Journal of the Archaeology & History Society

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Vol 7 No 2 Summer 2017 incorporating Islington History Journal

Find the story of your street The definitive guide to Islington’s places is made free online

Green plaque for heroic police officer l Postal Museum to open this summer l ‘Crunchingly wrong’ extension rejected l Growing up in Mildmay Park in the 1930s l An abandoned railway station l The pub on the canal l Housing hundreds of railway horses l Islington and the Spanish Civil War 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 Archaeology & History pictures sought Alec Forshaw TSociety is here to Vice president investigate, learn and celebrate We welcome articles on local Mary Cosh the heritage that is left to us. history, as well as your Chair We organise lectures, walks research, memories and old Andrew Gardner,  and other events, and photographs. [email protected] publish this quarterly A one-page article needs Secretary journal. We hold 10 about 500 words, and the Morgan Barber-Rogers meetings a year, usually at maximum length is 1,000 secretary@islingtonhistory. Islington Town Hall. words (please do not submit org.uk The society was set up in articles published elsewhere). Membership, publications and 1975 and is run entirely by We like pictures – please check events volunteers. If you’d like to we can use them without Catherine Brighty,  get involved, please contact infringing anyone’s copyright. 8 Wynyatt Street, EC1V 7HU, our chairman Andrew The journal is published in 020 7833 1541, catherine. Gardner (details left). www.facebook.com/ print and online in pdf form. [email protected] 8 www.islingtonhistory.org.uk groups/islingtonhistory.org.uk Deadline for the autumn Treasurer issue is 1 August. Philip Anderson,  phlpandrsn6 @btopenworld. Journal back issues and extra copies Ever wondered…? com Do you have any queries about Academic adviser Journal distribution is Islington’s history, streets or Lester Hillman, former overseen by Catherine buildings? Send them in for visiting professor, Brighty (details left). our tireless researcher Michael Metropolitan University Contact her for more Reading and other readers to Journal editor copies, back issues, if you answer. Please note we do not Christy Lawrance move house and about keep an archive or carry out Committee members membership. Back issues family research. Michael Harper can also be downloaded l See Letters, page 6 Derek Seeley via our website at www. Samir Singh islingtonhistory.org.uk Copyright Copyright of everything in $ (photocopies acceptable) this journal lies with the Join the Islington Archaeology & History Society creator unless otherwise stated. While it can be difficult Membership per year is: £12 single; £15 joint at same address; concessions single £8/joint £10; to trace copyright ownership corporate £25; overseas £20; life: £125 (renewal forms sent out when due) of archive materials, we make every effort to do so. I/We would like single/joint/concession/joint concession/corporate membership and enclose a cheque payable to “Islington Archaeology & History Society” for ...... Editor Christy Lawrance, christy@ Name(s) ...... islingtonhistory.org.uk,  c/o 6 Northview, Address ...... Road, London N7 0QB

...... ,...... The Journal of the Islington  Tick here to go on our email list. Email address ...... Archaeology & History Society is published four times a year Tel no (in case of membership queries) ...... ISSN 2046-8245 Please return this form (photocopies acceptable) to: Catherine Brighty, Islington Archaeology & History Society, 8 Wynyatt Street, London EC1V 7HU Printed by PrintSet, 15 Palmer We will not give your details to third parties unless required to by law Place, London, 

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2 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society

Incorporating Islington History Journal Vol 7 No 2 Summer 2017

Research into Islington just got a lot easier

any people approach the society because they are Mresearching where their Contents ancestors lived or worked, or because a curious building piques their interest. So we welcome that the definitive guide News 4 to Islington’s places has been made freely Green plaque for heroic police officer, history of Islington’s streets goes online, available online by Islington Council’s Postal Museum to open this summer, and “crunchingly wrong” extension rejected heritage service (see page 4). Eric A Willats’ Streets with a Story: the Book of Islington, Your letters and questions 6 published in 1986, lists roads, streets, An ancient well in a haunted basement, a highway robbery, concertina and buildings and open spaces, old, new and piano makers, Barnbury’s syphon factory, and a mystery parade ground gone. It is “the culmination of a huge is identified amount of research not available anywhere else”, according to one Amazon reviewer. Growing up in Mildmay Park  10 There is clearly demand – printed A time of airships, gas lighting, trams and police on point duty copies are “as rare as hens’ teeth”, the same reviewer says. An abandoned railway station  11 Many readers will have watched The long-gone Mildmay Park station Islington change over the past 30 years – or may have something to add to the The pub on the canal 12 original entries. It’s now up to us to pass The Narrowboat from its industrial beginnings this knowledge to the Local History Centre to build on Willats’ legacy. Housing hundreds of railway horses 14 The stables over the Copenhagen tunnel A lesson in listing Plans for a badly designed extension to a Islington and the Spanish Civil War 16 listed 19th century terrace were rejected The stories of some Islington residents who joined a mass movement to fight by Islington Council recently. fascism in Spain This IAHS objected and some society members attended the planning meeting. Publications 18 Officers had intended to grant The anti-slavery movement in Britain, Benjamin Franklin in London, and Britain’s permission without it going to social history through its census committee, which they do for small applications – it only got a hearing with Reviews  20 councillors because enough people wrote Crossrail dig unearths 8,000 years of London history, 30 years of upheaval during in and objected. the Russian Revolution, and how society viewed gay lives in the 20th century The councillors gave the officers – and some of us attending – quite a crash Events and exhibitions  24 course in listing and its implications. Days and evenings out Hopefully, this result means attempts to change heritage buildings will be more Directory 28 carefully considered in future. Societies, museums and resources

Christy Lawrance Islington Archaeology & History Society events 31 Editor See us at a fair or join a walk

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 3 news In brief A-Z listing of Islington’s streets and their King’s Cross pub wins history put online for free conservation award

The Scottish Stores In King’s The definitive guide to Since the book came out, “Heritage staff will verify Cross has won the Campaign Islington’s roads, streets, much has changed, so heritage submitted data and, on a for Real Ale’s conservation buildings and open spaces, old staff are asking for local regular basis, an updated award. The grade II listed pub and new, has been made freely people to help update it. version will be published was designed by Wylson and available online. Mark Aston, local history online. Long in 1900-01. Its three bars Streets with a Story: the manager, said: “New buildings “So please send in your have been “impressively Book of Islington, researched have appeared while others historical facts, figures, events conserved”, said Camra. “The and complied by former have been consigned to and incidents for any Islington Jacobethan-styled woodwork Islington librarian Eric A history to make way for new street, park and open space has been sympathetically Willats, lists over 1,100 streets, developments and schemes. etc that you and others find restored, as have the coloured squares, places, terraces, “It is hoped that, with help may interesting or are lithographs of hunting scenes blocks of flats and tenements from researchers and the important, and help build an by Cecil Aldin of 1900.” in alphabetical order, with the general public, Streets with a ongoing history of your date they were first occupied. Story will also continue to borough – Islington and its Nominate a Victorian Vanished courts, alleyways, develop, like the streets of streets and stories.” endangered building terraces and backwaters of the Islington themselves. Send your information to: past – some with intriguing “To build upon Eric’s [email protected] The Victorian Society wants to names like Frog Lane, The original work and to continue with the subject: “Streets with hear about buildings that may Land of Nod and Cupid’s to tell the story of Islington’s a story”. in danger for its Top 10 Alley – are also listed. development, we invite people l Streets with a Story: the Book Buildings at Risk. The society It includes architectural to submit information – facts of Islington can be says it wants to hear about as features, buildings of interest, both new and old that have downloaded from http:// many threatened Victorian and residents of note. yet to be recorded. tinyurl.com/islington-streets buildings as possible. Email entries to media@ victoriansociety.org.uk by ‘Crunchingly wrong’ extension to listed terrace rejected 5pm, Wednesday 7 July. An extension to a Georgian finishing, such as brick type World Heritage status terrace in Tufnell Park Road and colour, than structure. warning for UK city has been rejected by a council Among councillors’ planning committee because concerns were: disruption of Unesco has warned that of its design and harm to the form plan, with a lowered Liverpool risks losing its World listed buildings. floor and a new partition wall; Heritage status in 2018 unless The extension – described the width and height of the major corrective changes are as “crunchingly wrong” – structure; the flat roof design, made to the management of would have been more than which did not reflect the the city’s historic waterfront. It one storey tall, awkwardly Georgian heritage; and the The IAHS submitted this image, criticised the UK government straddling half the width of with lines indicating the width appearance of the bricks and for inadequate governance the house and the entire and depth of the extension windows. They said the uPVC systems and planning adjoining former coach house. French doors and rooflight mechanisms. The terrace, built in the impact to the significance of were more suited to a modern 1830s-40s, is largely intact. the listed terrace or the conservatory. More time to comment The IAHS made a formal conservation area.” A local resident at the on Regent’s Wharf plans objection to the proposal. It also said the “windows, meeting said officers had told The committee spent the given their sympathetic her she could not change In our last issue, we reported best part of an hour materials and profile, would anything at the rear of her our concerns about plans that examining the plans and preserve the special character house because it was in a could damage historic discussing them with officers. of the historic building”. conservation area, and buildings and the setting at Officers recommended At the meeting, the officers’ questioned the inconsistent Regent’s Wharf. The deadline approval, supported by the knowledge of listing appeared approach. for comments has been design and conservation officer. weak, and the councillors Committee chair Martin extended until 6 July because Their report said “the discussed what listing involved Klute later said the proposal new drawings have been proposed extension, by reason and its implications in detail. was “crunchingly wrong”. “It submitted. The application of its size and sympathetic Officers seemed to give more was a horrible design,” he told number is P2016/4805/FUL. design, would cause no undue weight to the external the Islington Tribune.

4 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Spring 2017 Vol 7 No 2 Made in England – but Postal Museum sets summer opening date we don’t know it

People in England often Islington and Camden’s believe historical events that anticipated new heritage took place here happened attraction, The Postal elsewhere, a YouGov survey Museum, will officially open has found. Nearly a third of to the public on Friday 28 July. respondents said the atom was This will be the first time first split in Geneva in that Mail Rail – the 100-year- Switzerland and only 12% old Post Office railway – will correctly said Manchester. be opened to the public. Some 93% were unaware that The museum’s galleries will skyscraper technology was take guests through five first used in Shrewsbury, with centuries of postal history, and nearly half believing the provide an alternative view of How the railway looked in February 2016 answer was New York. In some of the world’s most addition, Britons were more significant historical events. likely to believe that trainers Once visitors have taken in into the old engineering depot Adrian Steel, director of the were invented in Detroit the museum, they can descend of Mail Rail and climb on Postal Museum, said: “Our rather than Bolton and the board a miniature train. new home is much more than first bungee jump happened The train will take them a traditional museum …With in New Zealand, not Bristol. through some of the old an immersive ride through tunnels and stop at the Mail Rail’s original tunnels, it Roman cat leaves paw original Mount Pleasant promises to offer something print on roof tile station platforms, where an for everyone.” audiovisual display will give l The Postal Museum is at The paw print of a cat has an insight into the railway’s Phoenix Place, , been found in a 2,000-year- heyday. WC1X 0DA, www. old Roman roof tile in The museum will also have postalmuseum.org. Adult Gloucester. The tiles were dug Museum director Adrian Steel a an interactive children’s play tickets will cost £16 including up in 1969 but the paw print describes the plans last year zone called Sorted! an optional £1.50 donation. was found only recently by an archaeologist at the city’s museum, who was examining Green plaque for heroic police officer thousands of tile fragments. The cat is thought to have walked on the tile, a type A heroic police constable has fore th street only to be cut called a tegula, in about AD been commemorated with an down by shrapnel, fatally 100. Cllr Lise Noakes, cabinet Islington People’s Plaque. injured. A second followed but member for culture and Metropolitan Police was chopped down as shrapnel leisure said: “Dog paw prints, Constable 59G Alfred Smith, cut into one of his feet. people’s boot prints and even a 37-year-old officer of the “This left only the manager a piglet’s trotter print have all Metropolitan Police, saved the to try and hold back the rush been found on tiles from lives of many women and of women storming down the Roman Gloucester, but cat children during a heavy- stairs to get outside. I was the prints are very rare.” bomber Gotha G IV raid on first to run down the stairs 13 June 1917. and into the street, when a Commuters could be This was the occasion of the constable [PC Smith] rushed museum exhibits first daylight raid on London. up and pushed me and all the PC Smith was on duty in others back.” Commuters could go on show Central Street when he Tragically – only seconds at the new . conducted up to 150 women PC Alfred Smith, who saved the after the last woman was Plans to have Thameslink and girls, who worked in a lives of150 women and girls pushed back in – another trains running through the factory, back into the safety of explosion took Alf Smith’s life. museum in a see-through the building. The workers were sudden, we felt the building The plaque was unveiled at tunnel are being discussed with panic stricken into fleeing the shake. Someone came rushing Central Street on the architects and Network Rail. premises during the raid. in shouting ‘Air raid – quick!’,” centenary of PC Smith’s death. Museum staff are considering Among them was Mrs Tripp. she said. l Thanks to Mark Aston, artefacts that commuters could “I and all the others were “At the sound of exploding heritage manager at Islington

glimpse as they whizz past. happily working when all of a bombs, a man made a beeline Council, for this article. Wheatley Museum: HistoryChristy terrace: Jane Local Lawrance; Postal PC Smith: Islington Centre;

