Annex 2 Famous Kingstonians
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Annex 2 Famous Kingstonians Ayliffe, George (1825-1915) George William Ayliffe, hairdresser, photographer and local historian was born in Hampton Wick and attended school in Hampton Wick and Surbiton. Apprenticed to a hairdresser in the Apple Market in Kingston he later had his own shops in the Apple Market, Church St and Thames St. He first took up photography as a hobby and in 1860 gave up hairdressing to become a photographer. He started in Kingston but moved to London for a time where he worked on an evening paper called the Glow Worm and met Charles Dickens. He returned to Brighton Rd, Surbiton in 1870 where he remained until his retirement in 1885. From the age of seven he kept a diary recording events and changes in the area and when he was 80 agreed to give a series of interviews to the Surrey Comet . These were remarkable for their accuracy and were printed in 1914 under the title Old Kingston in aid of the Kingston Victoria Hospital. He died aged 90 at his home Glen Lyn in Richmond Rd, Kingston. Barnardo, Thomas (1845-1905) Barnardo was born in Dublin and trained at the London Hospital and later in Edinburgh where he became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. His medical work in the east end of London during the cholera epidemic of 1866 first drew his attention to the great numbers of homeless and destitute children in the big cities and with the encouragement of the 7 th Earl of Shaftesbury he opened the first home in Stepney Causeway in 1870. By the time of his death in 1905 there were 112 “Homes”. Barnardo lived in St Leonard’s Lodge, Portsmouth Rd (now replaced by Ravensview Court) where his wife declared they had spent their happiest years. There was not a Barnardo’s Home in Kingston until 1933 when the organisation took over the Princess Louise Home. The building closed in 1968 and the site is now occupied by Blenheim Gardens. The author Leslie Thomas was sent there and wrote about it in his book This Time Next Week. Barton, Cyril Joe (1922-1944) Cyril was from New Malden and was a Pilot Officer in 578 Squadron. On 30 March 1944 in an attack on Nuremberg his Halifax bomber was badly damaged by enemy aircraft with three crew member baling out. He carried on to the target released the bombs and then tried to return. His plane ran out of fuel and he crashed trying to avoid the village of Ryhope near Sunderland. He was awarded the VC posthumously. Bazalgette, Ian Willoughby (1918-1944) He was born in Calgary later moving to England with his family who settled in New Malden. In September 1940 he received a commission in the Royal Artillery and the following year he transferred to the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. On 4 August 1944 his Lancaster came under heavy anti-aircraft fire in France. Despite the plane being on fire he carries on to the target and bombed it before ordered those who could to leave by parachute and bringing the aircraft down safely. Unfortunately it then exploded killing him and two other crew members. He was awarded the VC posthumously. Bestall, Alfred (1892-1986) He studied art at the Birmingham Central School of Arts and Crafts before transferring his studies to London. He was a driver and mechanic on the Western Front from 1916 and began contributing humorous illustrations to “Blighty” magazine. After being demobbed he worked full-time as an illustrator and in 1922 received the first of over 100 commissions for Punch magazine. He also illustrated a number of children’s books including one by Enid Blyton (lived in Hook). In 1935 he took over from Mary Tourtel as writer and artist of the Rupert Bear strip in the Daily Express. He continued to produce the strip until his retirement in 1965 and contributed to the Annuals until he was 90. He lived in Cranes Park, Surbiton from 1936-1966 and then moved to Wales. He was a member of Surbiton Hill Methodist Church and of Surbiton Rotary Club. He also helped to reform the Tennis Club. Blyton, Enid (1897-1968) She moved to Southernhay, Hook Road in 1920 as governess to the four sons of the Thompson family and subsequently moved to Chessington. Her first book for children was published in 1922. More than 600 others were to follow. Burdett-Coutts, Angela (1814-1906) She was the daughter of Sir Francis Burdett and Sophia Coutts who became the wealthiest woman in England when she inherited her grandfather’s fortune of nearly two million pounds in 1837. She spent the majority of her money on scholarships, endowments and a wide