clifden Road, then 10 Walpole Gardens. Both were keen sailors and gardeners. He served as Sunday School Superintendent (383 children in 1908!), Church Secretary from 1907-1916 and was a Deacon until moving to Oxhey in 1923.

In 1916 the Osram Lamp Works in Hammersmith invited Mr Paterson to set up a research department for them (before the war they had depended on German technology), but he was not free to accept such a post during the war. Five days after the Armistice, Hugo (later Lord) Hirst, a founder of GEC asked him to become founder director of the GEC Research Laboratories (GEC having taken over Osram), a post he held until his death in July 1948.

The labs were initially housed at Hammersmith, 71 staff moving to a purpose- built facility in North Wembley in 1922. Work on filament lamps naturally developed into electronic valves. During World War II the staff grew to more than a thousand and the work on searchlights, camouflage, radio, and radar was to play a key part in the war effort, rewarded by a knighthood in 1946.

Mr Paterson was President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers 1930-1 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1942: they now hold an annual Clifford Paterson lecture. ‘The GEC Research Laboratories 1919-84‘ and ‘A Scientist’s War – the war diary of Sir Clifford Paterson, 1939-45‘, both by Clayton & Algar, detail his scientific work. as does the 21-page obituary published by the Royal Institution. The latter notes the influence of his Christian faith on the way in which he ran the GEC labs, seeking to create an culture of co-operation and partnership.

Last updated 21 April 2025

The King’s Arms Public House, Albion Road, Twickenham

2 Replies

These notes were compiled by Vic Rosewarne during the 1990s. Vic was a member and later Chairman of the Borough of Twickenham Local History Society

The King’s Arms was one of the first Beer Houses opened in Twickenham following the Beer House Act of 1830. This Act permitted any householder, who paid domestic rates, to buy a licence from the Customs and Excise and open his or her house for the sale of beer and cider only. The licence initially cost two guineas, later rising to five.

Originally run by Radford Parpworth, who was also a builder and carpenter, it was taken over by David Healey around 1854. He had previously run the Prince Albert Beer House in Hounslow Road, Whitton. After his death, in about 1865, it was run by his wife, Sophia, and later his son Walter until 1933. In 1870 the licence was in danger of being lost as the house was thought by the licensing magistrates to be of insufficent value; alterations and extensions were then made which brought the rateable value up. The present building was erected on the site of the previous house in 1926.

See also: The Duke’s Head

The Duke’s Head Public House, Twickenham

1 Reply

These notes were compiled by Vic Rosewarne during the 1990s. Vic was a member and later Chairman of the Borough of Twickenham Local History Society

The Duke’s Head, Colne Road (prev. Albion Road), Twickenham

This house was first recorded 1759, when Joseph Parrott was licensee, although he is recorded by 1750 as having a house in Twickenham, but no sign is then given. The land on which the pub stands was enclosed from Hounslow Heath by 1740, along with other areas south of Colne Road. The original house fronted on Albion Road and before the enclosures this was the edge of the Heath. The house then had a large bay window in the front from which the comings and goings on the Heath could be seen. Like most pubs on Hounslow Heath it is said Dick Turpin stayed there, indeed it is claimed he hid from his pursuers in the cellars, and whilst there carved his name on the cellar door.

The present building, fronting on Colne Road, was erected in 1914 in the backyard of the old house, this then becoming a private house, which was demolished post war. Albion Road was known as Duke’s Head Row until 1878, when the local Board renamed many of the Roads.

See also: The King’s Arms

Chapel Next The Green – Into Print

Leave a Reply
Chapel Next the Green cover

Chapel Next the Green cover

As described last time, I started with the idea of a simple update to a 25-year-old church history  and ended up doing much more. Reading church minute books led to investigating denominational records, the site history, local newspapers and much else. Now it was time to turn my copious notes into a book we could afford to print and which people would find interesting. Having unpicked the story of the dissolution of the church in 1879 and its re-formation in 1882, I suggested a Centenary weekend whose highlight would be the release of my finished history. Now I had a deadline to work to.

In 1979 I was one of the first people to get a home computer, a Commodore PET. I bought a word processing program, name long forgotten, written in BASIC, so customisable. It allowed text to be edited, saved to and retrieved from cassette tape. Output was limited to a monospace font with full space justification. Very limited – the superscript references to footnotes were written in by hand using a Rotring pen – but what a step change from repeatedly retyping manuscripts. Over many weeks I typed up my notes creating the first rough draft.