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 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

Parade ground identified I produced a booklet, The The last issue published a Garden on the Corner, on the photograph of some men in a history of the site, and will parade ground, probably taken send you a copy. during the First World War. My booklet has a narrative Malcolm Stokes, who sent it and photographs, both historic in, believed the square was in and recent pictures taken by Islington and wanted to know myself, and two maps. where it was. His father is I first became aware of the shown in the photograph. garden that stood on the The photos are now in the corner in 2006 and produced Islington Local History Centre. my booklet in 2009. As the years have gone by, I have kept The building is the Territorial an interest in the development Army barracks in the square of the site and am helped in between Offord Road and Over the garden wall: the this by my daughter who Park. It was still a building during the First World passes by regularly. barracks when we moved in War and today I was born in Islington in in the 1960s – my garden wall 1933 and left when I married is behind the soldiers’ backs. is the same building), in 1958. My memory of Your best way of getting a designed by architects Islington goes back to when it look at it is to go along Legion Saunders & Bedells, was was entirely different from Close, off Offord Road, just opened in April 1857 and what it is today. I have traced metres from . closed in 1918. By 1981, it was my maternal family in the If you go right to the end of being used as a warehouse. borough back to 1750. the close there is an open Malcolm Stokes constructed in the 1800s. I It is quite a revelation that space. You will get a good By email believe the well may date from there is a well under the view of the building, which is the 1700s or even earlier. Do premises. It would be now a garment factory – A haunted basement with you know when it was sunk? interesting if the source of the Alison Hayes, Percy House, an ancient well We have kept the well, and water could be found. 363 Liverpool Road. Our shop, Aria, occupies 168 will eventually be able to show In my researches, I found The original use of the , on the corner of it (on request), when it is lit no evidence that anyone was building is a unclear but I Barnsbury Street. from within. killed when the premises were believe it was some kind of I know this site was bombed I also wondered if you knew bombed on 4 November 1940. religious meeting hall. in 1940, then lay vacant for of a resource that might Michael Reading Sally Greenhill many years. When the adjacent indicate if anyone was killed in By email buildings were developed, the the building by the bomb. A Our builders pumped out the developer flattened the small passer-by told my colleagues well, and it slowly filled back Many thanks for this. It is just park that was there, used the that a lot of people were up. We had to fit a pump to what I have been looking for. plot to store materials, then sheltering in the basement keep the level just below the I went to a school in Offord put it up for auction. when it was hit and all lost basement floor. When there is Road for a time when my Aria’s owners obtained the their lives (and it might be a light in the bottom of the school – County in land. The new building is a haunted). I couldn’t find any well, it will cast rippling lights Highbury Grove – was blasted modern echo of the previous mention of this online; I’m not up the walls. by a flying bomb in June 1944. one, using the proportions sure if it’s true. We didn’t find any evidence Eric A Willats’ Streets with and architectural shapes that We have a lot of customers of bodies when the basement a Story: the Book of Islington would have been there. asking about the building, and was excavated, but did find states that Legion Close, During construction, a well we’d like to be able to tell them various bottles and an old Offord Road, was the site of was found in the basement. It a bit more. kettle. We also found the the Territorial Army Centre. appears it may have been Simon Howard Barnsbury Street sign, which The former Offord Road sealed up even before the Aria would have been on the wall

Michael Stokes; Christy Lawrance Congregational Chapel (if this previous building was [email protected] of the building when it was

6 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 bombed. Our sign on the In 1863,the Islington Vestry Barnsbury Street side is based minutes confirmed that from on the font of that old sign. that year and again in 1868 Our Barnsbury Hall site that Holloway Road was to be opposite is also quite historic, called as such; before then, it although I have never found consisted of subsidiary places, any images of it before we terraces and courts etc. These took over. I know it was built were absorbed and the whole in 1858 as a hall. There was a road renumbered then again stage at the rear, and it sat 600 in 1884-86. No 143 Holloway people. We found old wooden Road was one of eight houses bench seating in the first floor that made up Skinners Place, gallery where our office is now. which was built in 1804. Our stationery was based The 1859 street directory on the design of a ticket from lists Nickolds Concertinas, the 1870s to a gig by the but this has disappeared by Alexandra Minstrels. 1880 as your family had After the building became a moved to Notting Hill. scientific instruments factory, Your family seem to have around 1900, it seems that Fred C Nickolds and his firm’s moved fairly frequently, no Dennis Wright took over in concertinas. Do you have any doubt each move being the 1930s, and the building infromation on them? advantageous to their business. became a warehouse for the Once the vestry and later frames and diaries they made. Holloway Road, next to St the council had numbered Unfortunately, the front part Mary Magdalene church, are properties, there was a great of the building was not fit for no longer there. Was there a reluctance to change the use and had to be demolished. shop, workshop or both? Are sequence. If any more The basement was full of water there any photographs or properties were built, they were when we took over in 2007. images of the original often be given the suffix A or B. However, we’ve been able to buildings, or other records? A rather extreme example open up the site to the public, Concertina manufacture of this is 12 Highbury Place and kept the original three was a skilled occupation. The where four houses were built walls and roof. We sometimes instruments were finely where one originally existed. have pop-up restaurants in the In 1866, brothers Thomas crafted from polished wood The numbering is: no 11½; no building, which always get a and Frederick Nickolds were and brass. Numbered and 12 Pillars House; no 12 good reaction. among the country’s leading engraved Nickolds Middle House; and no 12 Simon Howard concertina manufacturers, concertinas are collectors’ Corner House. Quite a feat of Aria with premises at 143 Holloway items today, with many kept imagination, I think. Barnsbury Hall, Barnsbury Road. They operated a family in museums. I imagine the present Street, Islington, N1 1PN firm, Nickolds Bros, starting The Nickolds brothers were no 143 was not there in 1866 [email protected] in Clerkenwell in 1856 and not the only Islington but inherited that number. eventually closing about 1888. concertina manufacturers. Michael Reading Seeking information on Thomas was my great-great The Crabb family concertina concertina makers grandfather, Frederick my business survived at 158 Tracing Vineyard Gardens In the mid-Victorian period, great-great uncle. Family Liverpool Road until the 1970s. ancestors Islington was the centre of a papers and photographs have There is more information at I am trying to trace my thriving trade in the revealed much about the http://tinyurl.com/jz8mxrh and father’s family who lived in manufacture and sale of history of the Nickolds at www.concertinamuseum. Vineyard Gardens in the early musical instruments, including concertina business, but I com/SiteS4k.htm. 20th century. the fashionable parlour would like to find out more. Nickolds concertinas were I have a copy of my paternal instrument of the day – the The business was started at among the best of their day. If grandfather’s death certificate concertina or squeezebox. 5 Woodbridge Street in anyone has any information for 1923, although my dad Clerkenwell by their father, on them, please get in touch. believed he died three years A well was found in John Nickolds, an artisan Michael Durham earlier. I am trying to machinist, who had moved [email protected] ascertain whether he died at the basement. I there from the Birmingham @krappyrubsnif home or in an institution; the believe it may date area in the early 1800s. It certificate indicates he died of moved to Holloway by 1866 I have looked at the PO tuberculosis at 49 Vineyard from the 1700s or then to New North Road, then directory for 1859,1868, and Gardens. even earlier Notting Hill and Hackney. 1880 for the Holloway Road His widow’s address is given

The original premises at 143 premises. as 15 Vineyard Gardens. On Michael Durham

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 7 the 100th anniversary of my available online. Each It appears that this incident as Warlters Road Mews and dad’s birth, I would like to certificate will cost £9.25. happened when, after being consisted of stabling including solve the mystery. Michael Reading recently widowed with two Elseningham Cottage. Jeannette Meyers small children, this lady was It disappeared in 1970, [email protected] Stagecoach robbed by making her way to Preston to when Islington Council built highwayman get advice from the family on the Williamson Street Estate. I am rather surprised that, A collection of letters written what she would need to set up The 1914 Ordnance Survey although you have your by my grandmother’s family as an ironmonger. Map shows that Warlters grandfather’s death certificate, includes one about travelling She had valued her loss at Mews was of a reasonable you have some difficulty in by coach from Norfolk to £40 (which included her length. Warlters Road remains establishing where he actually Preston and being robbed by a bedding) and was hoping to be and connects Parkhurst Road died. Column 1 on the highwayman in Islington in compensated by the owner of to Camden Road. certificate should show this September 1768. the “machine”, which I think I have looked through the but perhaps the description is Do you know what coach was a rather bumpy coach. PO street directory for 1930, obscure? The fact that your would have brought them father believed the death was through here and where it The junction of St John Street with Goswell in a different year altogether is would have stopped? It most mystifying. sounded like a dreadfully long Road was a rather lonely area and was Vineyard Gardens was at journey. frequented by highwaymen, despite being the southern end of Hilary Phillips Northampton Road and from 140 Barnsbury Road, N1 close to the City there ran across Bowling [email protected] Green Lane, near Farringdon She had been sent the 1933 and 1935 but the Road. Built in 1772-73, it was Stagecoaches travelling to the money for her journey from Mystique Player Piano closed by order in 1936. north of England in the 18th Preston – the note was cut Company does not appear. For researching family century would leave the City into two and each half was However, it is listed in 1939 history, may I suggest you of London and make their posted separately to protect it and again in 1940. subscribe to genealogy way up St John Street towards from being stolen. I have no directories after websites, such as Ancestry. the Angel in Islington. Hilary Phillips this date but a full set co.uk or Findmypast.co.uk. The junction of St John microfilm, covering 1800- You can look up the census Street with Goswell Road was The Mystique Player Piano 1991, is available at the for 1911 and 1901 for Vineyard a rather lonely area and was Company of Holloway London Metropolitan Gardens. Hopefully, members frequented by highwaymen, I’m researching a 1930s Archives. of your family were living there despite being close to the City. Islington company called the The bomb damage map when the censuses were taken. This may have been where the Mystique Player Piano shows there was no damage in If they are shown, you will robbery took place. Company, and was based at the immediate area. have their ages and can Coaches were often Warlters Mews, Warlters Road Michael Reading calculate the years of their assembled into convoys at two in Islington. births. If they were living or three nearby inns to Do you have any The piano factory off there, it may be worthwhile improve their safety. information on them or any Essex Road going back and searching the The coaches would make photos of this area at the time? I was hoping you might be 1891 census as well. their way through Islington Steve Toyne able to throw more light on On the same website, you along Upper Street then onto Pandoras Box, Hoffleet Stow the Shenstone Piano Co can find the reference Holloway Road and continue Boston, Lincolnshire owned by my great-great numbers to obtain copies of northwards. The vicinity of [email protected] grandfather John Shenstone. the birth certificates. These Woods may have I believe they started in can be obtained from the been another danger area. Warlters Mews is shown on 1870 producing ivory keys General Register Office, again Michael Reading the register of electors in 1887 and finally closed when John Shenstone died in 1929. Write to us Several others in the family were involved in the company. l Email the editor at [email protected] I understand the company l Write to the editor c/o 6 Northview, Tufnell Park buildings were off the Essex Road, N7 0QB Road, They are now offices l Via www.facebook.com/groups/islingtonhistory; called The Ivories and before posts printed will give Facebook usernames this were a library. My cousin, also a The society won’t trace family trees, but can help with, Shenstone, is the proud owner say, finding information on a family member’s business of a Shenstone piano. or home. Letters and Facebook posts may be edited. I would be very grateful if you could help in any way,

