Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Vol 8 No 4 Winter 2018-19 incorporating Islington History Journal £5.25 Showing the way in heritage

The drive to get Islington’s heritage recognised and the establishment of the borough’s official guides

Council sets out 15-year plan l Heritage at risk highlighted l Planning system ‘chaotic’ l Making TV history programmes l The Copenhagen Tunnel l Going by coach from King’s Cross l The emigrant type founder l Darwin’s ‘idiots’ and other animals l Last orders at the Prince of Wales on Boxing Day 1944 l Books and reviews l Events and exhibitions l Letters and your questions About the society

Our committee What we do: talks, walks and more Contribute to this

and contacts he Islington journal: stories and President Alec Forshaw Archaeology & History pictures sought Vice president Mary Cosh TSociety is here to Chair Andrew Gardner, investigate, learn and celebrate We welcome articles on local [email protected] the heritage that is left to us. history, as well as your Vice chair George Allan We organise lectures, walks research, memories and old Secretary Morgan Barber-Rogers and other events, and photographs. Membership, publications and publish this quarterly A one-page article needs events Catherine Brighty, journal. We hold 10 about 500 words, and the 8 Wynyatt Street, EC1V 7HU, meetings a year, usually at maximum length is 1,000 020 7833 1541, catherine. Islington Town Hall. words (please do not submit [email protected] The society was set up in articles published elsewhere). Treasurer Philip Anderson, 1975 and is run entirely by We like pictures – please check [email protected] volunteers. If you’d like to we can use them without Academic adviser Lester Hillman get involved, please contact infringing anyone’s copyright. Journal editor Christy Lawrance our chairman Andrew Committee members Michael Gardner (details left). www.facebook.com/ Ever wondered…? Harper, Derek Seeley, Samir 8 www.islingtonhistory.org.uk groups/islingtonhistory.org.uk Do you have any queries about Singh, Zena Sullivan, Alys Islington’s history, streets or Barber-Rogers buildings? Send them in for Journal back issues and extra copies our tireless researcher Michael How we use your data Reading and other readers to We hold names and addresses Journal distribution is answer. Please note we do not to provide membership overseen by Catherine keep an archive or carry out services. If you would like Brighty (details left). family research. your details removed from our Contact her for more l See Letters, page 6 records, contact Catherine copies, back issues, if you Brighty (above). We do not pass move house and about Copyright details to third parties unless membership. Back issues Copyright of everything in we have to by law or for society can also be downloaded this journal lies with the purposes; the printer deletes via our website at www. creator unless otherwise label information after use. islingtonhistory.org.uk stated. While it can be difficult to trace copyright ownership $ (photocopies acceptable) of archive materials, we make Join the Islington Archaeology & History Society every effort to do so.

Membership per year is: £12 single; £15 joint at same address; concessions single £8/joint £10; Editor – and a new editor corporate £25; overseas £20; life: £125 (renewal forms sent out when due) Christy Lawrance From the next issue, the editor I/We would like single/joint/concession/joint concession/corporate membership and enclose will be Jane Parker, who leads a cheque payable to “Islington Archaeology & History Society” for ...... local history tours and runs the www.janeslondon.com Name(s) ...... website. She can be contacted on journal@islingtonhistory. Address ...... org.uk

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Cover: Islington Local History Centre/Clerkenwell and Islington Guides’ Association. History Local Guides’ Cover: Islington and Islington Centre/Clerkenwell Place, London, N7 8DH

2 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society

Incorporating Islington History Journal Vol 8 No 4 Winter 2018-19

A chance to have a say in our heritage’s future

slington Council has set out its 15-year plan for the borough (news, page 5). IConflict can arise between preserving Contents heritage and meeting social and economic needs, it notes, and appears to address this partly through “innovative” reuse of News 4 heritage. Warehouse conversion, anyone? Council sets out long-term plan, heritage at risk highlighted, public lacks faith in At the same time, a report by Town & ‘chaotic’ planning system, Greenham women sought and 150 years of Post Office cats Country Planning Association calls the plannign system “chaotic”. Its says people Your letters and questions 6 feel ignored or even dismissed and jargon A ghost sign, a Victorian pub, a place by the waterside and all names rude and grand excludes non-professionals. Being involved in a consultation (or even Making history 8 a planning application) can be extremely Making history programmes for TV means telling stories like a Hollywood movie and frustrating. It can feel that whoever is working with magical or monstrous presenters running the exercise is just ticking the “we’ve consulted with the public” boxes. The Copenhagen Tunnel 10 However, the draft local plan still A trio of railway tunnels carry the mainline railway tracks out of King’s Cross station. provides an opportunity to influence the council’s long-term approach to our The emigrant type founder 12 heritage. If people don’t get involved, Henry Thitchener sailed with his family to Australia in 1876 to seek his fortune there is a risk the council may believe residents aren’t interested or think the Darwin’s ‘idiots’ and other animals 14 draft local plan is just fine as it is. Why were so-called ‘idiots’ of important to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution? So make your voice heard – to officers, local councillors and the local papers – to Showing the way 16 help preserve the heritage of the borough The drive to get Islington’s heritage recognised led to the Clerkenwell and Islington for both now and the future. Guides’ Association, now 30 years old

Boxing clever Last orders at the Prince of Wales 18 As the Lost Trades of Islington exhibition The final evening of those killed in a pub by a V2 bomb on Boxing Day 1944 opened, the journal received an email about a 19th century type founder from Going by coach from King’s Cross 20 Clerkenwell, who set up shop in Australia King’s Cross played a central role in the development of travel by coach (see letters, page 6, and The Emigrant Type Founder, page 12). Islington’s old Publications 22 industries may have a global reach. A train tunnel, glassworks archaeology, Islington’s Jewish community, life in prefab homes, a 500-year-old charity, a Caledonian Park walk and models to make Goodbye This is my last issue of the journal. Many Events 24 thanks to all of you who sent in articles, Days and evenings out letters and photographs over the years, which made the journal what it is. Directory 28 Societies, museums and resources Christy Lawrance Editor Islington Archaeology & History Society events 31

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 3 news In brief Register highlights heritage at risk How Essex Road Cinema buildings, places of got its name worship, former prison cells, The society’s volunteer public buildings and railings researcher, Michael Reading, are among historic structures has written a history of Essex in Islington deemed at risk by Road, looking particularly at Historic England. why it was given this name Its 2018 Heritage at Risk after being called Lower Street Register – the 20th year of the for over 800 years. The booklet register – includes landmarks gives a brief history of Islington such as the Finsbury Health up to the mid 19th century, Centre and the Holloway and discusses its perceived Odeon, although restoration Tudor connections. It also works are planned for the latter. reproduces some outspoken The former Mecca Bingo in At risk: cells at the House of Detention in Clerkenwell correspondence over the name Essex Road, built as the change in the Islington Gazette. Carlton Cinema in 1930, is also Caledonian Clock Tower, and St Mary’s in Upper Street. l Copies of Why Essex Road? at risk, with damage to the Union Chapel and Finsbury The register also covers have been lodged at the Local faience tiles visible. The register Town Hall. conservation areas, and History Centre. notes that “proposals for reuse Also at risk, although in a describes the condition of are currently being explored”. “fair” condition, is the War Holborn Union Infirmary Thousands of war Cells in the former House of Memorial Arch in Manor conservation area as “very bad”. Detention in Sans Walk, built Gardens. Areas in a poor condition memorials listed in 1845-47, have also been Around a dozen churches include Chapel Market, More than 2,500 war deemed at risk, with water are at risk including St James Clerkenwell, Hat and Feathers, memorials across the country ingress from the car park in Clerkenwell, Our Most Holy St Mary Magdalene, St John’s have been listed in the past above and management issues Redeemer and its campanile in Grove and Tollington Park. In a four years in a First World because of multiple owners. Exmouth Market, St Joseph’s fair condition but deteriorating War centenary project run by Sites that are still on the list in Highgate Hill and Hope are Moorfields and St Luke’s. Historic England. Tens of although repairs have been Church (former St Mary l https://historicengland.org. thousands of memorials were carried out include the Magdalene) in Holloway Road uk/advice/heritage-at-risk/ built, the majority paid for by money raised locally. Were you at Greenham Common Union Chapel Sunday Publish all call-in women’s peace camp? School to get funding decisions, says court from London mayor SAVE Britain’s Heritage has The women’s peace camp at history project is looking for won a landmark judgement Greenham Common was the stories from women who were The mayor of London has that states the secretary of state largest demonstration in there between 1981 and 2000, pledged £37,500 to the must give reasons for call-in modern history. as well as from people who Sunday School Hall project at decisions – including where Women from all over the had friends, family and Union Chapel. call-in was refused, such as the world braved weather and colleagues at the camp. The project aims to open Paddington Cube. SAVE indignity to live together and The project will be looking the space for community, arts director Henrietta Billings said: protest peacefully and at the truths behind the and cultural activities. “This is a major victory for creatively against nuclear tabloids, the anecdotal detail The hall contains artefacts openness and transparency.” weapons being placed at and the political strategies. and documents collected RAF Greenham The project’s findings since the chapel’s foundation Classic cars in drive Common in will be made available in 1799. These include Berkshire. online and have a information running from to go green However, permanent home at early nonconformists to the Aston Martin will offer there is The Women’s Union Chapel’s life as a venue. electric car conversions for its relatively Library at the The project aims to create classic vehicles from next year. little London School of an archive of this material, The conversions will be information Economics. and provide free activities in reversibles. about life on l http:// conservation and archive camp from the greenhamwomen skills as well as training in All news by Christy Lawrance women. An oral everywhere.co.uk public speaking.

4 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 Ally Pally theatre reopens Council sets out long-term plan Alexandra Palace Theatre officially reopened on Protection of the historic Islington 1 December after being closed environment must be Council has set for more than 80 years. It began reconciled with the out draft policies to as a venue for variety and music environmental, social and cover the next hall, was an early cinema then economic needs and people’s 15 years used for storage and as a aspirations, Islington Council workshop space for the BBC. has said in its draft local plan. The council is seeking views Mammoth finds on its draft plan, which sets out planning policies to steer during road works development from 2020 A woolly mammoth tusk, to 2035. woolly rhino and mammoth While it recognises new bones, as well as medieval and homes and business premises include “reasonable steps” to substantial harm will be Anglo-Saxon villages have are needed, this will not mean put this right and improve the strongly resisted. been discovered during works heritage will be “subject to a view. The height and locations Archaeological remains to divert the A14 around more laissez faire consent of tall buildings are restricted. should be retained in situ. Hungtingdon near Cambridge. process”. The plan recognises that Where this cannot be done, Other items uncovered The council says it wishes to Islington’s historic fieldwork should be carried include an ornate 8th century increase “development environment is central to its out and remains investigated comb made of deer antler, capacity” while limiting character, attractiveness and and findings published. dozens of Roman brooches adverse effects on heritage. success. It notes that the Consultation runs until and a bone flute. It adds it will preserve or borough has around 4,500 14 January. The draft Local “enhance” assets and their listed buildings and numerous Plan and accompanying Purrfect at the post settings “in a manner other heritage assets. documents can be downloaded appropriate to their Innovative reuse of heritage from: http://tinyurl.com/ office for 150 years significance”. assets, where “adverse impacts y9rfcv6n (scroll down). The Postal Museum has been The draft plan says all views can be prevented or l A drop-in session where you celebrating 150 years since must be protected, and that mitigated”, is encouraged. can ask questions about the cats were first employed as proposals to redevelop Any proposals that could plan is being held at Islington Post Office mousers in 1868. buildings that currently harm harm the significance of an Town Hall at 6-8pm on They had an allowance of one a protected view should asset must be justified, and Wednesday 9 January. shilling a week, which was raised by 6d in 1873 as they did “their duty very efficiently”. Public lacks faith in ‘chaotic’ planning system Pictured is Tibs, the most famous of the cats. Born in The planning system is a 2000: Raynsford Review of The review team were given November 1950, he kept the “chaotic patchwork” of Planning in England. numerous examples of Post Office headquarters responsibilities and is “at best, There was anger that poor-quality development. As mouse free for 14 years. He conflicted and at worst decisions seemed to ignore one respondent put it, schemes lived in the refreshment club profoundly confused”. community concerns were being “value engineered and tipped the scales at 23lbs. A review for the Town & regarding heritage and the to the lowest common Country Planning environment, particularly denominator. The result is Association, led by former over smaller schemes. shockingly poor design and housing, planning and local Local people felt their dubious build quality.” government minister Nick responses to consultations A review team member Raynsford, said the system was were not being taken described permitted seen as failing to value and seriously, and officers were development, where planning protect heritage assets, while dismissive. consent is not needed for heritage expertise in local Developers had power to some types of work, as “toxic”. government was being lost. exploit and dominate the Hugh Ellis, interim chief People no longer believed process, and benefited from executive of the TCPA, said: councils were able to protect unequal legal rights. People “We have a choice. Do we the public interest, with the suspected that complex want to build the slums of economic gain of landowners language and procedures were the future or create places and developers taking used deliberately to exclude that actually enhance

Daejn/Flickr: House of Detention; Glasgow Women’s Library: badge; Alan Ford: town hall; Postal Museum: Tibs Museum: Library: hall; Postal town badge; Alan Ford: Women’s Daejn/Flickr: House of Detention; Glasgow precedence, said Planning the them. people’s lives?”