Centre spread pictures of ministers

Centre spread pictures of ministers

I approached a printer near my office, Emberbrook Print, and explained what I had in mind – a saddle-stitched (stapled) A5 book. Just their sort of job. The church agreed to underwrite the print cost on the basis that selling the print run would return this. This all led to settling on a 72-page book (including covers). The extra cost of the four-page centre photo section was met by a former member. After allowing for prelims, pictures and footnotes, each section would, on average, be limited to around two pages, 800 words. Impossible given the extent of my notes!

For several years my best friends Brian and Margaret Pearce had made me welcome for coffee on Sunday evenings. Now these turned into editorial meetings. Brian, when not working as a college librarian was a writer and poet, and Margaret acted as a fearless editor of his work. Just what I needed! I took the decision to divide my account up by pastorate. A few people criticised this, as placing too much emphasis on the part ministers play in the life of a church, but I hope that my text has the balance right. Over several months, each Sunday morning I handed over a dot-matrix printout of the latest section, vastly over-long yet containing nothing that could be left out (or so I thought). The same evening over coffee I was presented with my edited text, English and punctuation corrected as necessary by Brian, large chunks marked for deletion in red by Margaret. A healthy discussion followed! With some sections this process was repeated several times.

Finally the text was complete but eight lines over length! On a beautifully edited text finding any content that could be removed was hard work, but we managed it. In the meantime a friend’s father, Edmund Heller, took professional photographs of the inside and outside of the church building and my good friend Arthur Burgess organised copies of the obit pictures of former ministers originally printed in Congregation Yearbooks.

Sample of body text

Body text (note the handwritten superscripts!)

Now to the final stage. To keep the price down, the book was to be offset printed from camera-ready copy. This was produced on a Qume daisywheel printer, hired at vast expense from a firm in Old Street, carbon ribbon onto coated paper. I took a week off to produce the page masters. The body text was relatively straightforward, but each page took about ten minutes to print – I watched patiently as the WP program fathomed out each line’s justification. The double column appendices were harder work: the sheet was loaded into the printer and its position carefully marked with a process blue (invisible to a litho camera) pencil before printing the left-hand column. Then it was a question of reloading the paper, lining up the marks and printing the right-hand column. Any previously-missed  error on the output meant another ten minute wait but eventually I had a set of page masters.

The front cover uses an enlarged extract from the 1863 OS map. The cover text was supplied by Emberbrook in the form of Letraset-style strips (one per line) which removed the need to manually space letters.

Page masters delivered, I waited with a mixture of expectancy and apprehension. I need not have worried: I was (and still am) very pleased with the result, though of course it reflects the technology available to me at the time. For the centenary weekend we invited back all those former members we had contact with and it was a great occasion, with Rev Richard Hall, URC Thames North Moderator preaching at our Sunday morning service. I was touched that with the book being just hours old, he quoted from it in his sermon.

Will a future church history ever be published in book form? 2035 will mark the 200th anniversary of the formation of the church. But the reality is that it’s much easier to assemble a body of knowledge as a series of web pages which can be updated as new information becomes available and which are readily searchable.

Twickenham United Reformed Church website history pages

Chapel Next The Green – Research

1 Reply
Chapel Next the Green cover

Chapel Next the Green cover

Forty years ago my history of the Twickenham Congregational Church (Twickenham United Reformed Church from 1972), Chapel Next the Green was published. This post and the one that will follow are about the researching and production of the history respectively, not the history itself. For this refer to the book itself or the church website.

I always had an interest in local history and having grown up in the church I had heard all sorts of stories of its past. Back in 1951 the then church secretary, Reg Peirce, had put together a history to mark what was though to be the church’s triple jubilee (150 years).

Some time in the 1970s I thought that it was time for an updated history and the church meeting agreed to me producing this. I had no background in historical research – at the time I was a council building inspector – and my original plan was to do a relatively quick update to Reg’s history. But I’d started on a journey which would last a good few years.

My starting point was with the church archives, such as they were. These included copies of leaflets, reports and other items of interest (including a programme for the 1902 Centenary Bazaar) and, most importantly, Church Meeting and Deacons Meeting minute books starting with the re-formation of the church in 1882 following a very testing few years. I soon realised I would need to read through these minutes twice: on the first read you get the facts, but because you don’t know what will happen next it’s hard to tell what is or isn’t significant. Needless to say, all this reading and note taking took an extended period.

By now I had a picture of church life from 1882. My next step was to visit the United Reformed Church History Society’s library. Congregation Yearbooks furnished obituaries of the church’s ministers back to the 1850s and sundry other information.

But now I had a problem. Reg’s history (probably based on Andrew Mearns’ 1889 London Congregational Church Directory: “1800 Church formed by B.H.Kluht assisted by Lady Shaw and Dr Leifchild“) left me puzzled. Debrett’s Peerage had failed to provide a suitable Lady Shaw. There was no Rev Kluht active at that time – only one who wasn’t born until 1816. And I’d also found that First Cross Road, where the church stands, was a result of the 1818 Enclosure Award; before this it was part of Twickenham Common.