8 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 with information, as Mount Mills, where a photographs or further lines chapel had existed at the time of investigation I might follow. of Henry Vlll. I have a photograph of John It is also said that defences Shenstone in later age. His son erected by parliamentarians Herbert was the company against the royalists in were secretary at one time and I erected in this area in 1642-43. knew him as he only died in At the time of the Great 1966 in his 90s but of course I Plague in 1665, Pest Field, never thought to talk to him Mount Mills, was a plague pit about the company. containing 1,300 corpses. The Jean Stratford (nee Shenstone) pit was levelled in the 18th [email protected] century to make a physick garden (for the cultivation of The Post Office street medicinal herbs) on the north directories for 1869, 1880 and side of the street. 1899 contain no entries for Danemann baby grand piano made in the 1930s St Bartholomew’s Burial Shenstone Piano Co in Ground on the south side, for Islington. where our grandparents lived The information you sent which I have no date, may However, I found the and worked. was very interesting, although have been there for many following entries for Do you happen to know if I am disappointed to find that years, as the hospital was Shenstone in 1899 at these there is any trace left of the the British Syphon Factory founded in 1123. London addresses: British Syphon Factory building was demolished. I The Ordnance Survey maps l 15 Dalston Lane, EW building in Barnsbury Street? discovered only very recently for 1871 and 1894 show it as Shenstone & Co Piano Mfg Sandra Steele that my grandfather was “burial ground disused”, l 162 Edgware Road, employed there, and was not whereas the 1914 map shows W Shenstone & Co Piano Mfg The company occupied the aware of this when I lived in a recreation ground. l 55 Newington Butts, SE former premises of Islington Islington (in Alwyne Villas) Further down the street was Shenfield & Co Piano Mfg. Proprietary School, according many years ago. a block of dwellings named There is a office complex to a history of the firm In those days the large St Bartholomew’s Buildings called The Ivories at 6 published in Sussex Industrial building in Barnsbury Street which were demolished in Northampton Street, off Essex History, 2006, issue 36, pages was still standing but it did 1974. This is perhaps further Road. This was W Danemann 2-11. You can download it from appear an anomaly in a evidence of the hospital’s & Co’s piano factory. William http://tinyurl.com/y9dpl7nt. residential area, so I suppose connection with the area – it is Danemann & Co is listed in The building was replaced in demolition and not in the immediate vicinity. the 1899 directory at 9-14 1984. There are a few pictures redevelopment is not a wholly Looking at Seward Street Northampton Street. of the school online, including unexpected outcome. via Google Earth shows that I believe the factory was still one held at the London Sandra Steele the gardens are being in production until the 1980s Metropolitan Archives. rehabilitated. and their instruments had a Christy Lawrance Seward Street’s hospital Michael Reading good reputation. Editor burial grounds Michael Reading Hello from Australia. I was Can you help re Highbury The British Syphon Factory wondering if you know about Hill Girls in the 1940s? Thank you for putting me stood on the corner of the Seward Street grounds, I am looking to see if any back on track! Barnsbury Street and Milner which were owned by readers or members have any The Dalston connection Square. St Bartholomew’s hospital memories of Highbury Hill makes sense as my great- There may be more until 1849. girls’ school circa 1940-49, grandfather was born there photographs in the London My 3xgreat grandfather which was attended by my although my great-great Metropolitan Archives’ died in the hospital 1834 of cousin Irene Riley. grandfather was married at collection, which is quite cholera and I thought he may I would like if possible a the Islington registry office in extensive, particularly of the have been buried there as the photo showing the school 1871. W Shenstone will be streets of Barnsbury. hospital paid for the burial. uniform and the leaving age John’s older brother. Eric A Willats’ Streets with a Christine Smith. for this school. Back to the drawing board, Story says the building was [email protected] I believe the school leaving as they say. occupied as a school until age in 1947 was 15. However, Jean Stratford 1897, then by the British Seward Street was built in I have a school exam Syphon Manufacturing Co 1778 by Edward Seward, a certificate dated 1947, which British Syphon factory in and then a firm of greeting dyer. A year earlier, he had appears to show she left Barnsbury Street card manufacturers. It was built a large house on the school after her 16th birthday. My cousins and I are planning demolished in 1984. corner of Seward Street and Michael Riley to visit Islington to trace Michael Reading Goswell Road on a site known [email protected] Peaceinpianos/Flickr

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 9 Growing up in Mildmay Park

Alan Ricketts looks back at his early life in Mildmay Grove – a time of gas lighting in the home, travel by tram, police officers on point duty and helping to catch a thief

was born at around 3pm on sheet metal factory. Christmas Day in 1927 at 3 Unusually, Mildmay Grove, Mildmay Park. No 3 was an where my grandparents lived at no unprepossessing terrace 26, ran either side of the railway, so house, and we occupied two the even numbered houses were Irooms on the second floor. separated from the odd numbered Mildmay Street ran at the side, at houses by the tracks. right angles to the Park. On the My first memory at that address opposite corner was the Mildmay was in 1930 when the R101 airship Tavern, then the junction with flew over London, illuminated by Balls Pond Road, which was hundreds of lights along its side, before its flight to India, during My mother had a gas which it crashed, which effectively stopped our dalliance with lighter Right: early days; fired iron, which was a than air flying. above: with fearsome thing to The 33 tram used to run along Renee Ricketts in the road from Manor House to Eastbourne c1929 behold, with flames south of the river. flickering out from a slot When I was about seven years old, we moved further up Mildmay on either side Park to no 40, where we had a basement with one large room, a controlled by a policeman on point kitchen and separate scullery. The duty. Opposite was the Methodist hall floor, which was several feet Church where my sister and I above the pavement level, had two attended Sunday school. She was decent sized-rooms and a six years older than me. bathroom. Halfway up Mildmay Park was The two storeys above that had the North London Railway, which three rooms each. At the back was ran at right angles to it, and which a large garden which had a very was marked by a redundant station large tree in one corner from aid of a long lasso type rope. That which was then being used as a which we used to swing with the lived in my car boot right up to when I finally sold my last car in 2008. The house was lit by gas, and was not wired for electricity until about 1935. My mother had a gas fired iron, which was connected to a tap by the kitchen range by a convoluted metal tube. When working, it was a fearsome thing to behold, with flames flickering out from a slot on either side. When electricity did arrive, so did a Cossor radio, which was used mainly for the news bulletins, especially during the abdication An early memory was seeing the R101 airship fly over London, illuminated by crisis in 1936. hundreds of lights along its side, before its flight to India The long summer holidays often

10 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 seemed to be spent around the Hollow Pond, a lake at Whipps Cross. We travelled there by tram, which passed Bakers Arms. Here, the “shoe” under the tram, which accessed the electric power through the third rail, was removed, and the arm above was raised to access power from the overhead cable. In 1937, my father died from stomach cancer in Mildmay Hospital, which was near The 33 tram ran from Manor House to south of the river via at the top of the Kingsway tunnel; 40 Mildmay Park was lit by gas, and was Mildmay Park. On the night he not wired for electricity until about 1935; died, an uncle of mine took me to Mildmay Grove ran either side of the one side, and told me that I was railway, with the even and odd numbered now head of the family, a burden houses separated by the tracks. which I was not old enough to understand – I was nearly 10 – but I think that it helped me to become who sent me down to the who I am today. policeman on point duty. I attended Newington Green He came back with me – School. One afternoon in 1938, I somewhat leisurely as he was was returning home from school rather large – and, as we reached when, as I passed the house before the gate of that house, the man ran ours, I saw a man at the basement up the steps, shrugged off his door. He punched in the window, overcoat – which was loaded down put his hand through, opened the with coins – and ran past us. T door and went in. I told my mother The policeman could not run dock, he shouted that he would after him but blew hard on his “GET” me when he had served his The policeman blew hard whistle. The man ran down term but the coming war changed Mildmay Grove, where a milkman everything. on his whistle. The man tackled him to the ground and he At Easter 1939, I started at the ran down Mildmay Grove, was arrested. Stoke Newington Central School in I had to appear as a witness in Albion Road. That fateful year was where a milkman tackled Dalston magistrates’ court, where to see many changes in Islington, him to the ground the man was sentenced to three but that is a story for another years imprisonment. As he left the time. n The old railway station of Mildmay Park

Mildmay Park railway station had closed by the time the Ricketts family moved there. The station was between and Dalston Kingsland stations. It was opened in 1880, although the North London Railway line between Dalston Junction and Highbury & Islington had been opened in 1850. The station was designed by EH Horne, who also designed Camden Road station, which is listed grade II, and Hackney Station, which now the Oslo music venue near Hackney Central Station. Mildmay Park station was opened to serve people who had moved to the newly built houses. It was closed by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway on 1 October 1934. The station was used as a car repair workshop in the 1970s before being

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Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 11 artists and writers keen to find affordable lodgings to the area. This growth in population provided public houses with a steady flow of clientele. With its views over the canal, the three above, two below Star was favoured by creatives wishing to soak up the late 19th and early 20th century zeitgeist of Arcadian utopia within the big city. The view from the first floor window would have been one  of busy, tree-lined water, constrasting with the black  towers of the canalside factories billowing smoke. Artist Walter Sickert once said the Regent’s Canal was “a scene worthy of the hand of [French etcher Charles] Méryon”; his painting Fading Memories of Walter Scott depicts a Victorian The pub on the canal terrace rising above the still water of the canal below, exemplifying this industrial contrast popular at the time. Sickert himself would have graced the Star with his The Narrowboat pub, on the edge of the canal, has The Narrowboat eccentric air, living just next door gone from industrial drinking to gastropub but still in 1975 until 1929. Novelist George Gissing was shows signs of its history, says Joe Thompsom another local who, having rubbed shoulders with many of the poorest in London while in Islington and he Narrowboat tavern on to make way for railways and conducting much of his research at the Regent’s Canal has grand stations such as King’s Cross. local public houses, published his never been one to hide A large proportion of those first novel Workers in the Dawn itself away. Opened in displaced moved to Islington and, while living on nearby Noel Road. the summer of 1863 as with the expansion of industrial During the Second World War, Tthe Star public house, the building labour and the canals, the area’s the canal’s economic importance instantly stood out. population had swollen from made it a prime target for the On the side of the canal east of 10,212 in 1801 to 319,143 by 1891. Luftwaffe and much of the Angel, its white facade looked out The district fell into a sharp of place next to the iron foundry decline. Overcrowded and and the huge timber yards across unfashionable, Islington saw its It is its proximity to and the water. As the sounds and smells house prices fall, which attracted thus its affinity with the of industrial London drifted over the canal towards the beacon-like canal that allows the pub pub, so too did the masses of to truly maintain its links workers at the end of shift. to the history of the area Being so close to the factories and the only public house right on the canal, its no surprise that the surrounding area was badly Star quickly became favoured by damaged in the blitz. both the working classes and the Neighbouring Baldwin Terrace audiences of the area’s popular was completely levelled, and some music halls and theatres. people who lived there were forced Around this time, poorer people to take shelter at the Star. were being displaced from inner During the bombing raids the London because of huge pub’s cellar offered up some developments in rail travel. The pub in its earlier incarnation as the Star; it was renamed much-needed protection and, with Thousands of homes were cleared in 1970 blackout curtains in place, the bar