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 5 Letters and your questions We draw on the expertise of our researcher Michael Reading and society members, so get in touch if you have a query or can respond to anything here

Ghost sign shows building’s Is this waterside place are streets with inappropriately past as a hostel in Islington? grand names. In particular, is I noticed a painted sign The picture below was posted it known how Vale Royal – a between the 2nd floor online and is supposed to be scruffy industrial estate off windows on 55 Colebrooke in Islington but I’m not sure York Way – got its name? Row (pictured); the house is where it could be. Bev Rowe grade II listed and dates from There are two spires on a By email c1755. church in background. The The sign reads “Hostel for warehouse door has Betts The Vale Royal estate women only 9d & 1/- per Company written on it but I originated as 11 acres in night, 4/6 & 6/- per week”. doubt it has any connection to Islington conveyed in 1274-75 The Post Office London Betts of Elthorne Road. There to Richard Hethersett, by directory indicates that, from was a Betts in St John Street Gervin, son of Peter the the time of the First World that was a supplier of brandy otter-hunter and Denise War up until the late 1960s, but the signs suggests a timber his wife. the premises were occupied by merchants. Is that the canal? Hethersett granted land and Bernard Lass & Sons – Ladies’ Anyone got any ideas? Hostel sign: a place to stay that rent to the abbey of Vale Royal Underclothing Mfrs. A photo John Leo Walters cost up to 6/- (30p) a week Cheshire – hence the name – from 1974 shows this name Via Facebook in 1299, which included 12 still visible on the entablature similarity to the Great acres held in Islington by the of the stuccoed porch, That looks too big to be a Northern Railway Goods heirs of Ralph de Berners although the building looked canal and is home to a large Depot off York Way in the (where the name Barnsbury empty and run down. number of swans. Also there King’s Cross area. I also originates). Can anyone throw some are seagulls in the foreground thought of the GNR cattle The abbey held the land at light on this hostel? – I wouldn’t have thought yard at the Cally, but there is the dissolution, which was a Roger Simmons they’d moved into London by no canal there. pasture near St Pancras Via Facebook then. And what are the people Barry Page church on the east side of in the background leaning Longhedge lane (today I have found records of the over the railings looking at? All names rude and grand York Way). following occupiers: Are there animals eg cattle in As Michael Reading suggests, In the ensuing years, the l 1880: Mr Joseph Colling, there? there are many “rude” names land changed hands several private resident Sue Lamble around the country (What’s in times and, in 1806, the estate l 1899: St Nicholas’ Home for a name?, spring 2018, page of 10 and a half acres, called Working Boys (Catholic), The church spires are 16). I always had Bellfields or Vale Royal, was Rev Mark Vloemans, unfamiliar but this could be inappropriate thoughts owned by Samuel Brandon resident director before the Second World War whenever I walked down St and formed the site of a l 1905: David Levy, Lodging and its bomb damage. Mary’s Passage in Cambridge. pottery and a hartshorn House As a long shot, there is a At the other extreme, there factory. The name changed in l 1910: David Levy, Lodging the 19th century to Belle Isle. House. The Ordnance Survey map I would suggest the price list for 1871 shows a tile and brick for women only as “9d & works, a soap works, cattle 1/- per night, and 4/6 & 6/- lairs and a bone mill there. per week” would apply to the There is no evidence the establishment run by David area was ever occupied by Levy although, from our past housing. enquiries, such places have Michael Reading usually been run by women. The boys in the hostel run I feared that the answer might be the church may have stayed be “unknown” or some quirk for free. of property development. Michael Reading Swans, sheds and spires: do you recognise this place? I do local history in

6 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 Camden New Town, mainly a The building of Barnsbury prosopographic study of Road and Barnsbury Street everyone recorded living in started around 1825 and the area before 1901. 53 Barnsbury Road has gone. Unfortunately, the area has Barnsbury Road was bomb a very shallow history, being damaged and Barnard Park is mainly fields until the 1850s, on the site of buildings that apart from the line of were destroyed. Buildings on St Pancras Way. I often look the west side of the road were longingly across York Way at redeveloped into offices, the eastern fringe of Islington, public flats and the park. which has a much richer There are approximately 20 of history. the original houses at the Bev Rowe north end. The London Post Office The old Florence pub Street Directory for 1869 Does anybody have any shows a William Henry information about the history The Florence: a traditional pub built around 1858 and now closed M’Millian, a pianoforte of the Florence pub in hammer coverer at Florence Street please? It is in I knew The Florence during Australian Type Foundry. 53 Barnsbury Road. At a sorry state now. its last years trading as a pub However, very little is known 53 Barnsbury Street (which Lindsay Topping and, unlike most boozers in about his life in Islington. still exists) was William Via Facebook Upper Street, it was mostly Would no 53 have been a Sharman Collins, a butcher. frequented by locals. single family home at that Although new houses were It had a nightclub upstairs in Andy Gardner time or would several families still being built in Islington the 1980s – Nightingales. have been living there? I’m around the 1870s, with the Eamonn Harvey Barnsbury type founder’s wondering whether Henry’s ever-increasing population Australian business type foundry would have been and the flight of more It was a Victorian boozer. The I have been researching the at his home or elsewhere. prosperous residents petrol station is the site of the history of my great great Having read about the following the advent of the Islington Vestry Hall, used as grandfather, Henry James Second World War bombing railways, multioccupancy was a town hall until the present Thitchener (aka Titchener), of the area that is now rising. Many parts of the one was built. who was born in Marylebone Barnsbury Park, I presume 53 borough contained homes Barry Edwards and set up a type foundry in Barnsbury Road would have built in the 18th century, Islington after having spent 15 been part of the wreckage. which were classed as slums. Florence Street was built years with V&J Figgins. His Would that be correct? If you look up Barnsbury around 1858 and trade father was also a type founder Are there any photographs Road on Google Earth, you directories show that there and copperplate engraver. of that area showing the type can see the east side of the was a public house called Henry and his wife Rosina of buildings that 53 would street, which contains a the Florence Tavern since at (née Hayward) were married have been? I would love to be complete line of the original least 1860. in 1867 and lived at 53 able to see something that buildings. Barry Page Barnsbury Road sometime looks like what 53 might have Michael Reading between then and 1876, when looked like as I am making a Florence Nightingale was big they emigrated. commemorative quilt I think the family lived on news following her return He and Rosina, who was featuring elements of the Barnsbury Road rather than from Crimea and her name pregnant, as well as their four Thitcheners’ lives in both Street, given the pianoforte appears in street names of children, all born at Islington, England and Australia. hammer coverer living there. around that time all over the emigrated to Melbourne and If you can shed any further In testimony given to a country. he set up one of the first type light on the Thitcheners’ time Victorian Royal Commission For the same reason, a lot of foundries in Australia. in Islington, I would greatly into Tariffs in 1882, Henry pubs that opened from 1806 There is a wealth of appreciate it. James Thitchener testified that were called Anchor or Crown information about his life in Also, would Barnsbury friends of his wife’s, who were when the latest big news was Melbourne and Sydney, and Road and Barnsbury Street in the piano trade, had the Battle of Trafalgar. about his company, the have existed back in the 1870s? mentioned bonuses were 53 Barnsbury Street has a being given to new businesses Write to us small shop and residence on setting up in Victoria in the corner, which would seem Australia. Perhaps they are l Contact the editor on [email protected] ideal for a small type foundry. one and the same. l Post on www.facebook.com/groups/islingtonhistory; Gillian Hamilton Gillian Hamilton letters printed will give Facebook usernames Kurrajong, NSW Australia See The Emigrant

[email protected] Typefounder, page 12 Roger Munro Simmons; Ewan

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 7 Making history

From crafting stories like a Hollywood movie plot to working with Why not just a good communicator, who are two a magical or monstrous presenters, David Wilson tells of his time penny in TV-land? The answer is, making history programmes of course, that they bring Authority. In the absence of more expensive resources, an academic helps bring he rain cleared. David well-honed narrative history could Behind the about the necessary suspension of Starkey pulled on his attract and keep audiences for camera on top of disbelief that is vital to storytelling. immaculate green Hunter much less money than dramas or a mountain She’s a professor, you think: she opposite Delphi wellies and ventured more conventional documentaries. must know her stuff; I can believe down to the shore. For me, a TV director and this. That’s why at the beginning of TThere, beneath the mighty cliffs history buff, it was a great boon. their TV careers, they are at St Margaret’s Bay near Dover, he Between 2000 and 2016, when I captioned with their academic strolled through the shallows along more or less retired, I made some status and why they get the writing the shoreline, explaining the real 34 history films, most of them with credits at the end: “Written and meaning of the story of Canute and academic presenters, from Richard presented by (say) Dr Michael the waves – that the wild Viking Holmes, Niall Ferguson and David Scott.” (Later on, of course, once overlord had been tamed by the Starkey to Dan Cruickshank and they are established, we leave the Christian civility of the English elite. Michael Scott and Dan Jones. academic titles out. They have their Thirty seconds. One take. Sticking a professor in front of a own Authority now.) Perfect. Cut. ruin is certainly a cheap way to However, they do not always “I bet that Simon Schama’s never generate airtime (or was, until the write the script. That would be far walked on water,” he said. owners of the ruins got wise to the too risky. One of the sources of the It was a very funny line at the situation). But why a professor? history boom was the intense time. History was the “new black” concentration on narrative in and the TV schedules were packed factual parts of the BBC in the with history programmes, all of Film is an intensely emotional medium. late 1990s. them fronted by academics of It started in the business and some sort. So, even when it is overtly factual, the science departments, which often There had always been aim will be to move the audience, had rather difficult material to put presenters, and there had been because only then will they take in the across. They looked to the telly-dons from the start, such as principles of Hollywood AJP Taylor. But this explosion was information or ideas on offer screenwriting, as outlined in books new, caused by the realisation that like Robert McKee’s Story, to grab

8 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 the audience and keep them with a compelling narrative. It got to the point where, before embarking on a “landmark” series about human evolution, I was once one of five experienced BBC directors sitting down to watch and analyse Mary Poppins. Academic historians don’t usually write like that. Worse, they revel in ambiguity and fine shades of grey, and they tend to like lists, all of which can kill a story stone dead. Smarter academics recognise this so most films are structured and written by the director, who then checks the result with the presenter. More importantly, what drives narrative are not facts or analysis but emotion. Film is an intensely A different person on and off screen: Jeremy Paxman paddling a coracle on the Severn at Ironbridge emotional medium by its very nature. So, even when it is overtly something that can be taught, and factual, the aim will always be to the viewers can smell it when Sometimes this gets out of control and move the audience, because only people try. But it’s vital. presenters can become monsters – as then will they be able to take in the So, as a director, you guard that information or ideas on offer. vital flame. You make sure they all the world knows – but, without that And that’s another reason why don’t get cold or tired; you give psychological bent, there is no magic we have our lovely presenters. The them space. You allow them to best of them have a capacity to sound off: as we said to Michael draw the audience in, just by their Scott when we stated working with Often presenters develop a look or body language. They have a him in Delphi: “You’re allowed one “character” who is very different neediness, a desire for attention hissy fit.” (He had none.) from the off-screen person. Jeremy which is compelling, however This is even more important Paxman is actually rather shy, cheery or bombastic they may be when you are expecting your sometimes but he has a fearsome on screen. presenter to interact with the reputation as an interviewer. Sometimes this gets out of public. Now they are no longer just His character in our Rivers series control and presenters can become your mouthpiece: how they deal was unlike either; he was always monsters – as all the world knows with the people they meet can courteous, even when chaffing – but, without that psychological make or break the film. And they people, with a good line in comic bent, there is no magic. This is not have to make it work every time. self-deprecation when, say, shearing sheep or paddling coracles. Sometimes presenters and their characters can get confused, especially, when they’re on TV but not presenting, and I suspect that is why Starkey keeps getting into hot water. When it works, the relationship between a director and a presenter can be exhilarating: you can trust them to give you what you need, they can trust you to keep the narrative show on the road and everyone can have a good time. There’s nothing better than standing on a hilltop with a camera crew and a great presenter. When it doesn’t work, you just have to be No hissy fits: David Wilson (right) with academic presenter Michael Scott in professional about it. And still have