range of philanthropic causes. Her link with Kingston was that Coutts Bank took over Thomas Pooley’s estate in Surbiton in 1844. Angela personally donated land for the first church (St Marks) in Surbiton and endowed St Andrews also. In 1881 her celebrity was enhanced when she married her Secretary William Bartlett. She was 67 and he was 27. Burney, Fanny (1752-1840) Fanny Burney who later became Madame D’Arblay was an English novelist and diarist. She published her first novel anonymously in 1778 but when the authorship became known it gave her immediate fame. She wrote four major novels but the publication of her diaries posthumously gave her a second reputation as a social observer and writer of character sketches. Her father Dr Burney was a good friend of Samuel Crisp the playwright and musician who lived at Chessington Hall. She visited him for the first time in 1766 and they became lifelong friends. He was her “most judicious advisor and stimulating critic”. She married a French exile General Alexandre D’Arblay in 1893 and had a son in 1894 when she was 42. They travelled to France in 1802 and stayed for 10 years being trapped by the Battle of Waterloo on their way back to Britain in Brussels. Her diary is a useful source document for the battle. Clapton, Eric (1945-) He was born in Ripley but attended Hollyfield School and then Kingston College of Art. He left the college as his interest was more in music than art and by the early 1960’s he was busking around Kingston, Richmond and the West End. He joined his first band early in 1963 before joining the Yardbirds towards the end of that year. He has been described as the most important and influential guitarist of all time. Clark, Petula (1932-) She was born in Epsom and went to school in Chessington. She was a star of radio and film before reaching her teens. She made some 500 appearances during the 2 nd world War to entertain the troops. Through the 1940’s and 50’s she appeared in a great number of films branching out into singing in the late 1940’s. She had a string of hits in the 50’s before her career faltered in the early 60’s. The recording of “Downtown” in 1964 reversed this trend and she had 15 consecutive Top Forty hits in the USA. Thoroughout the 60’s and 70’s she toured extensively in the US then scaled back her career for her family returning to the stage in the 1980’s as Maria von Trapp. She is the most successful British solo recording artist to date (70million recordings). Dartmouth, George, Lord (1755-1810) He was High Steward of Kingston in 1797 which was one of many high offices he held,amongst them, Lord Chamberlain from 1804-1812, Lord Steward from 1802-1804, |President of the Board of Control from 1801-1802 and Member for Horsham from 1780. Eisenhower, Dwight D (1890-1969) American president from 1953-61, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during the Second World War and lived at Telegraph Cottage in Coombe while preparing the plan for the D Day landings. He presented the maps he had worked on to the people of Kingston after the war. Galsworthy, John (1867-1933) The author and Nobel Prize winner was born at Parkfield on Kingston Hill and as a child lived in three other houses in Coombe. The locality is fondly remembered in the Forsyte Saga trilogy. The first house his father built was Coombe Warren later renamed Coombe Court now demolished. The second was Coombe Leigh later Coombe Ridge House and now Holy Cross Prep School. The third was Coombe Croft now Rokeby an independent boys’ school. Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794) He was born in Putney and attended Kingston Grammar School briefly before going to Westminster then Magdalen College, Oxford. He converted to Catholicism at which point his father removed him and sent him to the care of a Calvinist pastor in Lausanne for five years. Not surprisingly he reconverted and gained much in intellectual experience. He also fell in love for the only time in his life but once again his father intervened and he returned to England. After four years with the Hampshire Militia he embarked on a grand tour which inspired him to write his most famous work The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. He never married and suffered from a crippling illness in his later years. Gordine, Dora (c1900-1991) She was born in Estonia and moved to Paris in 1920 to study music and art. She exhibited her sculpture through the 1920’s and was very successful. In 1929 she went to Singapore to make six bronze heads for their new Town Hall and numerous other commissions.