12 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Spring 2017 Vol 7 No 1 no doubt helped locals to cope The pub, the only with the danger. one right on the It seems paradoxical that pubs canal, attracted industrial workers would provide entertainment, from nearby bringing large groups of people factories and together under one roof for a drink timber yards at a time when the threat of German bombing raids was high and supplies for brewing were scarce. The government made the most of this. Tax on beer was increased at the start of the war, bringing in £150 million of revenue, meaning that by simply buying a drink one was making what was considered a patriotic contribution to support while sipping a pint in the sun and the war effort. watching the barges slowly float by. With its views over the canal, the Star While the Star sustained  While this tradition has been was favoured by creatives wishing to some minor bomb damage, it somewhat disturbed by not only continued to stay open, as did the lack of fish but also the soak up the late 19th and early 20th many other pubs. abundance of cyclists, the century zeitgeist of Arcadian utopia With a significant proportion of Narrowboat remains a fine place to the male population away or stop off for a pint in the sun. within the big city infirm, the country’s women kept Another regular, Dennis, the proud pub tradition afloat remembers watching fishermen as when times were hard. In the Star’s a young man, but his most the time to look past its case, it was Mrs Hannah Jacobs cherished memory of the contemporary interior, and one who kept its taps running when Narrowboat is that of his father finds glimpses of the past that she took over in 1944. playing piano in the centre of the made this pub so exceptional. large upstairs bar. This common Extended at the back, the Becoming the Narrowboat sight in the past has sadly died out building certainly resembles the The pub remained nearly in most pubs. eponymous craft that drift past it, unchanged until it was renamed They both descrbed the time albeit not as regularly as they used the Narrowboat in July 1970. It was “the captain”, a life-size cutout of a to, and the interior walls are reopened by British Waterways narrowboat skipper, was removed peppered with images of the canal Board chair Sir Frank Price, and from a first-floor window having from times gone by. some of the regulars today recall been there since the late 1970s. The Yet it is its proximity to and thus what it was like upon its reopening. regulars and some staff created a its affinity with the canal that One regular, Martin, remembers petition to bring him back and, allows the pub to truly maintain its finding the pub on a warm thanks to them, he can still be seen links to the history of the area. summer’s day while out fishing. up there today. With a lower floor opening directly Given that the Narrowboat has Other than the facade, it may onto the towpath, its sliding glass since its opening been the only pub appear that the captain is perhaps doors reflecting the water in front, right on the canal in Islington, it the only relic of history that the the pub slots seamlessly into the was the perfect spot to cast out Narrowboat clings onto but, take modern canalside terraces while referencing the waterway that gave Baldwin Terrace it so much custom years ago. was levelled Many pubs have lost touch with during the Second World their historical context. Given its War, and local location, the Narrowboat can never people took escape its context and for this shelter at the Star reason remains as unique a landmark in the geography of Islington as it did upon its opening in 1863. n

The Narrowboat pub is at 119 St Peter’s Street, N1 8PZ, www.thenarrowboatpub.com The Star: Charrington surveyors/National Brewery Heritage Trust; canal: Christopher Hilton/geograph.org.uk; all others: Narrowboat pub all others: Narrowboat canal: Christopher Hilton/geograph.org.uk; Star:The Charrington surveyors/NationalTrust; Brewery Heritage

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Spring 2017 Vol 7 No 1 13 Copenhagen Tunnel, should perhaps be seen in this context. The GNR’s traffic committee on 21 October 1897 recommended the construction of additional stabling to accommodate 190 horses, to be built over the tunnel, at a cost of £13,680 (around £1.4 million today) (Traffic Committee Minute Book, 1897). This was sanctioned by the GNR on 5 November. The company’s general manager, Sir Henry Oakley, queried whether Housing hundreds of the stables should be fitted with fixed partitions or swing bales, recommending “that a fixed railway horses partition be placed between each stall, cut low at the tail end in order to admit ventilation and that a small space should be left against There were 1,300 horses working at King’s Cross the wall at the ‘manger’ end, so as station in 1900. Peter Darley traces the history of the to allow of the free circulation of air (GNR Horse Committee stables over the Copenhagen Tunnel Minute Book No 1, 1890-1900). However, it was decided that the Blundell Street stables should have Top: the Great orses were central to promoted in the third and, Northern stables bales with kicking boards. railway passenger and particularly, the fourth quarter of in 1900; below: The new stable was visited in freight operations the 19th century. Accommodation horse-drawn 1900 by George Wade, who wrote until the First World for sick and lame horses proved goods delivery at for the Railway Magazine, in 1900. War. The Great inadequate and was often under the Museum of His article described the treatment HNorthern Railway’s need for horses strain, coming to a head in 1890 the Great Western of horses in glowing terms and was at King’s Cross increased with a serious outbreak of Railway accompanied by photographs of throughout the 19th century from influenza. the exterior and the interior of the about 100 when goods traffic This led to a critical report from stables (pictured above and right). started in December 1850 to some J Wortley Axe of the Royal The interior shows a central 1,300 at the peak in around 1900. Veterinary College (Axe, 1890). passage sloping to drains on each This created a need for stable Only some of his recommendations side. Roof trusses are supported by accommodation that the GNR were adopted. One curious timber posts that align with solid often struggled to meet. Eventually, consequences was a dramatic stall partitions, and swing bales 15-20 stables were built in the overprovision of horses from the divide the space between partitions King’s Cross area. mid 1890s to the early years of the into two stalls. There are also Joseph Cubitt, engineer of the next century. The decision to hooks for harnesses and tack. Great Northern Railway, writing to provide a large, new stable at The location of the stables is JR Mowatt, GNR’s company Blundell Street, over the shown on a circa 1910 GNR plan secretary, about the stables, said of the Caledonian Goods Yard. they should be placed “reasonably Part of this plan is shown opposite. near to those parts of the Station It shows two sets of stable ranges where the horses are most wanted, forming an angle that encloses a viz the Goods warehouse and Coal stable yard. The stables behind the depot” (Cubitt, 1851). However, terrace of houses in Blundell Street there was little space for stables include five ranges, typically 30ft except at the periphery of the (9.1m) wide by 54ft feet (16.5m) Railway Lands. deep, allowing eight horses in stalls Moreover, much of the stable on either side of the central accommodation provided by GNR passage – 16 horses per range. The failed to keep up with eastern range of the five was a little improvements in space, smaller, and could hold 12 horses. ventilation, light and drainage Altogether, the five ranges stabled

Museum Darley; horse: Ballista/Wikimedia stables today: Commons; Peter Magazine ; map: the Model Railway stables in 1900: Railway Club standards that were being 76 horses.

14 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 The southern range of stabling fronted the stable yard and had ground level access. The stable length overall was about 420ft (128m), divided into five bays. Four of the bays had 12 stalls about 6ft 6in wide on both sides of a central corridor; each bay therefore accommodated 24 horses. The fifth bay held six or seven horses in loose boxes. On the south side, the stable faced a railway cutting, part of a reversing spur that led coal trains from the North London Railway to the Caledonian Goods Yard. Overall, the stables would have held about 180 horses. The 1910 plan can be compared with a 2010 Google image of the buildings that now occupy the yard The interior of the buildings The roof trusses today can be compared with the interior at 105 Blundell Street (pictured show little evidence of their former picture in 1900; an aerial image and the GNR plan of right). A narrower building has use, but the roof trusses can be Caledonian Goods Yard c1910 show the stables – Blundell Street runs across the top of both images. been added to the south-eastern compared (see pictures at the top of side, where the railway cutting has this page). All three ranges appear been filled. This has provided a to retain the original trusses. It is not known when the stables basement storey for the businesses The southern stable is believed to were abandoned using these buildings. A second have been largely rebuilt following It is clear, however, that the building has been added on the a fire in the 1970s. However, the buildings are currently vulnerable stable yard side. easternmost parts of this range to redevelopment, with the The five former stable range appear original, albeit with transformation of King’s Cross buildings on the north side remain additional buildings added on the Railway Lands. The owners of the largely as when they were stables south side, fronting what is now site, Tileyard Studios, already have (pictured below). Lawson’s timber yard. ambitions to expand their complex of music studio and office facilities from Tileyard Road into 105 Blundell Street. n

Peter Darley is the founder and secretary of Camden Railway Heritage Trust. Email: [email protected]

References Cubitt J (1851) Letter to Mowatt JR, 7 February, National Archives Wortley Axe J (1890) Report of an Investigation into an Outbreak of Disease in a Stud of Horses belonging to the Great Northern Railway Company. Report to the GNR board. RAIL 236/367, National Archives GNR Traffic Committee Minute Book No 17 (1897) RAIL 236/159, The old stable buildings can National Archives be recognised today GNR Horse Committee Minute Book No 1 (1890-1900) RAIL 236/235, National Archives

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 15 Islington and the Spanish Civil War

Roz Currie tells the stories of some Islington residents who joined a mass movement to fight fascism in Spain

s it your son, David Guest, concentrate on pure mathematics active in the Young Communist who was shot through the when the world seems on fire.” League in Battersea. He also head?” A phone call from a His sister Angela had followed worked at the Marx Memorial Reuters journalist told him, serving as a nurse to the Library in Clerkenwell in the years “ Carmen Hayden Guest, the International Brigade, and his after its opening in 1933 – this Iwife of Islington MP Dr Leslie mother joined a mission to take work went from lecturing and Haden Guest, of the death of supplies for the starving people of teaching to sorting out the library. her son. the Republic. It was just after she A total of 35,000 volunteers from David Guest had been fighting in returned from one such trip that over 50 countries went to Spain to Spain, serving as an observer – an she found out her son had died. serve in the International Brigades advance scout – with the British – the 2,500 from the Britain and Battalion. He was killed at the Fighting in a foreign country Ireland included more than 30 Battle of Ebro on 28 July 1938 The threat of fascism at home had from Islington. Miners from South aged 26. motivated many to volunteer for Wales, university students, The civil war in Spain had the International Brigades, groups labourers from shipyards on the broken out in July 1936. Army of people from numerous countries Clyde and garment workers from generals had staged a military coup who travelled to Spain to fight Manchester and London’s East End against the elected government of fascism and support the all signed up to fight against the the Spanish Republic. It was a Republican cause. fascist rebels. brutal conflict. The British Union of Fascists, Another local brigader was The Republicans fought hard to founded in 1932, led marches Bosco Jones, who was born in City defend their centre-left throughout Britain and clashed Road and worked in the fur trade government against the rebels, who with anti-fascists on the streets. in the East End. He was a member were led by General Franco and David Guest first took part in of the Young supported by most of the military, anti-fascist activism while studying Communists from the early 1930s the Catholic Church and Spain’s in Germany and, when he later and became involved in anti-fascist fascist Falangist party. Britain, with moved to London, he became activism, including the Battle of France and other western powers, Cable Street. decided on a policy of “non- Early in the war, Jones and his intervention”. This meant buying comrades took a barrel organ arms was almost impossible for the around Finsbury to raise money Top: David Guest Spanish Republic. meets Harry for Spain. He soon volunteered for In contrast, despite taking part Pollitt, general the International Brigade, in the Non-Intervention secretary of the persuading recruiters that he was Committee, Nazi Germany and Communist Party old enough (he was under age for Fascist Italy sent troops, aircraft of Great Britain, in military service) and telling his and arms to support General Spain. Left: mother he was going out to work. Franco. Only Mexico and the medical He left for Spain on 20 Soviet Union would sell arms to volunteers carry December 1936 and arrived 29 the Spanish Republic. out a blood December, having walked over the transfusion in a David Guest was teaching battlefield Pyrenees during a “terrible, dark, mathematics at the University of hospital in 1938. cold night”. He remained in Spain Southampton when he decided to Leah Manning, until the International Brigades go to Spain. He explained in a MP for Islington disbanded in September 1938. letter to his mother: “It has East in 1931, is on The British Battalion of the