Istanbul to make Delphi for the BBC a good time. n Istanbul Yarme: paddling coracle; Andrew Paxman Jeremy Wilson: Delphi: Helen Quinn; David Filming

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 9 The Ladykillers, when members of the gang were wheeled by barrow to be tipped into passing empty wagons of a goods train. The siding above this portal led to the Caledonian Goods and Coal Depot. Access to the Caledonian Goods and Coal Depot from King’s Cross Goods Yard required a long viaduct passing behind the Goods & Mineral Signal Box and under the NLR bridge to a reversing siding beyond the south portals of Copenhagen Tunnel. By the mid 1930s, many of the coal sidings in King’s Cross The Copenhagen Tunnel Goods Yard had been moved to Caledonian Road; the depot closed in 1967. The Ebonite tower was built by A trio of parallel railway tunnels carry the mainline railway tracks pioneering company, J Tylor & out of King’s Cross station. Peter Darley tells the story of the Sons, established in 1787, which was the first firm to produce water Copenhagen tunnel and its environs metering devices on a large scale. The Tylor factory was on a site at Belle Isle that the firm had openhagen Tunnel acquired in 1870, which had started out as a single formerly been home to tile kilns. tunnel, running below To test and calibrate meters, the Copenhagen Fields. Its company needed large quantities first brick was laid on of water at known and constant C27 March 1849 and it was completed pressures. This was achieved by over the next two years. It is 594 setting three water tanks at yards (543 metres) long. The original different heights in a water tower tunnel is now the middle bore. some 150ft (46 metres) high. A The western bore was built in large flue passed through an 1877 for up and down goods lines aperture in the three tanks, at a higher level. This enabled providing a draught for the boilers goods trains coming from the Tylor’s water From 1886, the eastern bore was and ensuring the tanks did not north to cross over passenger lines meter factory built, which took fast and slow up freeze in winter. at the north end of the existing and testing trains. At that time, the middle Tylor’s technology distinguished works tunnel, and so get a clear run into bore took both slow and fast trains. it from the firm’s insalubrious the Goods Yard. The area above the tunnel was used neighbours at Belle Isle. for a rail line going to the Belle Isle had long been Caledonian Road Coal and Goods notorious for its noxious industries, Depot, which opened in even before the arrival of the March 1878. railway. A letter in The Times in The North London Railway 1855 described the “pestilential (NLR) was built at the same time as miasma” from the factories. the Great Northern Railway (GNR), The nearby Metropolitan Cattle forming the northern boundary of Market market must have King’s Cross Railway Lands. influenced the industry already The southern portal of attracted to the area by the canal Copenhagen Tunnel was a noted and railway. Unsavoury businesses trainspotting location, offering the from tripe factories to horse excitement of seeing, hearing, slaughterers established themselves smelling and feeling powerful in the area, alongside breweries, Copenhagen Fields model railway layout: looking west over steam locomotives as they tile kilns and chemical industries, the Caledonian Goods and Coal Depot and the viaduct pounded up Holloway Bank. adding to the gasworks (gas, tar, towards the Ebonite tower. For information on the model, see The southern portal made an coke processing), coal depots, and www.themodelrailwayclub.org/layouts/copenhagen-fields appearance in 1955 film open sewers.

10 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 Clockwise from left: north portal with Otaco factory and Caledonian clock tower by Käthe Strenitz, late 1960s; Flying Scotsman approaching the tunnel in 1968 on the 40th anniversary of its first non-stop run; construction of third tunnel; view from north portal showing the skew bridge and tracks after electrification, by Käthe Strenitz, c1978)

The tower was such a granite and surrounded by conspicuous landmark that it handsome red railings. Surrounding appeared on Luftwaffe maps and it were related services, such as Fischel, a Czech refugee, who was used as an aid for bombing lairs, slaughterhouses, tripe turned it into Otaco Ltd, a factory the nearby goods yard, as was dressers, cat’s meat boilers, cat’s gut that produced plastic injection discovered after the Second spinners, bone boilers, glue makers mouldings. The factory became the World War. and tallow smelters. There were base for his wife Käthe Strenitz, an The tower was renamed by the public houses at each of the artist fascinated with industrial plastics manufacturer that took four corners. London, who recorded the area on over the works and used the In the centre was the 150ft her drawing and painting tower as a boiler flue. It was (46 metre) tower, with market bells excursions. n demolished in June 1983. and an illuminated clock. Its base l See publications, page 22 Nearby were the GNR’s stables at held banks, telegraph offices and Blundell Street. There were 1,300 the market superintendent’s offices. Peter Darley is the founder and horses working at King’s Cross A tripe factory on Market Road secretary of Camden Railway station in 1900 and old stable was bought in the 1950s by Otto Heritage Trust buildings have survived until today (see Housing Hundreds of Railway Horses, summer 2017). The northern portal of the tunnel is near Caledonian Road and the site of the Metropolitan Cattle Market, which opened in 1855 and was said to be the largest cattle market in the world. It held 6,600 bullocks and 36,000 sheep, and the lairs held 3000 cattle and 10,000 sheep. A new road, Market Road, was run from Maiden Lane to Caledonian Road. It was connected by rail to the NLR and thence to Looking towards the GNR, the Midland and Great Belle Isle in the Western Railway, linking with the snow from main areas of livestock supply. Copenhagen

The market was paved with Tunnel Christy model; Lawrance: Tylor’s; History Local Belle Isle; Islington Ivor tunnels; Looking Centre: the Driver/Wikimedia towards three Commons: Watson/Model Archives; Club: construction; Railway Metropolitan Estate/London Käthe Strenitz Tim Flying Scotsman; Gifford: Colin

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 11 The emigrant type founder

Henry Thitchener took his family from Barnsbury and sailed to Australia in 1876 to seek his fortune in the printing industry, and eventually set up a business with a former Clerkenwell colleague. Gillian Hamilton tells his story

enry James Henry James Thitchener (1841- Thitchener and 1911) had the his wife Rosina printing industry in his blood. Born in HMarylebone in 1841, he was the son of Henry James Titchener, an engraver and copperplate master printer, and Mary Titchener. His student days were followed by an engineering apprenticeship, which led to 15 years as a mechanic for the V&J Figgins type foundry on the corner of Farringdon Road and Ray Street in Clerkenwell. In 1867, aged 26, he married Rosina Matilda Hayward, 20, at St Benet in Paul’s Wharf in the City. They lived at 231 Upper produce printing type that could Pregnant women had a difficult Thames Street just a few doors up be sold more cheaply in the colony, time at sea, with only basic medical from the church. rather than having to be ordered help available. Death from The family moved to Islington, from America or England. complications was a very real living and working at 53 Barnsbury In addition, Islington had concern. Road, where Henry built his type become overcrowded because the Nevertheless, the Thitcheners founding business. railway network in London had bought passage aboard the newly Their first child, Rosina Matilda expanded. Moving to Australia built Blackwall fully rigged iron (Rose), was born in Islington in provided an escape from the noise ship, the Melbourne, bringing with January 1869, followed by Louisa and pollution of the city. them £3,500 worth of type Agnes (Louie) in July 1870, Henry It must have taken some founding machinery and matrices Arthur (Harry) in June 1873 and persuading for Rosina to agree, of frequently used type. Alfred Arthur in July 1875. because she would be travelling in They left the East India Docks on In early 1876, Rosina discovered the third trimester of her 10 June 1876 and arrived at she was pregnant again. Around pregnancy and with four children. Melbourne’s Sandridge Railway the same time, Henry spotted the Pier on 1 September after 77 days 600-page, cloth-bound Australian at sea. Handbook, published by Gordon The family settled at 3 Moray and Gotch, at a bookseller in Street in Emerald Hill and Rosina Bride Street. gave birth to Alice a few weeks He was interested to read that later. In February 1877, Alice died bonuses were being paid to new from a gastric infection and was businesses in the colony as he had buried in a public grave at seen “so much printing material Melbourne General Cemetery with going out to Australia” while another Moray Street baby. working at V&J Figgins. A year later, Rosina was pregnant Here was a great opportunity for with her sixth child and, on him to succeed in a place where 4 September, 1878, Agnes Florence there was little if no competition. The Thitcheners travelled on the Melbourne to Australia, arrived. Unable to recover from the In Australia, he would be able to taking £3,500 worth of type founding machinery with them birth, Rosina died, the victim of

12 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 puerperal peritonitis following an The former V&J infection of the placenta in the Figgins print womb. She was buried in an works on the corner of unmarked grave at Melbourne Farringdon Road General Cemetery. and Ray Street, Henry the married Irish woman where Henry Elizabeth Hallehen, aged 36, at Thitchener St Mark’s Church in Fitzroy in July worked 1879. Little is known of this second marriage except that an Eliza Thitchener died in October 1915 and was buried at Melbourne General Cemetery. Henry managed to keep his business, the Victorian Type Foundry, going – but only just. As his business grew, he could not keep up with demand and, in 1878, applied for the bonus he thought he was owed. industries.” followed by Alfred and Catherine At this time, he was supplying Henry went on to add that, had McIntyre in June,and Florence and type for the Victorian he not seen the advertisement in Frederick Wagner in August. His Government, the South Australian the book, he would have remained two older children were already Government and the Sydney in London. married: Rose to Alfred Hiscox in Morning Herald, as well as In a bid to get more secure November 1895 and Harry to Melbourne printers. income, Henry tried to sell the Sarah Collins in May 1898. Examples of his type were of foundry, along with his services, to As the winter of 1911 set in, such high quality that they were the Victorian Government Henry became ill and died on displayed at the Melbourne Printing Office; this was followed 23 June from pneumonia, pleurisy International Exhibition of by an approach to the South and heart failure. He was buried at 1880-81. Australian Government Printer. Sydney’s Rookwood Cemetery, his Both turned him down. name carved into the headstone In 1885, he moved to Sydney, with lead filling the grooves of the going into partnership with John letters, a fitting acknowledgement Davies, who had also worked for of his type founding past. V&J Figgins. The Australian Type Henry left his jewellery and Founding Company was set up at clothing to Alfred, as well as the 91A Clarence Street. dining room and best bedroom By 1897, Henry was living at furniture. The other furniture and “Edenia” in Newtown, where he household effects were left to his had a small workshop. In 1899, the housekeeper, Mrs E Downes. The Henry Thitchener with one of his type partnership was dissolved and the residue of his £1,172 5s 4d estate casting machines company was sold to Frederick was divided into 20 parts. Harry Wimble, who had a printing ink and Alfred received eight parts each; After failing to get the bonus, business. Rosina, Louisa and Florence got one Henry was called to testify before FT Wimble employed Henry’s part each, as did his housekeeper. the Victorian Royal Commission son Harry to manage the type Could Mrs Downes have been on Tariffs in December 1882. foundry, where he remained for 33 more than a housekeeper? Possibly, “I cannot meet the demand. I years until his death in 1934. because in 1929, 18 years after may say I am the only one in the The early 1900s were a time for Henry died, an Elizabeth Downes, colonies making printing type by Henry to enjoy retirement and aged 74, was buried in Rookwood improved machinery,” Henry family weddings. In 1902, Louie Cemetery, in Henry’s grave. Her testified. married Walter Shaw in February, personal details, however, are not “I expected a bonus to employ included on the headstone. The labour to build machinery under Sands Directories for 1894-96 my own supervision and then I show an Elizabeth Downes living could have commanded the whole at Edenia shortly before Henry’s of the work in the colony. time there.Whatever their “It states here [page 182 of the Advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald, 19 August relationship, Henry and Elizabeth Australian Handbook] that 1885: “Apprentices wanted: also respectable ilttle BOYS. have taken it to their grave. n A bonuses were given to new Australian Type Founding Company, 91 , Clarence-Street” l See Letters, page 6 print works advert; Munro/Flickr: Ewan Figgins’s Trove: Melbourne: Library State of South Australia;

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 13 Darwin’s ‘idiots’ and other animals