Lady Shaw's School registered as a place of public worship

Lady Shaw’s School registered as a place of public worship

And then the penny dropped. What if Reg’s history was wrong? Yearbooks from 1862-1884 stated that the church was founded in 1838. All fell into place: Lady Shaw became such on her 1834 marriage to Sir Robert Shaw at Twickenham Parish Church. Benjamin Kluht came to the church as its first minister in 1840. During his seven year pastorate the first chapel was built on land at the rear of Sir Robert and Lady Shaw’s garden.

Then as I widened my research I found the December 1835 certificate of registration of Lady Shaw’s school room as a place of worship which can be taken as the birth date of the church. Now it all made sense.

My research took me to the Greater London Record Office, the Congregational Library at Caroone House, Dr Williams Library, the Guildhall Library, the Public Record Office and British and Foreign School Society Archive. And I made a visit to the elderly Rev Harold Bickley who had become the church’s minister in 1916. The more I knew the more there was to discover. But given that the aim was to publish an updated history, I had to stop somewhere. The decision was made to have a special weekend marking the centenary of the re-formation of the church on 27th April 1882 and so work switched to assembling all my research into a coherent account. Next month I’ll try and recall how this was done.

1960s Sunday School memories

Leave a Reply

Although they weren’t churchgoers, my parents – like many others at that time – wanted me to go to Sunday School. A fellow school-gate mum told my mum that the Twickenham Congregational (now United Reformed) church had a good Sunday School. So late in 1959, aged six, I was enrolled. At that time well over 100 children attended each week, most like me having been sent rather than brought.

Each Sunday morning we met in the hall and paraded into church where we sat in our designated pews. Following two hymns and the children’s talk, we adjourned to our classes. After nine months in the primary class I moved up to the junior department which met in the main hall. Demountable screens split the hall into classrooms, each class having around eight children – boys’ classes one side of the hall, girls’ the other. In due course we graduated to the young people’s class, where boys and girls were allowed to mix!

The Sunday School had its own calendar which superimposed the following special events on the regular Sunday morning classes. Roughly speaking it looked like this:

  • Early in the year those of us who wanted to, participated in the National Sunday School Union’s Scripture exam. For six weeks we would study the year’s exam theme and had to learn a memory passage. Then on a Friday evening we all turned up to sit the exam paper. Later a district awards presentation, preceded by a tea, was held at Twickenham Baptist Church. A member of the Baptist church was an amateur printer and produced beautiful Twickenham & District-specific certificates – sadly none of mine survive but here’s an example from Norwich (ack Leo Reynolds)
  • One highlight of the year was the Sunday School festival marked by a fully costumed and staged play. Maurice Stockdale, then Sunday School superintendent, took great pride in producing this. Parts were found for every child who wanted to take place with, by tradition, teachers taking the parts in the last act. We went to rehearsals on six Monday evenings, followed by a Sunday afternoon dress rehearsal (then the obligatory tea!), the performance itself in front of church members and proud parents being on the Monday evening. I just remember playing Elisha’s servant in the play ‘So Small a Thing’ – the healing of Naaman.
  • To June and the Sunday School outing. Back in the early 1960s most people still didn’t have cars so, annual holiday apart, rarely went far, making the outing a great event. Our outing destinations were Oxshott Heath with its enormous sandpit, Frensham Ponds, Box Hill, and for seaside trips, Lancing or Wittering. An elderly near-blind member of the congregation, James Rennie, would give Maurice some money to be shared out towards the end of the outing so that each child could buy some seaside rock or sweets. He would be amazed to know that his simple kindness towards children he didn’t know is still remembered fifty years after his death.
  • Holidays over, September saw promotion Sunday. Everyone who was eligible moved up on the same date, and getting a new teacher was an exciting thing. Even more so, joining the mixed young people’s group!
  • This one I can’t date, but like many children across the world in linked churches we were given collecting boxes to collect donations in support of the London Missionary Society’s John Williams missionary ship which served scattered communities in the southern Pacific. When the John Williams VII ship was commissioned at Tower Pier in 1962 our Sunday School ran an outing to visit her but my parents wouldn’t let me go, scared that I might fall in the Thames!
  • And so to year end. The Christmas family service would invariably include a short nativity play of some sort. Then we’d have a Sunday afternoon Christmas party with games and tea. Aged about nine I can remember my teacher telling me “as it’s the party you can call me Christine instead of Miss Kerslake”! How things have changed!