Poster: Islington Council; milk token: Christy Council; Islington all other images: Marx Lawrance; Poster: Memorial Library Spanish collection required an incredible effort to the left International Brigades fought in

16 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 most of the major battles in Spain, One of the including Jarama, Brunete, striking banners Belchite, Teruel and the Ebro. at the Islington Museum More than 500 British and Irish exhibition; Milk volunteers were killed, including for Spain token, 11 from Islington. stamped for the Co-operative Aid Spain in Islington Store at 165 In Britain, a grassroots movement Upper Street; A grew in support of the Spanish flyer advertising Republic. This became known as an Aid Spain Aid Spain and brought together demonstration at Central Library in people from across the political Holloway Road spectrum. Local groups around the country raised money for ambulances and medical supplies to be sent to Spain. Funds were collected for food and milk for Spanish civilians. It is estimated that over £1 million was raised by the British people, equivalent to about £50 million today. In 1937 and 1938, Islington held a Spain Week organised by the borough’s Labour Party and trades council. Funds and support came Many Spaniards fled the country elections in over 40 years were held from meetings, film shows, and thousands of children were in Spain. Today, the civil war and concerts and talks. evacuated. The British government dictatorship remain contentious in Reverend Iredell, vicar at St allowed 4,000 child refugees to Spain, with many refusing to come Clement’s Church in Barnsbury, come to Britain on condition that to terms with their country’s was one of Islington’s most no public money would violent past and Franco’s crimes. active Aid Spain be spent on them. Every year in July, people gather supporters. He spoke Leah Manning,  to remember the International at memorial meetings MP for Islington Brigades at a memorial dedicated for Islington East in 1931, who to the volunteers in Jubilee Brigaders killed in witnessed the Gardens on London’s Spain and held bombing of Southbank. n special services to raise Guernica, was l Research is by awareness of the conflict instrumental in the Islington Heritage locally. His church services evacuation of the Basque and the Marx included the singing of The children to Britain on the Memorial Library. Internationale and The Red Flag SS Habana. The Marx Memorial and collections were taken to buy Library’s Spanish arms for Spain. Warning unheeded Collection is the During the war, Iredell visited Franco secured victory in March largest archive on Spain to investigate the Republic’s 1939. Support from Hitler and the International alleged anti-clericalism. In 1937, Mussolini, the German and Italian Brigades and the he took a multidenominational dictators, had proved crucial in Aid Spain group of clergy to visit overcoming the Spanish Republic, movement in government-held areas including weakened by the policy of non- the UK. the Basque country. intervention. l If you have any General Franco’s rebels and their The Spanish Republic and its stories about local German and Italian allies sent supporters had warned that a people and the warplanes to bomb Spanish cities. world war would be inevitable Spanish Civil War Ordinary people were targeted in unless the rise of fascism was please email roz. this campaign of terror from stopped in Spain. The Second [email protected] the air. World War began five months  On 26 April 1937, the town of after the Republic’s defeat. Roz Currie curated the Banners for Guernica was bombed on market In 1977, following the death of Spain! exhibition, which runs until 8 day, and hundreds were killed. Franco, the first democratic July at Islington Museum. Free

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 17 Publications and bookshop

This issue, we trace the history of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery book gives as much attention Society, look at Benjamin Franklin’s London life, get an update on to the less-well known campaigns, like that in Hornsey history and find social history within the census Zanzibar. The schisms and differences in approach over the 120 years The British and Foreign Its focus was initially on covered are lucidly and Anti-Slavery Society America, then Cuba and even-handedly explained and 1838-1956: a History Brazil. Slavery was part of brief biographies of important James Heartfield African culture and the Arab figures show the kind of £45, Hurst, 2016 488pp, hardback slave trade there long pre- people drawn to the The passing of the 1833 Act to dated European involvement. campaign. Many were end slavery in the British The last slave market in the Quakers but the movement Empire was only the start of a world, on the Island of attracted people from all worldwide campaign for Zanzibar, was closed in 1873 religious backgrounds and universal emancipation. following intense pressure none at all. The British and Foreign from BFASS and sympathisers This history finishes in the Anti-Slavery Society was on the British government, postwar era at the beginning founded in 1840 but it was which effectively annexed the of movements for not long before splits territory and took control of independence across the appeared: between gradualists the ruling family. This chapter European colonies but the and those wanting immediate in particular shows how good society continues today as action; between British and results may be achieved by also drew in the society. The Anti-Slavery International. Its American societies; and methods that today are relationship between enslaved mission is not yet between those who saw regarded as questionable or labour and the needs of accomplished. anti-slavery as part of a wider even wrong. commerce is a recurring movement for social reform The society worked in motif. Dr Kathleen Chater is a scholar and those who wanted to Africa before and after the Drawing on a range of and author of Untold Histories: concentrate on one reform at so-called “scramble” of the sources, this is a detailed but Black People in England and Wales a time. 1880s when the continent was very clear and readable during the British Slave Trade And, of course, there were carved up between various account of an organisation c1660-1807, Manchester personal clashes. These kinds European powers. The that has changed the way the University Press, 2009 of disputes will be familiar to question of indentured labour world works. anyone involved in reform – people brought from India Although everyone is Her article Fugitive Slaves in Britain campaigns. Yet the society and China to the West Indian familiar with the long and appeared in the winter 2016-17 survived. colonies to replace slaves – bloody road in America, this issue of this journal

Hornsey Historical Society in 1914; eventually a reported illustrations showing it then Bulletin 58 75,000 “enemy aliens” ended and now; and “The History of Various authors up being interned throughout Prickett and Ellis”, an £6 .50 + £1.50 p&p, Hornsey Britain. auctioneers’ firm dating back Historical Society At Alexandra Palace, an 500 years. The Bulletin of the Hornsey internees’ orchestra was Again, a publication that  Historical Society is always formed, which performed  is hard to put down, and  welcome. Its articles on local its first concert on 19 one of which the society can history are always thoroughly September 1915. be proud. researched and well This chapter is followed  illustrated. by: articles on “Hornsey at Peter Fuller This issue includes a gallery war”; “Heath Robinson and of contributors. It is nice to be north London”, which also able to put a face to a name, describes the Heath Robinson More books, maps and the details of the authors’ in Alexandra Palace’s Museum at Pinner; and an order form interests also makes internment camp”. The camp “Quernmore Road shops – a interesting reading, was for people who were survey 1900-2016”, which is a overleaf The first article is on “Music considered a danger to the UK most interesting set of

18 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia) was in an official Alas, his vision went London capacity: he wanted to halt the unheeded and we know what George Goodwin British government’s proposed followed. £9.99, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2017, Stamp Act until it had been By 1757 London, now a 365pp, paperback approved by the Philadelphia metropolis with 675,000 Benjamin Franklin was one of Assembly in America. This inhabitants, was the place to be the founding fathers of the wide-ranging tax covered for a man interested in science. US, and a renowned anything that needed an As well as lobbying the polymath, political theorist, official stamp, such as government about American scientist, inventor and newspapers or tea. This time, interests, Franklin was elected diplomat. he lodged in Craven Street. a fellow of the Royal Society This book follows Franklin’s He found the British ill and became a committee life in Georgian Britain. His educated about Americans. member, advising on St Paul’s first visit, in 1724-26, was as a Their view was that America cathedral’s lightning young man. He took lodgings was a British territory, ruled conductor. in Little Britain and worked as by Britain for British interests. He mixed business with a printer, enjoying meeting Franklin, a loyal British pleasure, enjoying club dinners day, Franklin’s home life and like-minded free-thinkers in American, felt passionately where he could discuss science his interlocking interests with London’s coffee houses and that both countries would and the issues of the day. a wealth of anecdotes. clubs. benefit from a relationship George Goodwin’s elegantly His second visit, in 1757-75 that recognised the validity of written book illuminates the Elizabeth Hawksley (with a brief return to America’s different needs. complicated politics of the www.eliabethhawksley.com

Smithfield: Past, Present which opened in 1868, is one The and Future of the greatest surviving Butcher, Alec Forshaw commercial buildings of the Baker, £18.95 + £2.80 p&p, 304pp, Robert Victorian London. the Hale, 2015. Available from the IAHS The book also describes Candlestick This third edition is a concise, struggles over the some of Maker: the readable account of the these buildings’ future Story of history of the Smithfield area between those who wanted Britain from the medieval period to them conserved and put  Through its today. It examines the history back into use, and those  Census, of the markets, who wanted most of them Since 1801 St Bartholomew’s Hospital, demolished and office  Roger Hutchinson religious houses, trades and blocks built. £20 Little, Brown, 2017 leisure. Forshaw – who was deeply The census has surveyed It also considers the area’s involved in the campaign to Britain from the Napoleonic future, including the building save the building – provides wars to the age of the internet, of a Crossrail interchange and buildings. an insider’s view of the through the agricultural and the use of the market The meat market building, planning inquiries. industrial revolutions, the biggest empire on earth and the 20th century’s world wars. What the Victorians Threw emergedr o whether a new found objects is at www. The snapshots allow the Away product was successful. whatthevictoriansthrewaway. timing of both profound and Tom Licence Discarded household items minor social changes to be £4.50, 108pp, Oxbow Books, 2015. add to the story of how our not plotted, including the rise and Available from the IAHS too distant ancestors built a disappearance of occupations, This illustrated book shows throwaway society on the such as “abecedarians” who how much detail on people’s foundations of packaging and taught the alphabet. lives can be uncovered by mass consumption. The While the census became going through their rubbish. author’s research also more professional over the Rubbish tips act as archives illustrates how our own years, its remained prey to of everyday life, showing how throwaway habits were formed. social forces; for example, people stocked their kitchen, The book has three main many suffragettes described medicine and bathroom case studies – a labourer’s themselves as “slaves”. cupboards. A tin can tell us cottage in Kent, a post office This gives both an overview about advertising or foreign in Shropshire and a rectory of a changing society and an imports. Containers for foods in Norfolk. insight into the lives of and drinks show when a brand l Tom Licence’s database of individuals.