Why were so-called ‘idiots’ of Victorian Britain important to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution? Simon Jarrett looks back at the work of Darwin and others that aimed to demonstrate close links between humans and animals

hen Charles Darwin himself had used the Darwin published idiot to demonstrate evolutionary On the Origin of similarities between animals and Species by Means humans in two books he wrote of Natural after On the Origin of Species: The SelectionW in 1859, he changed how Descent of Man (1871) and The humans viewed the world. Expression of the Emotions in Man He demonstrated that animal and Animals (1872). and plant species had slowly In Expression of the Emotions, evolved over millions of years by a Darwin gave the examples of joy process known as natural selection, and high spirits to pleasurable through which they adapted to feelings, which he saw as instinctive their environment to survive. reactions found in many species. After Darwin published his “Idiots frequently laugh in a theory of evolution, scientists quite senseless manner,” he wrote, turned to the animal kingdom to and would “grin, chuckle or giggle” find out how conscious thought when food was placed in front of had evolved. This happened them or if they were caressed. somewhere in the evolutionary He argued that such reactions journey between single-cell were nothing to do with “distinct organisms and the higher primates ideas” but were instinctive but at what point, and how did it Different and similar: the text below this image from The expressions of pleasure. happen? Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, states: “With His theory was that joy or A new discipline of comparative monkeys, the expression of slight pain, or of any painful pleasure in idiots was a physical psychology was formed, which emotion, such as grief, vexation, jealousy, &c, is not easily reaction to an external stimulation, distinguished from that of moderate anger; and these states sought answers to the of mind readily and quickly pass into each other. Grief, like laughing when being tickled. consciousness question by however, with some species is certainly exhibited by weeping” Darwin pointed out that the apes studying animal minds, from the that most resembled humans, such most complex mammals to the external stimulus like, the leg as gorillas, chimpanzees and lowest insects. Comparisons with jerking upwards when the knee orangutans, were similar, and the minds of human children and is tapped. “utter a reiterated sound adults would, it was thought, throw Instinct was a step up from reflex. corresponding with our laughter light on the subject. Whole species “learned” reactions to when they are tickled, especially This intellectual endeavour was stimuli, such as closing an eye when under the armpits”. (We should bad news for a certain type of something came too close, which surely take our hats off to human: those designated as were acquired by future generations whichever Victorian gentleman of “idiots” at the time – broadly those through adaptive evolution. science first decided to tickle an we would say had learning Instinct, importantly, involved a ape under the armpits.) disabilities today. As the “lowest” small amount of conscious action. form of human mind, these people Full conscious action arose when were compared, unfavourably, with individuals learned to adapt their If they could identify an “unevolved” non-human animals. reactions to stimuli and situations human with a combination of reflex, A broad consensus was formed they had not encountered. that consciousness evolved from So-called idiots, who were instinct and consciousness close to reflex before moving to instinct regarded as the most reflexive and that of non-humans, this could be then, in higher forms of life, instinctive and therefore least conscious, intentional action. conscious of human beings, significant proof of the common Reflex was the unthinking seemed an ideal object of study to ancestry of human and animal reaction of an organism to an demonstrate this theory.

14 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 In The Descent of Man, Darwin made further comparisons between idiots and animals when he claimed that the former were remarkably hairy, lacked speech, ascended stairs on all fours, climbed trees, smelled their food before eating it and made grimaces. He compared idiots who were “continually gambolling about” with lambs, who “delight to frisk on any hillock”.

Darwin’s disciple Towards the end of his life Darwin passed his uncompleted notes and manuscripts on instinct to a young protégé, George Romanes. Fear in a man and a cat, from The Expression of Romanes wrote two volumes the Emotions in Man and Animals: Darwin saw regarded as foundation texts for emotions as instinctive responses the discipline of animal or comparative psychology – Mental He claimed to have observed presented as significant proof of Evolution in Animals (1883) and “primary instincts at work in the common ancestry of human Mental Evolution in Man (1888). startling ways in idiots” and and animal. Romanes, a passionate described them as “a class of It was at around this time that Darwinian, was also very keen to persons … of peculiar interest in IQ and the idea of mental age use idiots to prove the evolutionary relation to mental evolution, became important in psychology. theory of mind. because in them we have a human Chimps could perform at the mind arrested in its development level of a four-year-old child as well as deflected in its growth … in experiments, demonstrating supplying to the comparative their human-like capacities psychologist very suggestive and consciousness. material to study”. Psychologists now considered During visits to “idiot asylums”, themselves able to demonstrate he saw people carrying out scientific proof of the comparative “meaningless tricks of manner”, mental functioning of human such as rocking, rhythmic infants, adult human idiots and movements and repeated gestures. higher-functioning animals – He claimed these were derived particularly primates – through from instincts, which had once aptitude tests. been necessary but had outlived To this day, textbooks talk about their use, and compared them to the low mental age of people with similar actions in dogs, cats and learning disabilities, and horses. Dogs turn around several publications compare the times before lying down in an intelligence, consciousness and instinctive echo of their ancestors emotions of animals and humans. who lived in long grass and needed Lurking beneath this school of to trample it down before sitting, thought lies Darwin’s quest to he suggested. narrow the gap between the Romanes and later comparative human and animal to support psychologists saw idiots as proof of evolutionary theory. n the evolution of consciousness and that species were connected. Both This is an edited excerpt from Good of these involved closing the Animals, Bad Humans? published consciousness gap between by the Wellcome Collection at humans and other animals. https://wellcomecollection.org/ If they could identify a type of articles/W4z18x4AACIAmwSs Look like: Charles Darwin holds a mirror “unevolved” human with a up to another ape. Those satirising combination of reflex, instinct and Simon Jarrett is a Wellcome Trust Darwin’s ideas on evolution compared consciousness close to that of research fellow at Birkbeck, University him to an ape to imply he was idiotic non-humans, this could be of London SeminaryTheological Library/Internet Sketch Book; Collection:Book Images/Flickr London all other images: Princeton Archive Wellcome

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 15 Showing the way

On the 30th anniversary of the Clerkenwell and Islington Guides’ Association, John Finn looks back at the drive to get Islington’s heritage recognised

slington “is exciting, inventive, up, which he claimed was London’s gritty and alive … steeped in first. The council was attracted to tradition, as modern as the idea of an “experiment in tomorrow … it’s not pretty, tourism” that would “promote and but it’s fun and feisty and develop Clerkenwell’s tourist decidedlyI bohemian,” US Travel potential to benefit the residents, and Leisure magazine advised business people and employees of “Meet Islington’s first official tourist guides,” said the Islington travellers to the UK in 1990. the area”. Gazette, as the first guides graduated from City University This enthusiasm for a part of Described by one of the first London that would not have members as “energetic and an area with which most of them previously figured on its readers’ forceful”, Weaver was dubbed by were unfamiliar. Weaver, who had itineraries is almost certainly the the local newspapers as “Mr been leading the daily tours by Clerkenwell”. At first, the himself, saw these intrepid Anthony project met scepticism – a later explorers as a potential team. Weaver headline mockingly referred to He persuaded City believed “Costa del Islington”. University to run a 12-week, Clerkenwell However, there had been one-term guiding course, was so full of moves from different quarters, taught by himself. It began in history that it would attract including the government, to the autumn of 1985, and ended tourists encourage tourism away from with the first group of locally the capital’s familiar sites. Prince qualified guides. In 1987, the Charles, Kenneth Baker and new guides organised result of a project that had begun a other ministers were given tours themselves into an association. few years before in Clerkenwell. In of Clerkenwell to highlight the By this time, Weaver had 2018, the legacy of that project, the idea of urban tourism. become director of the Clerkenwell and Islington Guides The year after the centre Clerkenwell Heritage Centre, Association, celebrated its 30th opened, a group of Blue Badge and and had recruited a deputy, a anniversary. City guides joined a Clerkenwell marketing/publicity officer and On 2 April 1984, the Clerkenwell study day promoted by Weaver, in part-time clerical help. The new Heritage Centre opened its doors guides volunteered at the desk or for the first time, offering daily led tours and, on occasion, even tours of the area at 2.30pm for £2 a provided the catering at promotional head. Located in the Pennybank events. The fees from the tours Chambers at 33 St John’s Square, helped to finance the operation. initially it was the vision of Weaver’s active promotion of the Dr Anthony Weaver MA (Cantab), centre attracted the attention of a teacher of English to foreign the London tourism chiefs and, as students. He had lived in a result, they installed London’s Clerkenwell since 1980 and a was first experimental 24-hour tourist member of the congregation at information service at the centre’s St Etheldreda’s in Ely Place. premises in St John’s Square. Local An enthusiast of the local history, news photos from that time show he organised ad hoc tours of the something of a cross between area for friends and others. The idea Ceefax and a cash machine. occurred to him that Clerkenwell A Shakespeare tour was run in 1987, with actor Peter A self-guided walk was devised, was so full of history that it should Stenson who portrayed John of Gaunt and master of the with a leaflet and directional and would attract tourists. revels Sir Edmund Tilney. It started at St John’s Gate and markers set into pavements (most He had persuaded Islington ended at the Barbican in time for the Royal Shakespeare of which are still in situ) and small Council to support the centre’s start Company performance signboards attached to lamp-posts.

16 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 Duncan Street. As result of this expansion, the guides’ association added “Islington” to its name. It added regular walks outside Clerkenwell, for example in Highbury and in Barnsbury devised by the late Kathleen Frenchman, a guide who many IAHS members will remember. In 2000, the Duncan Street shop, too, was closed and A year after the Clerkenwell the tourism strategy wound down. initiative began, the Islington Subsequently, the council’s efforts Gazette reported that the council were concentrated on local heritage was now looking at “ways of initiatives, like the museum and promoting the whole of Islington the local history centre. as a tourist centre”. Meanwhile the Clerkenwell and Weaver and his team were Islington Guides survived this and energetically presenting not only guide training continued at the City the idea of guided tours of the University then, after 2009, at the Leaflets, lamp-post signs, pavement district but also raising the profile University of Westminster. Students markers and a 24-hour tourist of the area to everyone. continue to be surprised by the information machine showed visitors Local business was a target and a depth, scope and variety of history the sights – and how well connected spin-off venture involving local to be uncovered in the borough. Islington was companies and shops was launched. From its early days, the It was ahead of its time and was association gained the patronage Charterhouse, MP for Islington what today would be called a of the marquess of Northampton,, South and Finsbury Chris (now business improvement district. along with the master of Lord) Smith and the mayor of In addition, the centre had Islington. Upon qualification, guides hoped to restore a derelict house receive their badges from the mayor. in St James’s Walk as a Georgian In recent years, the guides have museum, and held candlelit devised walks on Islington’s receptions with period music to connections with the First World promote the scheme. However, all War, the Spanish Civil War and this needed money and people, LBGQT+ themes for Islington and not only was the council Museum, the Angel Business unwilling to fund any expansion Improvement District, the but also it was beginning to Cloudesley Charity and others. We express concern about the finances also guide at St John’s Gate, of the existing operation. Charterhouse and, from time to Eventually they withdrew their time, at Canonbury Tower. grant and, in January 1992, Weaver There are now 150 or so of us – was forced to close the centre not all actively guiding of course – down. He has said that his saddest but deeply interested in Clerkenwell memory of that time was to have and Islington and proud to promote to watch the entire contents of the this history to the world. n Clerkenwell Heritage Centre being l https://islingtonguidedwalks.com consigned to a skip. At the same time, though, the John Finn is a former chair of Clerkenwell council put some effort into a Watch your step: the mayor of Islington and the master of and Islington Guides Association, and borough-wide Discover Islington the Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks perch precariously director of the tour guiding course at the promotion, which was provided on edge of the Clerks’ Well at its reopening ceremony. University of Westminster. His family lived with shopfront premises in Islington Guides have exclusive access for guided tours in Finsbury from at least 1790 until 2004 marker; History pavement help with other material Local for the Islington thanks to John Finn: Centre

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 17 Last orders at the Prince of Wales

On Boxing Day 1944, a V2 bomb destroyed part of Mackenzie Road and killed 74 people, at least 35 of whom were in the Prince of Wales pub. Bill Patey describes how some spent their final evening

ine twenty at night. It had day before but had sold out of beer been another very cold day and was closed. Nand now a proper The Prince of Wales was packed, adsf asdfasdsds peasouper fog enveloped so much so that the cellar was asdassdads sad Mackenzie Road. From Crown being used as an overflow bar. It ids;idfi dsaf Mansions on the corner with been closed the previous day as Liverpool Road, past Paradise George (Wally) and Agatha Passage, the parade of shops was Streeter, who had managed the pub shrouded in darkness. since 1939, had spent Christmas There was a fish and poultry Day with family in their home shop, a general provisions store, an town of Hastings. They were oilmonger, a baker’s, an intending to call “time” soon as undertaker, a butcher’s, a draper’s, they had not yet had dinner. another undertaker, a boot repair They survived the bomb attack shop and then a Charrington’s pub, and, as they lost their home and all the Prince of Wales. their possessions that night, they Thin shafts of light were just returned to Hastings. Agatha died visible each time the pub door in 1980 and George in 1981, both opened; the blackout had been at St Leonards-on-Sea in Sussex. was there with his wife Maud, plus replaced in September 1944 by As well as plenty of locals George the twin brother of Frank “dim out” regulations, and lighting enjoying a festive drink, there was junior, their sister Joyce with the equal to moonlight was allowed. an engagement party in full swing gingery hair, and many friends The Wellington pub, some 50 for 22-year-old Frank Hopwood including Florence Ayling and Lulu yards away on the corner of Lough junior and 19-year-old Emily Reynolds. Road, had seen brisk business the (Emy) Neighbour. Several of their in-laws from the He was in the Marines and had Peacock and Tower families were travelled from Scotland in his also there including the eldest, uniform but had changed into 72-year old Louisa Tower. Standing civvies for the special get together. to one side was a disappointed Emy had changed out of her Alfred Syrett who had previously Women’s Land Army uniform and said that he had “a thing” for Emy was wearing a green hand-knitted and expected “to end up with her pullover and dark skirt. She had one day”. chased her mother around the Over in one corner, enjoying the kitchen table for a goodbye kiss festivities were Mackenzie Road before going to the party; she was trio Edith Macbeth, Hilda hoping her mum would join Osborne, with her long, dark hair, them later. and Maggy Marson. Her husband, The party hosts, the Hopwoods Ernest Francis Marson, a metal from Rhodes Street, were well polisher, was injured in the blast known in the area as they ran a furniture removal business and the local rag sorting shop. Frank senior Greengrocer Henry Jepps, an ARP Following campaigning by Bill Patey, a warden, said the air raid sirens had commemorative board dedicated to been sounding less and less and he the casualties of the bombing attack was placed near the gates of Paradise thought the end of the war was in sight Park in 2017