Within five or so years the practice of non-church parents sending children to Sunday School was no more and numbers sadly collapsed. I’m so grateful to have been part of the preceding generation. So many happy memories of my teachers – Margaret Day, Christine Kerslake, Pat Sparks, John Cragg and Maurice Stockdale. Thanks for all you gave me as a small child.

Twickenham Ferry

1 Reply

Last week a Melbourne Maritime Heritage Network meeting discussed Melbourne’s Ferries – Past, Present and Future. Upstream of the city all the ferries across the Yarra – one of which I will return to – have been replaced by bridges. Downstream, the river is subject to a fairly low speed limit, reflecting the use of the river by small leisure craft, container ships accessing the docks as well as the need to protect of the river banks. Geography means that for most destinations, unlike Sydney, other forms of transport are quicker or cheaper.

Bellarine Express and Geelong Flyer ferries passing in Victoria Harbour

Bellarine Express and Geelong Flyer ferries passing in Victoria Harbour

Apart from the tourist ferries from the CBD to Williamstown, we do have two ferries running from here in Docklands to Portarlington and Geelong, both services starting in the last few years. Portarlington  in particular lends itself to a ferry service – it’s not served by rail and the ferry is probably quicker than driving. Will we see more ferries? Not without suitable mooring facilities, the meeting was told.

But back to Ferries past. When the first settlers came here they brought a lot of their former place names with them. So as a one-time resident of Twickenham, now living in Docklands, I can easily visit Richmond, Hampton, Sunbury but no Twickenham. We do though have a Twickenham Crescent in Burnley. Why? Let the Australasian, 4 June 1904 explain:

TWICKENHAM FERRY

Extract from 1889 David Syme woodcut: Twickenham Ferry on the Yarra

Extract from 1889 David Syme woodcut: Twickenham Ferry on the Yarra

One of the prettiest reaches on the Yarra, within easy distance from Melbourne, is that portion lying between Burnley and Toorak, about 4 1/2 miles up from Prince’s bridge. Here a ferry conveys passengers across the river, starting at the bottom of Grange-road, Toorak, across to Burnley. The ferry dates back to 1880, when Jesse Harrow, a veteran waterman, founded it.Unlike its English namesake on the River Thames, where the ferryboat is manned by a “jolly young waterman,” Twickenham Ferry on the Yarra is worked by means of a suspended rope, stretched across the river*, with a sheave wheel and regulating lines at each end, so that it can be raised or lowered, according to the height of the water.

Twickenham Ferry postcard c.1907

Twickenham Ferry postcard c.1907

On the Burnley side of the river, partly hewn out of the bank, is constructed a most picturesque old dwelling, containing four rooms and a shop. Here the widow of the late Jesse Barrow, together with her son and daughter reside, and retail refreshments, ranging from soft drinks and kola beer to apples, pears, and lollies, to the thirsty oarsmen. The ferry hours during the weekdays are from 7 in the morning till 10 at night, and on Sundays from 8 till 9, the fare being one penny each way.

“There are a good many ‘dead heads,’ though,” added the ferryman; “you see sometimes, men looking for work, want to cross the river, and, of course, promise to pay when they return, and again sometimes a lady finds she has left her purse at home, or has no change; then we have to trust to their honesty. So it’s not all profit, in addition, we have to pay £5 a year for a license.”

Thirty years later the ferry service was no more:

FAREWELL TO TWICKENHAM FERRY

Not least perhaps among the many functions which his Grace the Duke of Gloucester will perform will be the official opening of the Centenary Bridge at Grange Road, well on the way to completion. Another step in the path of progress no doubt; but progress, no matter how desirable in practical ways, is not always a source of unalloyed gratification. At least, so thinks Mr. Barrow, the picturesque boatman of Twickenham Ferry, who, with the opening of the bridge, will find his occupation, like Othello’s, gone. Incidentally another, perhaps one of the last of those links that bind us to Melbourne’s pioneer days, will be broken.

Mr. Barrow, who has lived in or near his present habitation, Twickenham Ferry, just by Burnley, throughout his life, is the son of Jesse Barrow, who came to Australia from England in 1861….

None of the many regular or casual voyagers carried in his little craft during nearly half a century ever made an un-interesting trip with Mr. Barrow. Short though the transit might be, there was always time for some interesting reminiscence that gave additional interest or charm to an already charming spot. The strong structure that makes his service “no longer necessary” will be stolidly silent where he was eloquent, retaining its frigid parvenu dignity somewhat in-appropriately in the midst of rustic beauty. But though Mr. Barrow’s services will be no longer required, we in Melbourne know, they will not be forgotten…

Argus 15 Sept 1934