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 19 Brussels Art Nouveau: and make a lasting mark for Historical maps and Architecture and Design itself. postcards Alec Forshaw, photography by Its creative use of sinuous Alan Godfrey Alan Ainsworth natural forms and patterns Wonder what your manor £25, Unicorn Publishing Group, remains highly influential and looked like 100 years ago or in 2016. Available from the IAHS powerful today. the early 19th century? The book, written by IAHS The first comprehensive The society stocks historical president Alec Forshaw, offers guide to the art nouveau and old Ordnance Survey a detailed look at the city that experience in Brussels, this maps of Islington and other could claim to have been the book allows readers to look areas of London. capital of art nouveau – closely at buildings that were Maps have a high turnover, Brussels. Today, the city designed and decorated by so call 020 7833 1541 to check remains deeply marked by it, a some of the greatest names in If you feel inspired and and reserve. living reminder of a powerful the movement, including fancy seeing the buildings for artistic flourishing. Victor Horta, Paul Hankar, yourself, the book contains a We stock the following maps: The art nouveau movement and Henry Van de Velde. dozen maps to help you plan Clerkenwell, King’s Cross and arose in response to the Descriptions of each your trip. The Angel: 1871, 1894, 1914 stifling, heavy weight of building are matched with Also by the same author and Dalston: 1913 Victorian art and conformity. biographical information photographer is New City: Highbury & Islington: 1874, However, it quickly proved to about their creators, while Contemporary Architecture in 1894, 1914, be beautiful and innovative more than 150 colour the City of London, which is : 1869, 1894, enough to move beyond this photographs show key features. available from the IAHS. 1914 and The Angel: 1871 (detail below) The Parish Boundary Finsbury Square and Circus: Markers of St Mary Check it’s in stock 1873 Islington: a Photographic Some of our books are and Stroud List of Extant Parish proving popular so, Green: 1894, 1912 Boundary Markers and before you place an order, Bethnal Green and Bow: 1870, Their Positions check we haven’t sold out. 1894, 1914 Peter Fuller and Caroline Fuller Call Catherine Brighty on Euston and Regent’s Park: Available from the Islington Local 020 7833 1541 or email: 1894, 1913 History Centre, 2016, 23pp catherine.brighteyes@ Gospel Oak: 1894, 1912 Peter and Caroline Fuller have hotmail.co.uk Hackney: 1870, 1893, 1913 spent over 10 years Highgate: 1869, 1894, 1913 researching the parish Holborn and The City: 1895 boundary markers, plates and Islington and adjacent parishes The folder of photographs Holborn, The Strand & The stones on the boundaries of St to show their boundaries. of these markers, some still City: 1873, 1914 Mary Islington. Many were are fixed to existing and some lost, can Hornsey: 1894, 1912 These markers were placed buildings; others are fixed to been viewed in the Islington King’s Cross and St Pancras: by the Vestry of St Mary posts or are stones. Local History Centre. 1871, 1893 $ Kentish Town and Camden: 1870, 1913 Order form for books from the IAHS (photocopies acceptable) Lower Clapton: 1913, 1894, 1868 Name ...... Muswell Hill: 1894 Address ...... Stoke Newington: 1868, 1894, 1914 ...... : 1872, 1914 Stamford Hill 1868, 1894 Tel no/email (in case we need to contact you about your order) ...... Stepney and Limehouse: 1914 Title(s)of publication Cost The West End: 1870, 1894, 1914 Whitechapel, Spitalfields and ......   ...... the Bank: 1873, 1913, 1894 ......   ......

Total cost  ......

Please make cheques payable to “Islington Archaeology & History Society”; send this form (photocopies acceptable) to IAHS, 8 Wynyatt Street, London EC1V 7HU

20 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 Buy from the society store The Jewish Communities of Islington, 1730s-1880s The society stocks books, postcards, maps of Islington and beyond Petra Laidlaw and more – some are listed here. Call Catherine Brighty on 020 7833 £9.99 + £2.80 p&p, Islington 1541 if you wish to order several items or collect them in person. Archaeology & History Society Islington has been home to a Book title Author Price p&p Total sizeable Jewish (£) (£) (£) population for over 250 years, An Architect in Islington Harley Sherlock 14.99 2.80 17.79 although its Angus McBean in Islington Mary Cosh, ed 4.00 1.20 5.20 long history is The Building That Lived Twice Alec Forshaw 20.00 2.80 22.80 largely forgotten. Brussels Art Nouveau: Architecture & Design Alec Forshaw, author, Several Jews and Alan Ainsworth, were well-to-do public photographs figures, while many more Caledonian Park and its Surroundings Sylvia Tunstall, Patsy 5.00 0.75 5.75 lived in much humbler Ainger, Robyn Lyons circumstances. This volume Church Design for Congregations James Cubitt 11.00 1.50 12.50 traces a cross section of characters, their religious life, The Contexting of a Chapel Architect: James Clyde Binfield 18.00 1.90 19.90 their occupations and their Cubitt 1836-1912 contact with the rest of the Criminal Islington Keith Sugden, ed 5.00 1.40 6.40 community. 53 Cross Street. Biography of a House  Mary Cosh and 9.95 1.90 11.85 ON SALE Martin King Bag a bargain David Kirkaldy and his Testing and Christopher Rule 5.00 1.50 6.50 Two IAHS books are on sale. Experimenting Works Discover and Environs Mike Gray and 1.50 0.75 2.25 53 Cross Street. Biography Isobel Watson of a House Discover Stoke Newington. A Walk Through David Mander and 4.95 1.20 6.15 Mary Cosh and Martin King, with History Isobel Watson photographs by Pauline Lord. Hardback, £9.95 (was £20) + Dissent & the Gothic Revival Bridget Cherry, ed 15.00 1.65 16.65 £2.10 p&p An Historical Walk Along the New River Mary Cosh 4.00 1.65 5.65 This s book i a must for anyone An Historical Walk Through Barnsbury Mary Cosh 4.00 1.65 5.65 interested in the history of home decor. It tells the story Islington’s Cinemas & Film Studios Chris Draper 5.00 1.65 6.65 of how one Islington: Britain in Old Photographs Gavin Smith 12.99 1.65 14.64 house The Jewish Communities of Islington, Petra Laidlaw 9.99 2.80 11.79 changed since 1730s-1880s 1785, illustrated London’s Mummies James Dowsing 4.00 0.75 4.75 with glorious Only Bricks and Mortar ON SALE Harry Walters 5.00 1.50 6.50 colour New City: Contemporary Architecture in the Alec Forshaw 19.95 2.80 22.75 photographs. City of London Only Bricks and Mortar 1970s London Alec Forshaw 12.99 1.65 14.64 Harry Walters Northern Wastes: Scandal of the Uncompleted Jim Blake and 9.95 1.50 11.45. £5 (was £7.99) + Northern Line Jonathan James £1.50 p&p Prefab Homes Elisabeth Blanchet 7.95 1.50 9.45 A tale of growing up and working Smithfield: Past, Present and Future Alec Forshaw 18.95 2.80 21.75 class life from 20th Century Buildings in Islington Alec Forshaw 14.99 2.80 17.79 the 1930s What the Victorians Threw Away Tom Licence 9.99 1.50 10.49 through the Second World Other items War to the 1970s in Old Ordnance Survey maps 2.50 0.75 3.25 notorious council tenements Mugs: Union Chapel and Caledonian Park 6.00 2.80 8.80 in Popham Road, where Cathy Come Home was filmed.

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 21 Crossrail dig unearths 8,000 years of London history

t’s not at first obvious, but Square have yielded pottery, something links 18th century porcelain and glass dumped in the Ichamber pots, ancient skeletons, late 18th and early 19th century. iron ships, fruit preserves and a Slightly west, what was probably lost river. the vanished Faggeswell Brook – a Clockwise from Crossrail does. London’s east-west tributary of the Fleet – was found top left: Roman railway – due to open in late 2018 to be filled with the rubbish used Walbrook skulls; – has seen 42km of tunnels dug from to stop it up between 1580 and tripod pipkin; marmalade jars; Paddington to Pudding Mill Lane 1630. Much of this reflects Victorian on its north-east line, and to near aristocratic wealth in the area. chamber pot Abbey Wood on the south-east one. There are also plenty of humour - “Oh This massive project has let skeletons, Roman objects and even what I see I will archaeologists loose on history that the bone of a woolly mammoth. not tell”; Roman was previously too deep, too Some finds though are nearer to horse bones obscured by other structures or our own time. These have sauces near Tottenham Court Road simply unsuspected. increased understanding of the station before moving to Branston The tunnels pass through the far Thames Iron Works near Canning in Staffordshire, which gave its name south of Islington in the Farringdon Town, which built ships for the to the firm’s most famous product. area and the confusing boundaries Royal Navy and foreign navies and This site turned out to hold a behind Liverpool Street station. supplied the ironwork for the mass of glass jars and containers Finds there include objects Blackfriars rail and Hammersmith showing in particular the associated with the Clitherow bridges. It closed in 1912. Victorians’ devotion to marmalade. family, who owned the New And the fruit preserves? For The Journal was also invited into Churchyard and ran shops. Two almost a century until 1921, Crosse the Canary Wharf Crossrail station, excavated cesspits near Finsbury & Blackwell made their jams and which sits below a roof garden a short walk north of the Jubilee Line and DLR stations. Structural work is complete and the track and lifts are there, but it is awaiting fit-out. Two cesspits near If Crossrail 2 is ever built, it will Finsbury Square no doubt cause disruption along its yielded hundreds course through Islington. The of late 18th and archaeologists, though, will have a early 19th field day. century houshold l Tunnel: the Archaeology of items, including Crossrail is at the Museum of glass bottles, London Docklands until drinking vessels 3 September, free and medicine l phials, Chinese View the exhibition online at and English http://archaeology.crossrail.co.uk porcelain, and a gold Portuguese Mark Smulian

Christy Lawrance coin dated 1721 www.marksmulian.co.uk

22 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 Russian revolution: three decades of upheaval

scale as Russians fought each other Recruitment well as a rare 1848 first edition of – some for independence, some for posters: left: The Communist Manifesto and leg White Army; the Bolsheviks, some for the tsar. irons from a Siberian prison camp. below: Red Army, More than 10 million people died circa 1919 This was the age of early newsreels and two million emigrated, and – I particularly enjoyed the small another five million died from boy who kept darting in front of the starvation as grain was forcibly camera and waving. There are clips requisitioned. from Eisenstein’s Battleship Different sections show various Potemkin and photographs. aspects of the unfolding cataclysm. The exhibition also looks at how It concentrates on how the other countries reacted. Some revolution affected ordinary governments congratulated the new people. There are posters exhorting liberal regime; others worried how he Russian Revolution young men to join up – a it would affect the course of the exhibition covers from Tsar Red Army soldier in a Great War, and how the TNicholas II’s coronation in Lord Kitchener-like pose, revolutionary Bolshevik agenda 1896 to the death of Lenin in 1924. satirical cartoons of the might affect political aspirations In less than 30 years, the Russian tsarina’s evil genius, in their own countries. Empire underwent: strikes and Rasputin, and a newly This exhibition leaves the uprisings; the catastrophe of the designed Red Army hat visitor with much to think First World War; the October inspired by old Slavonic about. n Revolution of 1917 when the helmets – thus giving it a l Russian Revolution: Hope, Bolsheviks formed a government; patriotic pedigree. Tragedy, Myths is on at the the tsar’s abdication and murder; There are personal British Library until 29 the creation of the Soviet Union in objects, too, such as Lenin’s August, £13.50/concs 1920; and Lenin’s death and 1902 letter requesting a subsequent apotheosis. British Museum Reading Elizabeth Hawksley

Civil war raged on a massive Room library ticket, as www.elizabethhawksley.com Museum of London

Society views of gay life from 1900 to today

his small, appealing display Oscar Wilde 70 years later. Comparing follows how gay lives have holding onto a Radclyffe Hall’s “and that night, been regarded in Britain sunflower by they were not divided”, which T Chas Kendrick, from the early 20th century to the caused an uproar, to Waters’ dated 1882; Gay present day. detailed, sexually explicit themes Liberation Front It triumphs in selecting disparate Manifesto, 1971 which caused barely a ripple items to look at how society and underlines how much has changed. public opinion has changed. Other standout objects relate to Greg Buzwell, one of the show’s protests, including the Gay three curators explains: “In our Liberation Front Manifesto and space, it is hard to do justice to campaign material from Lesbians such a large subject – so we have and Gays Support the Miners and focused on moments in time – just Outrage! Listening posts feature 60 objects to allow themes to the Tom Robinson Band’s Glad to appear.” be Gay, dedicated to the World Arguably there’s more Each decade is featured with its Health Organization, which “literature” than “love” in this specific legal and literary stories, defined homosexually as disease display but that is where the British allowing the visitor to trace number 302.0 until 1992. Library excels –and it is definitely changes in attitude over time. The exhibition ends with a worth a visit. n Marguerite Radclyffe Hall’s The commissioned film that l Gay UK: Love, Law and Liberty is Well of Loneliness, published and explores what the 1967 act on the British Library until judged obscene in 1928, contrasts really meant and how a gay Tuesday 19 September, free strongly with Sarah Waters’ identity, distinctive and widely original notebook used when defined, has emerged in Roz Currie is curator at Islington developing Tipping the Velvet just Britain in the 50 years since. Museum British Library Gay Liberation Front;