18 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 but survived. Near to them were the end of the war was in sight. Wallace Sidney and his wife Emily, William Doy was being ribbed by a nurse, who was wearing a black Henry Rowlands and John Ramsay astrakhan coat and white silk scarf. as to whether he wore his grey suit Mabel Paris, Ellen Whitley and at work on the railway and when Edward Weston were close by. on the roof fire-watching. Martin Stood in their usual places at the Flack fingered his unopened £6 bar were William Newell, who wage packet and decided he had worked with glass bottles, enough change for one last drink. carpenter Stanley Cowper in his Nearly all the customers were herringbone overcoat and coalman locals who knew one another by Albert Bussey from Chillingworth name or by sight. Families lived in Road. Through the wide space in the same home for many years in his front and upper teeth, Albert nearby streets such as Chalfont was telling the off-duty watchman, Road, Stock Orchard Road, Eden Henry Barnes, that he had come Grove and Hollingsworth Street. If from The Flying Horse pub as it they moved at all, they tended to had sold out of beer. move only a street or two away. As he spoke, Albert fiddled with Even though the locals kept a his keys as though he was about to keen eye and an ear out and knew leave (he was so badly burnt in the The pub’s managers, Wally and Agatha Streeter, pictured much of their neighbours’ attack that he was identified by with their grandchildren: photo courtesy of Neil Streeter, business, there were still plenty of these keys). His wife Charlotte who is in his grandfather’s arms secrets that would remain so. worked behind the bar. That night, Nobody knew who among them in nobody knew who took her purse for one quick drink with their the pub that night had served two from behind the counter when she daughter Florence. Their son days in jail for bigamy, who was a went downstairs to find more George had just gone to the toilet ginger wine to go in a whiskey mac outside, which backed on to Eggers for Mary Arscott. Like many other Dairy Yard. This call of nature Like many other women women in the pub, Mary wore a saved his life even though he spent in the pub, Mary wore a simple black frock; several others three months in hospital wore green. Most of the men were recovering from his injuries. simple black frock. Most sober in colour of attire if not in Downstairs in the busy cellar of the men were sober in alcohol content. room, Charles Burchnall was full colour of attire if not in The Betts family were gathered of hope for the new year, saying the nearer the bar: George and May Jerrys seemed to have knocked off alcohol content Betts had just arrived back from for the Christmas festivities. His visiting two of their evacuated neighbour in St George’s Road, children in Cornwall. They were greengrocer Henry Jepps, an ARP deserter with a conviction for tired from travelling all day but warden, confirmed that the air raid receiving stolen goods nor whose changed their mind about going sirens had been sounding less and husband had a First World War leg straight home and had popped in less in recent weeks and he thought wound after a loaded revolver was “accidentally” fired by his senior Aerial view from officer when he refused to obey an the north-west, order. These were matters long taken in April buried in the past. 1945, showing It was now 9.23pm. The Prince the damage caused by the of Wales was noisy inside. Outside, bomb. Clearance the fog continued to swirl like a work is still in shroud wrapped around a body. progress Nobody heard the explosion, as V2 bombs travelled faster than sound. “Time” had been called. n

This account is compiled from a range of sources in the Islington Local History Centre, the 1939 register and other genealogy records, and memories recorded on social media. Tragedy on Boxing Day was published in the

winter 2016-17 issue of this journal Christy pub; board: Lawrance Trust: 15115): aerial National BreweryIWM (CH photo; Heritage

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 19 Going by coach from King’s Cross

King’s Cross played a central role in the development of travel by coach. Alan Osborne tells the stories of its stations and the routes they served

ack in Victorian times, 1940 and, although it reopened in long-distance travel was February 1946; the lease expired in mainly by train and, September 1947. with a dense network of Belgrave House still stands, lines, it was possible to opposite King’s Cross Station. The getB to most places. premises are now occupied by After the horse, road transport Access Storage Systems and a was initially confined to the early McDonalds. Bricked-up coach motor charabanc, but entrances are clearly visible in the developments with the internal renamed Belgrove Street. combustion engine saw more The closure of Belgrave House powerful vehicles introduced. necessitated an overnight move to By the late 1920s, these were Judd Street, to a site on the corner sufficiently reliable and fast to of Cromer Street. This was very permit longer journeys. Coach temporary, with a cinder floor and Publicity for the travel then came into being. In a prefabricated booking office and station included London, a temporary coach station waiting room. Two Eastern information on was opened in Lupus Street in National services ran from Judd the buses; these Pimlico on 1 April 1928 but soon Street, the B to Halstead and the included the possible to imagine became too congested and 322 to Braintree, with Grey-Green “coach/air” service the size of the former station. overcrowded. coaches running further afield to and a route to PSV Operators Ltd took over Devon On 10 March 1932, the art deco Felixstowe and Great Yarmouth. from Motor Coach Stations and a Victoria Coach Station opened, Today, the site is home to part of search began for a permanent from whence railway-associated the King’s Cross estate. Bramber home in the area. road transport companies ran House occupies part of the area. This was eventually found in coaches to all parts. These included Most of the site is now the Judd Pentonville Road between the Eastern National Omnibus Co Street open space, from where it is Northdown Street (entrance) and Ltd to Clacton-on-Sea and Killick Street (exit). An Westcliff-on-Sea services; the latter administration block in the shape ran via Islington, Dalston, of an L stood at the corner of Walthamstow and Wanstead Pentonville Road and Northdown through to Hadleigh, Leigh, Street. Judd Street closed on Westcliff and Southend-on-Sea. 31 December 1953 and the new All seats had to be booked in station became operational the advance, either by telephone to next day on 1 January. It was Victoria or at local travel agents. officially opened by minister of For Islington residents, this would transport Alan Lennox-Boyd on have been at Bensons of 70 Upper 5 July. Street (opposite Islington Green), Although the station was quite now occupied by the Ladybird Bar. busy in the morning and early The smaller independent evening, there was little activity operators serving the towns and during the day. Later, the owners villages in East Anglia used an wished to develop the site. The alternative terminal. The new station closed on 31 October 1965 undercover station on Euston Road and an office block was built there. – Belgrave House – also opened in After Judd Street closed, Eastern 1932, and was owned by Motor Typical of the vehicles used on the 400 to Southend (pay National moved to its own small, Coach Stations Ltd. Due to driver) is this 70-seat Bristol VR double deck being admired purpose-built terminal at Euston wartime restrictions it closed in at the Showbus rally Square. However, following the

20 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 decision to rebuild Euston Railway Station (the famous Doric Arch was demolished in 1962), the terminal’s days were numbered. It was decided to convert the former Tillings Transport (BTC) garage which had been acquired from local coach operator Pat Hearn of King’s Cross in June 1951. Although there was an entrance in Omega Place from Caledonian Road, this was very narrow so vehicles arrived and departed via Northdown Street. A pedestrian entrance was opened at 242 Pentonville Road, next to the Poor School drama training centre. The new Eastern National King’s Cross Coach Station opened in May 1963 and included a waiting room, toilets, luggage lockers and The premises were renamed the Double deck bus production company, Mascioni vending machines. Its two National Coach Station in 1973 as used on the Association International, while departure platforms could and became the Britannia Airways X10 from King’s the former waiting room is now accommodate double deck terminal from October 1976 when Cross to occupied by Big Sky Studios. The vehicles. In addition to the services it acquired the lease. From Sunday Southend at the vehicle entrance/exit in Cobham bus rally. moved from Euston Square, coach 10 October 1976, on arrival at Northdown Street is now the site and air services to Southend King’s Cross, the 400 set down of Northdown House. Airport and pick-ups for extended passengers in York Way where the Another coach route to coach tours were catered for. vehicle took layover. Departure Southend started in Kentish Town, The former Westcliff-on-Sea was then from the bus stop outside from a terminal at 32-34 Leighton coach service D from Victoria 260 Pentonville Road. Road NW5, quite close to Kentish Coach Station to Southend, Town station. This partly limited- which had been taken over by Reminders stop service was provided by the Eastern National and was later So what of the area today? City Motor Omnibus Co Ltd (later renumbered X10, also used the The pedestrian entrance next to City Coach Company) from 1929. station. It was later changed to the Poor School is still there, The return fare was 5/- (25p), 6/- provide the half-hourly, limited- although now locked and full (30p) on Sundays. It was curtailed stop service 400 with all tickets of dustbins. If you walk down at Wood Green from Southend issued on the double deck coaches. Omega Place from Caledonian from 1 October 1947 and coaches Its route was via Islington, Dalston, Road, on the left is the entrance to ran every 15 minutes. Leyton, Gants Hill, Newbury the former Tillings garage, City was acquired by Westcliff- Park, Romford, Basildon, Pitsea shuttered but still unchanged, the on-Sea then by Eastern National, and Westcliff. garage is now the base of a film which allocated service number 251 to the route. This continued to run (latterly by Thamesway) as far as Walthamstow until 6 May 2000 and I was on the last journey. Many of the older generation, me included, have fond memories of This former City and the 251. Eastern National I hope this article has stirred Bristol MW saloon some memories and has shown the bus with 45 seats would have role King’s Cross played the worked on the development of coach travel. n route to Southend at peak Alan Osborne is the founder of the holiday times. It Essex Bus Enthusiasts Group, which has since gone publishes a monthly illustrated back to work in magazine Essex Bus News (www. Yorkshire essexbus.org.uk) Chris Sampson/WikimediaAlan Osborne: 400 bus; X10 Christy leafets; Commons: 127 bus Lawrance:

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 21 Publications and bookshop

This issue, we look at a train tunnel, glassworks archaeology, Islington’s Jewish community, a 500-year-old charity, and life in prefab homes, then stroll around Caledonian Park and make some models

The King’s Cross Story: early 200 Years of History in travellers the Railway Lands such as Peter Darley Queen £20, History Press, 218pp, 2018 Victoria and This 216 page book by Peter Prince Albert Darley, secretary of the used King’s Camden Railway Heritage Cross to Trust, covers the 200 years of embark for Glassworking is part of history of the Railway Lands Scotland. Clerkenwell’s industrial in extremely well-researched The main heritage, and this guidance detail. passenger looks at how to approach, It is full of prints, maps, station was investigate and interpret archive material as well as old designed by glassworking sites. (and new) photographs of the Lewis Cubitt and the chapter of the most significant places Surviving glassworking area. Special mention must be on this gives details of its of railway heritage, and the remains are likely to be made of the sketch on the structures, including the Camden Railway Heritage regionally or nationally cover by Käthe Strenitz, to arrival and departure sheds. Trust promotes the important as archaeological whom this book is dedicated. One interesting structure in preservation of its social and evidence of glassworking is The 16 chapters, all the area is the German industrial history. relatively rare profusely illustrated, start with Gymnasium (Die Turnhalle), This excellent book will This guide describes how A Sunday Stroll up Maiden the first purpose-built public surely appeal to the railway glass was made and shaped as Lane, visiting a medieval gymnasium in the country. enthusiast, the local historian, well as the main types of glass coaching inn and continuing Ernest Ravenstein, a director of and the general reader – it is how they differ. up to Copenhagen Fields. it, organised the National a must for your bookshelf as It describes and illustrates Then comes the history of Olympian Games in London in the most definitive of the area the most common types of the Great Northern Railway, 1866, a regional precursor of and its history. glassworking evidence and the company and its structure. the Olympic Games we all Peter Fuller advises on how to investigate Such was the need for such know today. l See The Copenhagen a potential glassworking site, well-organised transport that The King’s Cross area is one Tunnel, page 10 from preparation and planning to fieldwork and post-excavation analysis. Cloudesley: 500 ¥ears in were to Common methods of Islington – 1517-2017 oversee the Buy from the IAHS shaping glass and identifying Dr Cathy Ross bequest. processes that can be used to £3. Available from the IAHS This The society sells books identify which processes were and maps at IAHS and This 500-year history of the should have used as well as materials that other events and events Cloudesley charity also been a story might be mistaken as evidence and by post provides a thought-provoking of calm of glassworking are included. reflection on the changing continuity If you want to order from A chronological overview role of charity in society over the us (including bulk highlights the different types in general. centuries. However, the orders), collect books in of glass used and products Five centuries ago, a Tudor original intentions generated a person or have any other made by period. A table yeoman, Richard Cloudesley, dynamic story of change queries, contact Catherine summarises raw materials, gave a plot of land to the fuelled by disputes and debate. Brighty on 020 7833 1541, processes, products and the parish of St Mary Islington The legacy has been catherine.brighteyes@ state of current knowledge with the wish that the land intertwined with questions hotmail.co.uk or write to by period. should be used to generate over how communal assets of her at 8 Wynyatt Street, At the end is advice on income for various purposes. land and money should be put London EC1V 7HU where to go for further help, a Six “honest and discreet men” to good use. reference list and a glossary.

22 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 The Jewish Communities of the Jewish presence in this Former residents include Islington, 1730s-1880s area was largely forgotten. many of the great and the Petra Laidlaw This books draws on good of Jewish society, £9.99 + £2.80 p&p, Islington extensive research to bring numerous ordinary people Archaeology & History Society, 2013 back to life the communities whose lives are more obscure, Islington was home to a that lived here between the and a few rogues. significant Jewish population 1730s and the eve of mass Two appendices set out 200 years ago, and remained immigration in the 1880s. some of the factual so until the middle of the This volume traces a cross background and statistics 20th century. section of characters, their underlying the narrative. The However, as London religious life, their occupations book is fully sourced and expanded and earlier and their contact with the rest indexed, with 37 prints and inhabitants drifted outwards, of the community. photographs.

What the Victorians Threw people about soaps, face creams and Away stocked their perfumes. Containers show Tom Licence kitchen, when a famous brand £4.50, 108pp, Oxbow Books, 2015 medicine emerged or whether a new Available from the IAHS and product was successful. This entertaining illustrated bathroom Tom Licence, who has spent book shows just how much cupboards. a lot of time digging up detail on people’s lives can be An old tin rubbish dumps, shows how uncovered by going through can tell us about advertising, discarded household items their rubbish. chores or foreign imports, and contribute to the story of how Rubbish tips act as archives a bottle what people were our not too distant ancestors of everyday life, showing how drinking. We can find out built a throwaway society. Caledonian Park and its Surroundings Sylvia Tunstall, Patsy Ainger and Prefab Homes were defended by residents Robyn Lyons Elisabeth Blanchet who campaigned to keep their £5.00 + 75p p&p, Islington Society. £7.95 + £1.50 p&p, Shire, 2014. homes and communities. Available from the IAHS Available from the IAHS Elisabeth Blanchet tells the This area reflects Victorian After the Second World War, story of these popular homes energy and ambition and is more than 156,000 temporary and their gardens, and shows full of architectural, historical prefabs were built to tackle the the various designs that were and social interest. housing shortage. produced. This booklet takes you on a Nicknamed “palaces for the Through the memories of mile-long walk within the people”, and with kitchens, residents, she also describes boundaries of the huge cattle bathrooms and heating the communities who were market that once occupied the systems, they proved popular pleased to live in these homes. site centred around the clock and, instead of being The IAHS hosted the launch tower, and takes in many demolished as intended, they of this book in December 2014. historic buildings.

Historical maps and Islington, Upper Holloway, A Dysfunctional Paper London. Build Your postcards Finsbury Square and Circus, Hampstead Childhood Own Metropolis in 20 Models Alan Godfrey Finsbury Park and Stroud 1886-1911 Kell Black £2.50 each + 50p p&p Green, and Hornsey. Phyllis Allen £10.99, The Ivy Press, 32pp 2015, Wonder what your manor Call 020 7833 1541 to check Floud Brigden This book of 20 models to looked like 100 years ago or in what we have in stock before £10.95, Camden make includes The Shard the middle of the 19th century? ordering. HIstory Society, Buckingham Palace, Tower The society stocks historical 2018 Bridge, Westminster Abbey, and old Ordnance Survey Phyllis Allen Tate Modern and the maps of Islington and other Floud, born Gherkin. A guide and areas of London, including in 1886, map Camden, Hackney, the City looks backs over her show and the East End. childhood and recounts in where The maps cover areas detail and with a critical eye the including Clerkenwell, King’s the customs and lifestyle of originals Cross, the Angel, Highbury & the upper middle classes. are.

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 23 What’s on

Events, exhibitions, courses, walks and more. Contact details of organisers are in the directory on page 28 – events may change or need advance booking. Islington Archaeology & History Society events are listed on the inside back page

Wednesday 9 January, 1pm Friday 11 January, 1.15pm Dobai in conversation with and survivor of the genocide Festival of Britain 1951 19th-Century Royal Naval his daughter, Sarah Dobai. of the Tutsi in Rwanda Eric Webinar, National Archives, Collecting and the British Jewish Museum, free Murangwa. With BSL free Museum interpretation. British Museum, free Friday 18 January, 1pm Jewish Museum, free Wednesday 9 January, 7.30pm An Introduction to Roman More Music Hall and Friday 11 January, 6.30pm Coins of England and Wales Friday 25 January, 1.15pm Vaudeville on Film Royal Library of British Museum, £30, booking Collecting Histories: the Hornsey Historical Society, £2 Ashurbanipal: the World’s essential Great Stupa at Amaravati First Library and Mr Robertson’s Tuesday 8 January. 6.30pm British Museum, £5, booking Friday 18 January, 1.15pm Monument From the Romans to the essential Sarangbang: a Korean British Museum, free Saxons: Archaeological Scholar’s Room Fieldwork at the Site of Saturday 12 January, 1.15pm British Museum, free 25 January, 6.30pm St Martin-in-the-Fields Assyria and Persepolis: Echoes of Holloway Prison: Church, Trafalgar Square Kingship and Power in Stone Saturday 19 January, 10.30am Film Double Bill at London and Middlesex British Museum, free Understanding Religion Islington Museum Archaeological Society, £2 Through Objects Screening of two very different Tuesday 15 January, 11.30am British Museum, study day, films: Within these Walls: a Wednesday 9 January, 2pm The Anglo Saxons £25, booking essential Journey Through The Inside What’s New at the Relaxed gallery talk, British Spaces of HMP Holloway; and Findmypast Website Museum, free Saturday 19 January, 1.15pm Echoes of Holloway Prison. Society of Genealogists, free Echoes of Egypt in Homer Followed by Q&A session with Wednesday 16 January, 1.15pm British Museum, free film director Rob Munday and Wednesday 9 January, 6pm Colonial Currencies curator Roz Currie. Islington Unravelled Dreams: British Museum, free Tuesday 22 January, 11.30am Museum, free. Not suitable for Silkworms and Their Many The Vikings under 18s. Book at http:// Travails in the Atlantic Wednesday 16 January, 2pm British Museum, relaxed echoesofhollowayprison.com World, c1530-1830 Guidelines and Standards storytelling, free or on 020 7527 2837 Animal History Group, free, – How to Avoid Mistakes in https://animalhistorygroup. Genealogy Tuesday 22 January, 6pm Friday 25 January, 6.30pm wordpress.com Society of Genealogists, £8/£6.40 Introducing 19th-Century Film: Letters from Baghdad Paupers’ Letters British Museum, £5, booking Thursday 10 January, 1.30pm Thursday 17 January, 1.30pm Webinar, National Archives, free essential Curator’s Introduction to An Archaeologist’s Wife I am Ashurbanipal: King of and her Jewellery: a Thursday 24 January, 1pm Saturday 26 January, 1.15pm the World, king of Assyria Window into 19th Century BAME Seafarers in the First The Greeks in Southern British Museum, free, booking “Assyriamania” World War Italy essential British Museum, free, booking National Archives, free British Museum, free essential Thursday 10 January, 3pm Thursday 24 January, 1.30pm Tuesday 29 January, 1.15pm Kindertransport: Thursday 17 January, 7.30pm The Rediscovery of Assyria History and the Ancient Curator’s Talk The Changing Face of British Museum, free, booking Egyptians Jewish Museum, free Fitzrovia: 300 Years of an essential British Museum, free Urban Village Thursday 10 January, 6pm Camden History Society, £1 24 January, 6.30pm, Wednesday 30 January, 1pm Lost Trades of Islington Holocaust Memorial Day 50 Years of Lunar Talk by curator Julie Melrose, Sunday 20 January, 2pm Event Exploration Finsbury Library, free. Book at Survivor Talk: John Dobai Talks by Kindertransport Museum of London, Gresham http://tinyurl.com/ycmoh5qh Holocaust survivor John survivors Ann and Bob Kirk College event, free

24 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 Wednesday 30 January, 1.15pm Monday 11 March, 1pm Witnesses: Émigré Gresham’s Bequest to Samuel Medallists in Britain Pepys and John Evelyn British Museum, free Gresham College, free

Wednesday 30 January, 6pm Tuesday 12 March. 6.30pm Architecture, Images and Knole Revealed: Archaeology Image-Making under the and Discovery 2011-2018 Stuarts London and Middlesex Museum of London, Gresham Archaeological Society, £2 College event, free Tuesday 12 March, 8pm Thursday 31 January, 1.30pm Lost and Found: Rediscovery The Fall of Assyria See two films about Holloway Prison, and view the interiors and hear of Roman London British Museum, free, booking the stories of those who were held and worked there. Free, Islington Hendon & District essential Museum, 25 January at 6.30pm Archaeological Society, £1

Friday 1 February, 1.15pm Thursday 7 February, 7.30pm Liverpool Road, vividly Wednesday 13 March, 7.30pm The Library of Ashurbanipal The Campaigns to save portrayed life in “the imperial The Man with the Postbag British Museum, free Kenwood metropolis” at the end of the is Swearing in the Passage: Camden History Society, £1 19th century, conscious of its Dickens and the Postal Saturday 2 February, 1.15pm historic appeal and modernity Service Thinking Differently: the Friday 8 February, 10.30am of which he was a part. Hornsey Historical Society, £2 Roots of Jainism, How to use Pauper Letters Museum of London, Gresham Buddhism and Sikhism Workshop, National Archives, College event, free Thursday 14 March, 6pm British Museum, free free How to be a Puritan Atheist Wednesday 27 February, 2pm Museum of London, Gresham Saturday 2 February, 3pm Tuesday 12 February, 8pm Finding Fred: the Story of College event, free The Future of Museum Prehistory in London – the City of London’s Police Architecture in Africa some Problems, Progress Blitz Tuesay 19 March, 1pm British Museum, free, booking and Potential Society of Genealogists, £8/£6.40 Loyalty and Dissent: South essential Hendon & District Asia and the First World War Archaeological Society, £1 Wednesday 6 March, 1pm Webinar, National Archives, Saturday 2 February, 3.45pm How Astronomy Changed free Access event: I am Wednesday 13 February 2pm our View of the Cosmos Ashurbanipal Washday Blues, from Gresham to the Wednesday 20 March, 6pm Audio tour and handling Charwomen and 21st Century Art and Power in the session. British Museum, £14 Washerwomen Museum of London, Gresham English Aristocratic House Society of Genealogists, £8/£6.40 College event, free Museum of London, Gresham Tuesday 5 February, 1.15pm College event, free The Life of a Maya King Wednesday 13 February, 7.30pm Wednesday 6 March, 2pm Written in Stone The History of the Regent’s Finding London Burials Thursday 21 March, 7.30pm British Museum, free Canal Online Suffrage, Settlements and Hornsey Historical Society, £2 Society of Genealogists, £8/£6.40 Song Wednesday 6 February, 1.15pm Camden History Society, £1 Royal Ritual at Yaxchilan Thursday 14 February, 2pm Wednesday 6 March, 6pm British Museum, free London and the Spanish Film: Old Rotherhithe Wednesday 3 April, 6pm Flu Docklands History Group, £2 Riverine/Riverside Wednesday 6 February, 6pm Society of Genealogists, £8/£6.40 Archaeology and Finds Gresham’s World: Global Wednesday 6 March, 6pm Docklands History Group, £2 Traffic, Trade and the Wednesday 20 February, 6.30pm Lost Dogs in 18th and 19th Metamorphosis of England Domesday in the Public Century London Tuesday 9 April. 6.30pm Museum of London, Gresham Record Animal History Group, Strand Headstone Manor, a Moated College event, free National Archives, £8-£10 Building, King’s College, free, House in Harrow, Middlesex https://animalhistorygroup. London and Middlesex Thursday 7 February, 6pm Monday 25 February, 6pm wordpress.com Archaeological Society, £2 Bubbles, Manias and Taking London to the Market Failures: The World: Robert Paul Shows Thursday 7 March, 1pm Wednesday 10 April, 7.30pm Unintended Consequences his Native City in Motion The Cemetery in the Age Brief History of Finsbury of Regulatory Responses Britain’s pioneer filmmaker, of Pericles Park and Stroud Green