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 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

Thursday 29 June, 1.15pm Sunday, 2 July , 11am Wednesday 5 July, 6pm Thursday 13 July Renaissance ‘selfies’: Croydon Airport Museum The ‘Hempen Jig’ – the A Victorian Walk Through Images on 15th and 16th Open day Story of Execution Dock, Dalston Century Medals Free, www.croydonairport Wapping Hackney Society, £5.58 British Museum, free society.org.uk/Visitor-Centre Docklands History Group, £2 Friday 14 July, 6pm Friday 30 June, 1.15pm Sunday 2 July, 2pm-5.30pm Wednesday 5 July, 6pm Great Fire Evening Walk A Metallurgical Tour Railway Cottages Open Emails from the Edge: Life Walk with a cocktail, Museum Through Antiquity Day on Ops Past and Present of London, £25 British Museum, free Historical railway cottages Correspondence from defence near Alexandra Palace,  nurses from the First World Saturday 15 July, 12pm-4pm Friday 30 June, 7.30pm £4.50. www.ngs.org.uk/ War to Afghanistan. Waterloo Classics: Car Show Gaseous Goings On find-a-garden/garden/ Royal College of Nursing, free Lower Marsh, SE1, free Lewisham Local History 19947/ Society, £1 Wednesday, 5 July. 6.30pm Tuesday 18 July, 6.30pm Sunday 2 July, 10.30am-5pm Elspeth Beard, Lone Rider: The History of Britain’s Saturday 1 July, 1pm-5pm, Exposed! The Scandal of the First British Woman to Great Railways guided walk at 3pm the Uncompleted Northern Motorcycle Around the Museum of London Northfields Allotments Line Extension World Docklands, £10/concs, book Summer Open Day Walk and study tour, £10. Stanfords bookshop, £4. 12-14 in advance, minimum age 18 Visit a heritage plot and go on [email protected] Long Acre, Covent Garden, a tour to see a Second World 020 7836 1321, www. Friday 14 July, 6pm War Anderson shelter, www. Tuesday 4 July, 6pm stanfords.co.uk/events Great Fire Evening Walk ealingdean.co.uk Candle-lit Opening at Walk with a cocktail, Museum Sir John Soane’s Museum Saturday 8 July, 10.30am-1pm of London, £25 Saturday 1 July Free Self-Publishing for Family London Sewing Machine Historians Tuesday, 18 July, 7:30pm Museum Wednesday 5 July, 2pm Society of Genealogists, The Cottingley Fairies: 100 Free, 308 Balham High  Tracing Family History in £20/£16 Years of the Fairy Road, SW17 7AA, 020 8682 New Zealand Photographs 7916, wimbledonsewing Society of Genealogists, Saturday 8 July Conway Hall, £8. https:// [email protected] £8.00/£6.40 Tour: West End Theatre conwayhall.org.uk/event/ Museum of London, £12.50 cottingley-fairies-100-years- fairy-photographs/ Festival of Archaeology Sunday 9 July, 11am Roundhouse to Winehouse, Thursday 20 July, 10am-11am Stables to Ska: Musical Tours of Moor Park l 15-30 July 2017 Camden Walking Tour Mansion Coordinated by the Council for British Archaeology, the Jewish Museum, £15 Grade I Palladian mansion. Festival offers hundreds of events nationwide, organised by No jeans or trainers. Free, museums, heritage organisations, national and country Wednesday 12 July, 2pm book at www.moorparkgc.co. parks, universities, local societies and community Insanity & Family History uk/about/mansion archaeologists. Society of Genealogists, £8/£6.40 Thursday 20 July, 7.30pm Events in Islington include Ice Sunday – an opportunity to Henry Crabb Robinson descent into the ice wells below the London Canal Museum Wednesday, 12 July, 11.20am (1775-1867): Provincial – and behind-the-scenes tours of Union Chapel. Annual Vintners’ Dissenter, Londoner, Procession European l www.archaeologyfestival.org.uk Vintners’ Hall, Upper Thames James Vigus Street, EC4V 3BG, free Camden History Society, £2

24 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 Saturday 5 August, 10.30am-5pm From Raj to Independence: Researching British Families in India Society of Genealogists, £35/£28

Saturday 5 August, 2pm-5pm London Sewing Machine Museum Free, 308 Balham High Road, SW17 7AA, 020 8682 7916, wimbledonsewingmachine [email protected]

Sunday 6 August, 11am Croydon Airport’s museum is located in the world’s oldest air traffic control tower Croydon Airport Museum Open day Saturday 22 July, 1.30-5pm Thursday 27 July, 6.30pm Wednesday 2 August, 2pm Free, www.croydonairport A Step Forward? 50 Years 100 Years of History from What did your Ancestors society.org.uk/Visitor-Centre Since the Sexual Offences inside the Cabinet Office do? Act National Archives, free Society of Genealogists, Thursday 10 August, 10am-11am National Archives, £5/£4 £8/£6.40 Tours of Moor Park Mansion Thursday 27 July, Friday 28 July See 20 July entry Sunday 23 July, 11am 9.30am-5pm Wednesday 2 August,  Queer Jewish Camden Building Cultural Heritage 4.45pm 18 August, 6pm Walking Tour Knowledge Sorcery, Bastardy and the Great Fire evening walk Jewish Museum, £15 British Museum conference, English Royal Family: Walk with a cocktail, Museum free, booking essential ‘Alternative Facts’ in 15th of London, £25 Sunday 23 July, from 12.30pm Century England Markfield Beam Engine Friday 28 July National Archives, free Saturday 19 August, 12pm-4pm and Museum Sydenham Hill – the Late Waterloo Classics: Car Engine in steam, free 19th Century Wednesday 2 August, 7.30pm Show Lewisham Local History Hughenden Lower Marsh, SE1, free Tuesday 25 July, 11am, 12pm, Society, £1 Camden History Society 2pm, 3pm annual outing, £24/£34 Tuesday 22 August, 11am, 12pm, Behind-the-Scenes Tours: Tuesday 1 August, 6pm (National Trust members/non 2pm, 3pm Stone, Wall Paintings and Candle-lit Opening at the members) Behind-the-Scenes Tours: Mosaics Conservation Sir John Soane’s Museum Scientific Research British Museum, free Free Wednesday 2 August British Museum, free Refugees, Railways a River Wednesday 26 July, 2pm Tuesday 1 August, 2pm and a Ram – Historic Wednesday 23 August, 4.45pm Tying Down your Wounded: the First World Wandsworth Unheard, ignored and Immigrant Ancestor War to the Present Day Walk. Docklands History Misrepresented: the Society of Genealogists, £8/£6.40 National Archives, free Group, £2 Victorian Pauper ‘in their own Write’ National Archives, free UK Supreme Court: member of staff who will 24, 30 and 31 August and 4, extra summer tours give an introduction to the 6 and 7 September. Saturday 26 August court’s role, discuss the Tour: West End Theatre history and artwork of the Cost: £7/£5, booking essential Museum of London, £12.50 The UK Supreme Court is building and talk about l enquiries@supremecourt. the highest court in the land. court cases. uk, 020 7960 1900/1500 Monday 28 August, from 12.30pm Guided tours last about an Markfield Beam Engine hour and include Tours take place at 11am, Evening tours and Museum courtrooms, the lawyers’ 2pm and 3pm on Fridays. Evening tours are held at Engine in steam, free suite, the justices’ library – This summer, extra tours will 6-7pm. These cost £10 (+ usually closed to the public be held at 11am and 2pm on VAT). For information on Tuesday 5 September, 6pm – and the exhibition area. the following dates: 1, 2, 3, 7, evening tours, please contact Candle-lit Opening at Tours are led by an 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, [email protected] Sir John Soane’s Museum

Free Christy Lawrance

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 25 Ongoing shipwreck, a Tudor pomander Civil War items, Soviet Union Exhibitions worn to ward off disease and a posters and artefacts from Contact the organisations for life-size silver swan, as well as industrial disputes. The 15th Friday 30 June-Friday 7 July dates, times and prices. Please items that belonged to Louis century vaults can be visited. Reveal festival note that these may change. XV, Charles I, Catherine the £5/£3 concs, book on admin@ A week-long festival Great and Napoleon. mml.xyz or 020 7253 1485 celebrating the museum’s Close to the Bone Free, V&A architecture, heritage and Workshop guided by forensic Treasures of the British history, with opportunities  experts on using bones to The Waddesdon Bequest Library to explore the new public research people. Gallery displaying nearly 300 View more than 200 books and areas and gallery spaces of  Museum of London, £28, medieval and Renaissance documents, including painted the V&A Exhibition Road various dates items, plus 19th century fakes, and early printed books, maps Quarter. illustrating the late 19th century and literary, scientific and V&A, free Charterhouse Museum art market’s development. musical works. Exhibits The Charterhouse has opened British Museum, free include Gutenberg’s Bible of Until Saturday 8 July to the public for the first time 1455, Leonardo da Vinci’s Banners for Spain: Fighting since its foundation in 1348. Markfield Beam Engine notebook, Shakespeare’s First the Spanish Civil War in The museum, created with the and Museum Open Days Folio, Handel’s Messiah and a London Museum of London, traces 11am-5pm, second Sunday of the 110cm diameter celestial globe. The Spanish Civil War 600 years of history. month, plus bank holidays British Library, free (1936-39) was sparked by a www.thecharterhouse.org, free Markfield Park, N15, free, www. military coup by General mbeam.org, 01707 873628 Victoria and Albert Franco against Spain’s elected Tours of Union Chapel Museum free tours government. People from 12.15pm, first Sunday of the Billingsgate Roman House These include: across the world joined the month and Baths l Daily introductory tour International Brigades to fight A chance to appreciate the Various dates and times l Medieval and Renaissance the fascist-backed rebels. In beauty, complex architecture Talk plus tour of the remains of galleries Britain, Aid Spain raised and extent of Union Chapel’s the Billingsgate Roman House l Theatre and performance funds for food and medical buildings, including areas rarely and Baths, discovered in 1848 l Britain 1500-1900 supplies and to help refugees. open to the public, a secret under Lower Thames Street. See: www.vam.ac.uk/whatson This exhibition showcases six passage and a hidden garden. Museum of London, £5 newly conserved banners for Group bookings available. British Museum: Around Aid Spain, artefacts from the www.unionchapel.org.uk/ London Metropolitan the World in 90 Minutes Marx Memorial Library and visiting/see-the-building/ Archives: regular events Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, stories of the Islington Research advice sessions, 11.30am and 2pm International Brigaders. George Orwell’s Islington interest groups and meeting Tour takes in the Rosetta Islington Museum, free Various dates and times LMA professionals, including: Stone, the Lewis chessmen, l Islington and the Spanish George Orwell was at his most l Family history starter: using the Parthenon sculptures and Civil War, page 16 prolific during his time in LMA’s digital resources other items. Islington. While he was living l Use LMA: getting started £12, booking required Saturday 15 July–Sunday at 27b Canonbury Square, l Behind the scenes tour 12 November Animal Farm was published l Document handling First Thursday in the month, 2pm Plywood: Material of the and he worked on drafts of l Deciphering old handwriting British Library Modern World Nineteen Eighty-Four, l LGBTQ history club, film Conservation Studio Tour Light, strong, affordable and published essays and articles, club, book club, textiles in the See techniques used in caring versatile, plywood has had a and broadcast extensively. archives, photography group for collections. huge influence and helped to Contact Andrew Gardner on l A visit to conservation. British Library, £10/concs create the modern world. [email protected] Various dates and times More than 120 objects are or 020 7359 4019 Historic Almshouse Tour brought together in this Clerkenwell and Islington The Geffrye Museum’s 18th exhibition to explore its Roman Fort Gate Tours Guides Association: walks century almshouse offers a impact and history from the Tour the remains of the Guided walks led by the glimpse into the lives of 1850s to the present day. western gate of London’s mayor of Islington’s guides. London’s poor and elderly in Plywood was used in the Roman military fort, under the the 18th and 19th centuries. fastest and highest-flying streets next to the museum. Marx Memorial Library aeroplane of the Second Museum of London, £5 Tours Europe 1600-1815 World War, the de Havilland Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1pm More than 1,100 objects of Mosquito, a tube to house an Gilbert Galleries View collections illustrating 17th and 18th century experimental elevated railway V&A gallery with over 500 radical and working class European art and design are in 1867 and the downloadable items, including a 17th century history. See where Lenin displayed in seven galleries. self-assembly WikiHouse. Peruvian gold cup from a worked in 1902-03, Spanish Free, V&A Museum V&A, free