Gresham College, free born 150 years ago in Gresham College, free Hornsey Historical Society, £2 History Local Islington Centre

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 25 Ongoing Gilbert Galleries Clerkenwell and Islington Exhibitions V&A gallery with over 500 Guides Association: Walks Contact the organisations for items, including a 17th century Guided walks led by the Until Sunday 6 January dates, times and prices. Please Peruvian gold cup from a mayor of Islington’s guides. Votes for Women note that these may change. shipwreck, a Tudor pomander https://islingtonguidedwalks. Emmeline Pankhurst’s hunger worn to ward off disease and a com/ strike medal and other items Close to the Bone life-size silver swan, as well as from the museum’s vast Hands-on workshops involving items that belonged to Marx Memorial Library suffragette collection are on some of the museum’s 20,000 Charles I, Louis XV, Catherine Tours show in this display. human skeletal remains from the Great and Napoleon. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1pm Museum of London, free archaeological excavations. Free, V&A See a collection illustrating These sessions will look at the radical and working class Until Sunday 6 January funerary rites, beliefs and Religion, Myth and history. See where Lenin Beyond Timbuktu: myriad burial practices in Superstition worked in 1902-03, Spanish Preserving the Manuscripts London 2,000 years ago. Tour of objects including Civil War items, Soviet Union of Djenné, Mali Museum of London prehistoric stones, the London posters and artefacts from Djenné is famous for its Docklands, £28, various dates Stone, a Buddha statue and industrial disputes. The 15th architecture. This display plague remedies. Various dates. century vaults can be visited. reveals this centre of Islamic Charterhouse Museum Museum of London, £12 £5/£3 concs, book on admin@ learning on the banks of the The Charterhouse has opened mml.xyz or 020 7253 1485 Niger Delta. Contemporary to the public for the first time Waddesdon Bequest photographs of the city are since its foundation in 1348. Gallery displaying nearly 300 Treasures of the British interspersed with archival The museum, created with the medieval and Renaissance Library religious and secular texts. Museum of London, traces items, plus 19th century fakes, View more than 200 beautiful British Library, free 600 years of history. illustrating the late 19th century and influential books and www.thecharterhouse.org, free art market’s development. documents, including painted Until Sunday 13 January British Museum, free and early printed books, maps Poster Girls Tours of Union Chapel and literary, scientific and Over 150 posters and original 12.15pm, first Sunday of the Markfield Beam Engine musical works. Exhibits artworks shine a spotlight on month and Museum Open Days include Gutenberg’s Bible of women who changed how A chance to appreciate the 11am-5pm, second Sunday of the 1455, Leonardo da Vinci’s Londoners viewed their city, beauty, complex architecture month, plus bank holidays notebook, Shakespeare’s First including work by well-known and extent of Union Chapel’s Markfield Park, N15, free, www. Folio, Handel’s Messiah and a designers such as Mabel Lucie buildings, including areas rarely mbeam.org, 01707 873628 110cm diameter celestial globe. Attwell, Laura Knight, Enid open to the public, a secret British Library, free Marx and Zandra Rhodes. passage and a hidden garden. Billingsgate Roman House There are posters about the Group bookings available. and Baths Victoria and Albert Motor Show, the Oxford and £5 donation, book in advance Various dates and times Museum free tours Cambridge boat race, the on 020 7359 4019 Talk plus tour of the remains of These include: summer sales and days out. A the Billingsgate Roman House l Daily introductory tour spectrum of styles and George Orwell’s Islington and Baths, discovered in 1848 l Medieval and Renaissance mediums include modernist, Various dates and times under Lower Thames Street. galleries figurative, flat colour, patterns, George Orwell was at his most Museum of London, £5 l Theatre and performance abstract, collage and oil. prolific during his time in l Britain 1500-1900 London Transport Museum, Islington. While he was living London Metropolitan See: www.vam.ac.uk/whatson £17.50/concs, includes a year’s at 27b Canonbury Square, Archives: regular events entry to the museum Animal Farm was published Research advice sessions, British Museum: Around and he worked on drafts of interest groups and meeting the World in 90 Minutes Until Tuesday 15 January Nineteen Eighty-Four, LMA professionals, including: Normally on Fridays, Saturdays Raids, Rations and Rifles: published essays and articles, l Family history starter: using and Sundays, 11.30am and 2pm Islington During the First and broadcast extensively. LMA’s digital resources Tour include the Rosetta World War Contact Andrew Gardner on l Use LMA: getting started Stone, the Lewis chessmen, the This exhibition remembers [email protected] l Behind the scenes tour* Parthenon sculptures and more. those who served on the front or 020 7359 4019 l Document handling at £12, booking required line and explores everyday life the LMA in the borough, which could Roman Fort Gate Tours l Deciphering old First Thursday in the month, 2pm be a frightening experience. Tour the remains of the handwriting British Library Soldiers from local western gate of London’s l LGBTQ history club, film Conservation Studio Tour battalions fought on the Roman military fort, under the club, book club See techniques used in caring Western Front, at Gallipoli streets next to the museum. l A visit to conservation. for collections. and in Palestine. Five Museum of London, £5 Various dates and times British Library, £10/concs Islington soldiers were

26 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 awarded the Victoria Cross. Until Sunday 3 March Local women also served Living with Buildings abroad and some never Islington’s Finsbury Health returned. Islington featured in Centre, pictured in bright the first and the last enemy air contrast to the gloomy slums raids on London. behind it, is on display at this Islington Museum, free exhibition, along with work by Rachel Whiteread, Ernő Until Friday 18 January Goldfinger and others. The Lost Trades of Islington displays examine how buildings This exhibition draws on the affect physical and mental memories of those who health, and influence self- worked in trades and esteem and ideas about society. industries that are no longer Wellcome Museum, free common or exist in Islington. During much of the 20th Until Sunday 17 March century, numerous, varied Cats on the Page factories throughout the Cats from 16th century witch borough employed many Lift the winter gloom with some bright colours and bold designs on familiars to modern children’s people. The work was often show at Poster Girls at the London Transport Museum until 13 January stories are on show here. highly skilled and labour Included are former Islington intensive. People worked as examines the regulation of a Flat, as well as photographs resident Edward Lear’s coach builders in City Road theatre in the 17th century to of Heath Robinson’s house at doodles of his cat Foss from Basin, at bandages and surgical censorship today. the Ideal Home Exhibition, 1879, Lewis Carroll’s copy of equipment manufacturers in Victoria & Albert Museum, free complete with moving figures Through the Looking-Glass Essex Road, in a sweet and and contraptions. Also on (1893), TS Eliot’s Old chocolate factory on Stroud Until Friday 1 February show is a set of nursery china. Possum’s Book of Practical Green Road, in Beale’s Disease X Heath Robinson Museum, £6 Cats and childhood favourites Restaurant on Holloway Road Many epidemics have struck including Orlando and Mog, and as a barometer restorer in London, from the Black Death Until Tuesday 19 February as well as sound recordings. Clerkenwell. to Spanish Flu. Disease X Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: British Library, free Islington Local History questions how we might learn Art, Word, War Centre, free from the past successes, such This exhibition gives an Until Sunday 17 March as the eradication of smallpox unrivalled depiction of life in Dorothy Bohm Until Sunday 20 January and cholera. Anglo-Saxon times. On show This shows highlights from I Object. Ian Hislop’s Search Museum of London, free are the Lindisfarne Gospels, Dorothy Bohm’s vast collection for Dissent Beowulf and Bede’s of photographs of children, Ian Hislop, of Private Eye and Until Sunday 10 February Ecclesiastical History, taken over 75 years from Have I Got News For You, has Remembering the alongside finds from Sutton around the world. She escaped picked items to explore Kindertransport: 80 Years On Hoo and the Staffordshire Nazi Germany for Britain in dissent, subversion and satire. This exhibition covers the Hoard. The Domesday Book 1939 and helped establish the Objects run from graffiti on a Kindertransport rescue, when shows the landscape while Photographers’ Gallery. Babylonian brick to a the British government in Codex Amiatinus, a giant bible V&A Museum of Childhood, banknote with hidden rude 1938-39 allowed 10,000 taken to Italy in 716, is back in free words and satirical Turkish Jewish and other “non-Aryan” England after 1300 years. shadow puppets to a “pussy” children from occupied British Library, £16 Until Wednesday 10 April hat worn on a women’s march. Europe to come to Britain, Child Health in London This history in 100(ish) objects and tells stories of rupture, Until Sunday 24 February This display looks at dangers shows people have always loss and regret. Six of those I am Ashurbanipal: King of to the health of London’s challenged and undermined rescued tell their stories on the World, King of Assyria children and how they were orthodox views. film; also on display are items Discover the world of ancient tackled. Themes include child British Museum, £12/concs they brought with them. Assyria through the life and mortality, children’s hospitals, Jewish Museum, £7.50 legacy of its last great ruler, developments in treatment, Until Sunday, 27 January King Ashurbanipal. In the 7th school health services, child Censored! Stage, Screen, Until Sunday 17 February century BC, he ruled a vast, psychiatry, the NHS and Society at 50 Heath Robinson’s Home Life diverse empire from the public health measures. It also This display marks 50 years This exhibition shows original eastern Mediterranean to looks at how attitudes affected since the Theatres Act artwork that satirises western Iran. The exhibition how patients were classified, abolished state censorship of modernist architecture and highlights work to protect diagnosed and treated. the British stage. Exploring art deco design, including Iraqi cultural heritage. London Metropolitan

theatre, film and music, it cartoons from How to Live in British Museum, £17/concs Archives, free Transport London Museum

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 27 Camden New Town History Enfield Archaeological Directory Group Society www.camdennewtown.info www.enfarchsoc.org

History, civic, amenity and archaeology Camden Railway Heritage England’s Places societies, museums and online resources Trust Historic England photographs. [email protected] www.historicengland.org.uk/ images-books/archive/ Canonbury Society archive-collections/englands- To add or update Bexley Archaeological www.canonburysociety.org.uk places information, email journal@ Group islingtonhistory.org.uk www.bag.org.uk, Martin Chartered Institution of Federation of Family Baker: 020 8300 1752 Building Services Engineers History Societies All Hallows by the Tower Heritage Group www.ffhs.org.uk/ Crypt Museum Bishopsgate Institute www.hevac-heritage.org/ 020 7481 2928, www.ahbtt. Library and Archive Foundling Museum org.uk/visit/crypt/ 230 Bishopsgate, 020 7392 Charterhouse Museum 40 Brunswick Square, WC1, 9270, www.bishopsgate.org.uk www.thecharterhouse.org, 020 7841 3600, www. Amateur Geological Society 203 818 8873 foundlingmuseum.org.uk 25 Village Road, N3 1TL Bomb Sight London map of WW2 bombs, Cinema Museum Freud Museum Amwell Society www.bombsight.org www.cinemamuseum.org.uk 20 Maresfield Gdns, NW3, 7 Lloyd Square, WC1X 9BA, 020 7435 2002, www.freud. [email protected] British Airways Heritage City of London org.uk www.britishairways.com/ Archaeological Society Ancestor Search travel/museum-collection/ [email protected] Friends of Hackney Archives Guidance on where to look. public/en_gb 020 8356 8925, archives@ www.searchforancestors.com Clerkenwell and Islington hackney.gov.uk British Heritage TV Guides Association Ancient Yew Group www.405-line.tv/ https://islingtonguidedwalks. Friern Barnet & District www.ancient-yew.org com Local History Society British Library www.friern-barnethistory.org. Archives Hub 96 Euston Rd, NW1, 0330 333 Clockmakers’ Museum uk, 020 8368 8314. Photo http://archiveshub.ac.uk/ 1144, [email protected] www.clockmakers.org/the- archive: www.friern-barnet. clockmakers-museum-library com Arsenal FC Museum British Museum 020 7619 5000, www.arsenal. Great Russell Street, WC1, Cross Bones Graveyard Friends of the New River com 020 7323 8299, information@ www.crossbones.org.uk Head britishmuseum.org c/o Amwell Society Association for the Study Crossness Pumping Station and Preservation of Roman British Vintage Wireless 020 8311 3711, www. Friends of Friendless Mosaics Society crossness.org.uk Churches www.asprom.org [email protected] www.friendsoffriendless Design Museum churches.org.uk Bank of England Museum Brixton Windmill http://designmuseum.org 020 7601 5545, www.bankof 020 7926 6056, www. Geffrye Museum england.co.uk/museum brixtonwindmill.org Docklands History Group 136 Kingsland Road, E2 8EA, info@docklandshistory group. 020 7739 9893, www.geffrye- Barnet Museum and Local Bruce Castle Museum org.uk museum.org.uk. Main site History Society Lordship Lane, N17 8NU, 020 closed; events/tours still on www.barnetmuseum.co.uk 8808 8772, museum.services@ Dictionary of Victorian haringey.gov.uk London/Cat’s Meat Shop Georgian Group BBC archive Encyclopaedia and blog, 6 Fitzroy Square, W1T 5DX, www.bbc.co.uk/archive Burgh House and www.victorianlondon.org [email protected] Hampstead Museum Benjamin Franklin House New End Square, NW3, 020 DoCoMoMo UK Grant Museum of Zoology 020 7925 1405, info@ 7431 0144, www.burghhouse. Modern movement heritage. www.ucl.ac.uk/culture/ BenjaminFranklinHouse.org org.uk www.docomomo-uk.co.uk grant-museum-zoology

Bethlem Museum of the Mind Camden History Society East London History Society Gresham College 020 3228 4227, www. 020 7586 4436, www. 42 Campbell Rd, E3 4DT, mail Free lectures on different bethlemheritage.org.uk camdenhistorysociety.org @eastlondonhistory.org.uk topics, www.gresham.ac.uk

28 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 Greater London Industrial London Fire Brigade Archaeology Society (GLIAS) Museum 36 Gallows Hill Lane, Abbots www.london-fire.gov.uk/ Langley, Herts, WD5 0DA, london -fire-brigade-museum. www.glias.org.uk asp

Guildhall Library London Lives 1690-1800 Aldermanbury, EC2V 7HH, www.londonlives.org 020 7332 1868, textphone 020 7332 3803, guildhall.library@ London Metropolitan cityoflondon.gov.uk Archives 40 Northampton Rd, EC1 Hackney Museum 0HB, 020 7332 3820, ask. 1 Reading Lane, E8 1GQ, [email protected], www. hackney.gov.uk/ www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma cm-museum.htm This Chickering Ampico piano is one of the numerous self-playing instruments on show at the Musical Museum, alongside early London & Middlesex The Hackney Society ‘jukeboxes’ containing pipes, a Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ, pipe Archaeological Society 020 7175 1967, info@ organs and violin playing machines and orchestrions 020 7814 5734, www.lamas. hackneysociety.org org.uk IanVisits Islington’s Lost Cinemas Heath Robinson Museum Blog with history and other www.islingtonslostcinemas. London Museums of Health 020 8866 8420, welcome@ events. www.ianvisits.co.uk com and Medicine heathrobinsonmuseum.org www.medicalmuseums.org International Council on Islington Society Hendon and District Monuments and Sites Resource Centre, 356 London Museum of Water & Archaeology Society www.icomos-uk.org Holloway Road, N7 6PA, Steam 020 8449 7076, hadas.org.uk [email protected] 020 8568 4757, www. Imperial War Museum waterandsteam.org.uk Heritage of London Trust Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ, Jewish Museum 020 7730 9472, www. www.iwm.org.uk www.jewishmuseum.org.uk London Socialist Historians heritageoflondon.com http://londonsocialist Islington and Camden Joe Meek Society historians.blogspot.com Historic Hospital Admission Cemetery www.joemeeksociety.org Records Project High Road, East Finchley, N2, London Society www.hharp.org/ 020 7527 8804, www. Dr Johnson’s House http://londonsociety.org.uk/ islington.gov.uk/ 17 Gough Square, EC4, www. Highgate Literary and Environment/cemeteries drjohnsonshouse.org London Topographical Scientific Institution Archives Society [email protected] Islingtonfacesblog.com Keats House www.londontopsoc.org Living history interviews. 020 7332 3868, keatshouse@ Historical Association, http://islingtonfacesblog.com cityoflondon.gov.uk London Vintage Taxi Central London Branch Association www.history.org.uk, 020 7323 Islington Local History Lewisham Local History www.lvta.co.uk 1192, [email protected], Centre Society Finsbury Library, 245 St John www.lewishamhistory.org.uk London Transport Museum Historic Towns Forum St, EC1V 4NB. Visit by 020 7379 6344, www. www.historictowns forum.org appointment. To make an Locating London’s Past ltmuseum.co.uk appointment or enquire about www.locatinglondon.org History of Harringay Islington’s archives, email London Underground www.harringayonline.com/ [email protected] London Archaeological Railway Society group/historyofharringay or call 020 7527 7988. www. Archive [email protected] islington.gov.uk/heritage www.museumoflondon.org. Horniman Museum uk/collections/other- London Westminster & 020 8699 1872, www. Islington Museum collection-databases-and- Middlesex Family History horniman.ac.uk 245 St John Street, EC1V libraries/museum-london- Society 4NB, 10am-5pm, closed archaeological-archive www.lwmfhs.org.uk Hornsey Historical Society Wednesdays, Sundays and Old Schoolhouse, 136 public holidays, 020 7527 London Canal Museum Markfield Beam Engine Tottenham Lane, N8 7EL, 2837, islington.museum@ 12-13 New Wharf Road, N1 and Museum secretary@hornseyhistorical. islington.gov.uk, www. 9RT, 020 7713 0836, www. Markfield Park, N15, 01707 org.uk, 020 8348 8429 islington.gov.uk/heritage canalmuseum.org.uk 873628, [email protected] Christy Lawrance

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 29 Marx Memorial Library Newcomen Society for the Royal Institute of British Theatres Trust 37a Clerkenwell Green, EC1 History of Engineering and Architects (RIBA) 020 7836 8591, www. 0DU, 020 7253 1485, info@ Technology 66 Portland Place, W1B 1AD, theatrestrust.org.uk marx-memorial-library.org [email protected] www.architecture.com Tiles and Architectural Medieval Pottery Research Newington Green Action St Marylebone Society Ceramics Society Group Group www.stmarylebonesociety.org http://tilesoc.org.uk www.medievalpottery.org.uk 020 7359 6027, www. newingtongreen.org.uk Science Museum Tottenham Civic Society Migration Museum Exhibition Road, SW7 2DD. www.tottenhamcivicsociety. www.migrationmuseum.org/ New River Action Group www.sciencemuseum.org.uk org.uk 020 8292 5987, mail@ The Model Railway Club newriver.org.uk Sign Design Society Transport Trust 4 Calshot St, N1 9DA www.signdesignsociety.co.uk Lambeth Rd, SE1, 020 7928 020 7837 2542, www. North London Railway 6464, www.transporttrust. themodelrailwayclub.org Historical Society Sir John Soane’s Museum com 020 7837 2542, www.nlrhs.org.uk 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Museum of Brands WC2A 3BP, www.soane.org Twentieth Century Society 111-117 Lancaster Road, W11 Northview – 1930s estate 70 Cowcross St, EC1, 020 1QT, 020 7908 0880, info@ www.northview.org.uk Smithfield Trust 7250 3857, www.c20society. museumofbrands.com 70 Cowcross St, EC1, 020 org.uk Ocean Liner Society 7566 0041, info@ Museum of Domestic Design wwwocean-liner-society.com smithfieldtrust.org.uk Union Chapel and Friends & Architecture (MoDA) of the Union Chapel 020 8411 4394, www.moda. Pauper Lives in Georgian Society of Genealogists Compton Avenue, N1 2XD, mdx.ac.uk/home London and Manchester www.sog.org.uk, 020 7251 www.unionchapel.org.uk http://research.ncl.ac.uk/ 8799, booking: 020 7553 3290 Museum of London pauperlives Victoria & Albert Museum 150 London Wall, EC2Y Society for the Protection of Cromwell Rd, SW7, 020 7907 5HN, 020 7814 5511, info@ Peckham Society Ancient Buildings 7073, www.vam.ac.uk museumoflondon.org.uk www.peckhamsociety.org.uk 37 Spital Sq, E1 6DY, 020 7377 1644, www.spab.org.uk V&A Museum of Childhood Museum of London Petrie Museum of Egyptian 020 8983 5200, www. Archaeology Archaeology Southwark and Lambeth museumofchildhood.org.uk 020 7410 2200, www.museum www. ucl.ac.uk/museums/petrie Archaeology Society oflondonarchaeology.org.uk 79 Ashridge Cres, SE18 3EA Victorian Society The Postal Museum 020 8994 1019, www. Museum of London 020 7239 2570, info@ The Streatham Society victoriansociety.org.uk Docklands postalheritage.org.uk www.streathamsociety.org.uk 020 7001 9844, www.museum Wallpaper History Society oflondon.org.uk/docklands Prehistoric Society Streets with a Story: the wallpaperhistorysociety.org.uk www.prehistoricsociety.org Book of Islington Museum of the Order of A-Z of streets, buildings and Walthamstow Historical St John Proceedings of the Old Bailey open spaces. tinyurl.com/ Society St John’s Gate, EC1M 4DA, www.oldbaileyonline.org islington-streets-story www.walthamstow 020 7324 4005, www. historicalsociety.org.uk/ museumstjohn.org.uk Railway Correspondence Stuart Low Trust and Travel Society www.slt.org.uk Wellcome Collection Musical Museum www.rcts.org.uk www.wellcomecollection.org 399 High Street, TW8 0DU, Royal Archaeological Institute www.musicalmuseum.co.uk Rescue/British [email protected] John Wesley’s House and Archaeological Trust Museum of Methodism National Archives www.rescue-archaeology.org.uk Royal College of Nursing 49 City Rd, EC1, www.wesleys 020 8876 3444, www. Library and Heritage Centre chapel.org.uk/museum.htm nationalarchives.gov.uk Ragged School Museum 0345 337 3368, rcn.library@ 020 8980 6405, www.ragged rcn.org.uk Women’s Library Collection National Churches Trust schoolmuseum.org.uk tinyurl.com/womens-library www.nationalchurchestrust.org Thames Discovery Royal Air Force Museum Programme William Morris Gallery National Piers Society 020 8205 2266, www. 020 7410 2207, Forest Road, E17, 020 8496 www.piers.org.uk rafmuseum.org.uk/london thamesdiscovery.org 4390, www.wmgallery.org.uk

30 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 Islington Archaeology & History Society Events

Tuesday 1 January 2019, meet 11am, Highbury and Islington Wednesday 16 January, 7.30pm, Islington Town Hall station Islington Museum New year walk: George Orwell’s Islington The speaker will be a member of staff Led by Andy Gardner and Islington is full of Oonagh Gay history, and we are fortunate to have a George Orwell was at his most free museum prolific during his time in Islington. dedicated to this. On He was living at 27b Canonbury permanent display Square when Animal Farm was are items about local published. During his time in and social history. Islington, he worked on drafts of There are displays Nineteen Eighty-Four, published about leisure, home numerous essays and articles, and broadcast extensively. life, industries, The tour takes in locations that inspired Orwell, including healthcare, food, shops he used and the three pubs he combined to describe the fashion, childhood – as well as radical politics. perfect pub – the Moon Under Water – in the London Evening The museum hosts exhibitions and events, and puts on items Standard. It’ll probably be too cold to sit under the pub garden from the council’s own archives as well as items on loan. chestnut tree, though. The museum, owned and run by Islington Council is at 245 St Proceeds to Margins, pay what you can, suggested donation John Street, below Finsbury Library and is fully accessible. £5. Contact [email protected] for information. Clockwise from above: opening night 2019 events of an exhibition about Joe Orton and We’re still finalising our meetings for 2019. Details will be on Kenneth Halliwell, our website and Facebook page. So put the following in your who lived in diary. Islington; a 1930s l Wednesday 20 February (we’re hoping for something on Post kitchen; cart used for Office cats) door-to-door milk l Wednesday 20 March delivery from about l Wednesday 17 April 1914 until 1947 l Wednesday 15 May l Wednesday 19 June (also the date of our AGM)

Keep up to date with our Facebook page

Find out about our events, ask a question, post a photo or talk local history at the IAHS Facebook group, which has more than 800 members. l www.facebook.com/ groups/islingtonhistory

The Islington Archaeology & History Society meets 10 times a year, usually at 7.30pm on the third Wednesday of the month at

Islington Town Hall, Upper Street, N1. £1 donation/free to members. Everyone welcome. www.islingtonhistory.org.uk Wikimedia Orwell; Commons: Christy all other images Lawrance:

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Winter 2018-19 Vol 8 No 4 31 The Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Back page picture

Cigar room 14, Atkins Cigar factory, York Road (now Dingley Road), Finsbury See Lost Trades of Islington, events, page 27 Islington Museum Islington