26 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 Until Sunday 16 July silver patterns. This small Japanese Woodblock display shows three of their Printing: a Craft of Precision masterpieces with some items This display illustrates the that inspired them including processes behind Japanese flamboyant 16th-century woodblock printing. During armour, weapons and the Edo period (1615–1868), household goods from Italy, it made artworks and books Spain, Egypt and Syria. available throughout society. V&A, free British Museum, free Until Tuesday 19 September Tuesday 18 July-Sunday 1 April 2018 Gay UK: Love, Law and Bad Airs, Agues and Fevers Liberty at the British – John Eliot Howard FRS, Library Quinine and the Battle 1895, the trial of Oscar Wilde. Against Malaria The near-ubiquitous plywood: workman carrying a complete 2017, the pardoning of gay The work of Tottenham Deperdussin monocoque fuselage, Deperdussin factory, Paris, about men by the “Alan Turing Law”. chemist John Eliot Howard 1912. From Plywood: Material of the Modern World at the V&A How far have we come in 122 FRS (1807-1883) was pivotal years? Fifty years after the in the fight against malaria. tragic circumstances. Public colonies, contemporary Sexual Offences Act partially His interest in Peruvian library book covers defaced by writing and the devastating decriminalised homosexuality, cinchona bark and its Orton and Halliwell, a effect of two world wars. this exhibition looks at the derivative quinine for the Halliwell collage and his British Museum, free build up to the law, its impact, treatment of malaria began recently acquired World of and what challenges remain. when he was 20 years old and Cats screen will be on display. Until Tuesday 29 August British Library, free developed into a lifelong study Islington Museum, free Russian Revolution: Hope, l Review, page 23 and scientific achievement. Tragedy, Myths Quinine became his family Until Sunday 13 August This exhibition looks at the Until Sunday 15 October firm’s most successful product Hokusai: Beyond the Great Russian Revolution 100 years Desire Love Identity: in the 1800s, and supported Wave on. It examines the central Exploring LGBTQ Histories 19th century colonial This exhibition of work by characters, notably Lenin and This display provides glimpses expansion. Katsushika Hokusai shows Trotsky, alongside the tales of into LGBTQ experience Museum, free landscapes as well as domestic ordinary people. On display through time and around the scenes and private lives of are a first edition of the world. The earliest object Saturday 22 July to Saturday 21 early 19th century Japan. Communist Manifesto, dates from around 9000BC. October 2017 British Museum, £12/concs anti-Bolshevik propaganda The objects ask visitors to 1967: Up Against It: Joe and Lenin’s application for a question assumptions that Orton, Criminal Acts and Until Tuesday 15 August British Library reader pass. they may make about objects Islington Another Russia: Post- British Library, £13.50/concs from other cultures, traditions This exhibition explores the Soviet Printmaking l Review, page 23 or the more distant past. As impact of the Sexual Offences After the Soviet Union was well as famous figures such as Act (1967) passed on 27 July dissolved in 1991, Russian Until Sunday 3 September poetess Sappho and Roman that year, and the 50th artists who no longer felt Tunnel: the Archaeology of emperor Hadrian, the display anniversary of the deaths of defined by resistance to Crossrail explores less familiar themes the borough’s most (in)famous authority could reflect wistfully, View a huge range of and stories, and includes and gay couple, Joe Orton and ironically or polemically on archaeological objects contemporary works and Kenneth Halliwell, on 9 utopian concepts. unearthed by Crossrail works. campaign badges from the August. Through the stories of V&A, free Items cover 8,000 years from 1970s to the present day. well-known and some not so prehistory through to the British Museum, free well-known gay men living in Until Sunday 27 August 2017 Romans and the Great Plague. Islington before and after the Places of the Mind: British Museum of London Until Sunday, 7 January 2018 act, this exhibition seeks to Watercolour Landscapes Docklands, free Designing the V&A reflect the experience of men 1850–1950 l Review, page 22 Through original drawings and who could not declare their This exhibition covers photographs, this display love freely and the difference landscapes in Victorian and Until Friday 1 September highlights the artists, designers the 1967 act made to them. modern eras – two halves of Iron and Gold: the Intricate and engineers who created the Stories featured include those very different centuries. It Ornament of the Zuloagas V&A, charting the building of Oscar Wilde, imprisoned at explores not only techniques During the 19th century, the from the 1850s to today, Holloway and Pentonville and styles but also the effects Spanish Zuloaga family culminating with the opening prisons, and record producer of tourism at home and perfected the art of decorating of the Exhibition Road Quarter.

Joe Meek whose life ended in abroad, the role of artists’ iron with beautiful gold and V&A free et de l’Espace Musée de l’Air

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 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 [email protected] photographs. www. historicengland.org.uk/ Canonbury Society images-books/archive/ To add or update Bexley Archaeological www.canonburysociety.org.uk archive-collections/ information, email journal@ Group englands-places islingtonhistory.org.uk www.bag.org.uk, Martin Chartered Institution of Baker: 020 8300 1752 Building Services Engineers Federation of Family All Hallows by the Tower Heritage Group History Societies Crypt Museum Bishopsgate Institute www.hevac-heritage.org/ www.ffhs.org.uk/ 020 7481 2928, www.ahbtt. Library and Archive org.uk/visit/crypt/ 230 Bishopsgate, 020 7392 Charterhouse Museum Foundling Museum 9270, www.bishopsgate.org.uk www.thecharterhouse.org, 40 Brunswick Square, WC1, Amateur Geological Society 203 818 8873 020 7841 3600, www. 25 Village Road, N3 1TL Bomb Sight foundlingmuseum.org.uk London map of WW2 bombs, Cinema Museum Amwell Society www.bombsight.org www.cinemamuseum.org.uk/ Freud Museum 7 Lloyd Square, WC1X 9BA, 20 Maresfield Gdns, NW3, [email protected] British Airways Heritage City of London 020 7435 2002, www.freud. www.britishairways.com/ Archaeological Society org.uk Ancestor Search travel/museum-collection/ [email protected] Guidance on where to look. public/en_gb Friends of Hackney Archives www.searchforancestors.com Clerkenwell and Islington 020 8356 8925, archives@ British Heritage TV Guides Association hackney.gov.uk Ancient Yew Group www.405-line.tv/ 07971 296731, info@ciga. www.ancient-yew.org/ org.uk Friern Barnet & District British Library Local History Society Archives Hub 96 Euston Rd, NW1, 0330 333 Clockmakers’ Museum www.friern-barnethistory.org. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/ 1144, [email protected] www.clockmakers.org/the- uk, 020 8368 8314. Photo clockmakers-museum-library archive: www.friern-barnet. Arsenal FC Museum British Museum com 020 7619 5000, www.arsenal. Great Russell Street, WC1, Cross Bones Graveyard com 020 7323 8299, information@ www.crossbones.org.uk Friends of the New River britishmuseum.org Head Association for the Study Crossness Pumping Station c/o Amwell Society and Preservation of Roman British Vintage Wireless 020 8311 3711, www. Mosaics Society crossness.org.uk Friends of Friendless www.asprom.org [email protected] Churches Design Museum www.friendsoffriendless Bank of England Museum Brixton Windmill http://designmuseum.org churches.org.uk 020 7601 5545, www.bankof 020 7926 6056, www. england.co.uk/museum brixtonwindmill.org Docklands History Group Geffrye Museum info@docklandshistory group. 136 Kingsland Road, E2 8EA, Barnet Museum and Local Bruce Castle Museum org.uk 020 7739 9893, www.geffrye- History Society Lordship Lane, N17 8NU, 020 museum.org.uk 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 Sq, NW3, 020 7431 DoCoMoMo UK Grant Museum of Zoology 020 7925 1405, info@ 0144, www.burghhouse. Modern movement heritage. 020 3108 2052, www.ucl.ac. BenjaminFranklinHouse.org org.uk www.docomomo-uk.co.uk uk/museums/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 Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 Greater London Industrial The definitive London Canal Museum Archaeology Society (GLIAS) guide to 12-13 New Wharf Road, N1 Islington’s 36 Gallows Hill Lane, Abbots 9RT, 020 7713 0836, www. streets, Langley, Herts, WD5 0DA, buildings and canalmuseum.org.uk www.glias.org.uk open spaces and their London Fire Brigade Museum Guildhall Library history, Streets www.london-fire.gov.uk/ Aldermanbury, EC2V 7HH, with a Story by london-fire-brigade-museum. 020 7332 1868, textphone 020 Eric A Willats, asp 7332 3803, guildhall.library@ can be cityoflondon.gov.uk downloaded London Lives 1690-1800 free from www.londonlives.org tinyurl.com/ Hackney Museum islington-streets 1 Reading Lane, E8 1GQ, London Metropolitan www. hackney.gov.uk/ Archives cm-museum.htm 40 Northampton Rd, EC1 0HB, 020 7332 3820,  The Hackney Society ask.lma@cityoflondon. 020 7175 1967, info@ gov.uk, www.cityoflondon. hackneysociety.org gov.uk/lma

Heath Robinson Museum London & Middlesex 020 8866 8420, welcome@ Archaeological Society heathrobinsonmuseum.org 020 7814 5734, www.lamas. IanVisits islington.museum@islington. org.uk Hendon and District Blog with history and other gov.uk, www.islington.gov. Archaeology Society events. www.ianvisits.co.uk uk/heritage London Museums of Health 020 8449 7076, hadas.org.uk and Medicine International Council on Islington’s Lost Cinemas www.medicalmuseums.org Heritage of London Trust Monuments and Sites www.islingtonslostcinemas. 020 7730 9472, www. www.icomos-uk.org com London Museum of Water & heritageoflondon.com Steam Imperial War Museum Islington Society 020 8568 4757, www. Historic Hospital Admission Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ, Resource Centre, 356 waterandsteam.org.uk Records Project www.iwm.org.uk Holloway Road, N7 6PA, www.hharp.org/ [email protected] London Socialist Historians Islington and Camden http://londonsocialist Highgate Literary and Cemetery Jewish Museum historians.blogspot.com Scientific Institution Archives High Road, East Finchley, N2, www.jewishmuseum.org.uk [email protected] 020 7527 8804, www. London Society islington.gov.uk/ Joe Meek Society http://londonsociety.org.uk/ Historical Association, Environment/cemeteries www.joemeeksociety.org Central London Branch London Topographical www.history.org.uk, 020 7323 Islingtonfacesblog.com Dr Johnson’s House Society 1192, [email protected], Living history interviews. 17 Gough Square, EC4, www. www.londontopsoc.org http://islingtonfacesblog.com drjohnsonshouse.org Historic Towns Forum London Vintage Taxi www.historictowns forum.org Islington Local History Keats House Association Centre 020 7332 3868, keatshouse@ www.lvta.co.uk History of Harringay Finsbury Library, 245 St John cityoflondon.gov.uk www.harringayonline.com/ St, EC1V 4NB. Visit by group/historyofharringay appointment. To make an Lewisham Local History 020 7379 6344, www. appointment or enquire about Society ltmuseum.co.uk Horniman Museum archives, email local.history@ www.lewishamhistory. 020 8699 1872, www. islington.gov.uk or call 020 org.uk London Underground horniman.ac.uk 7527 7988. www.islington. Railway Society gov.uk/heritage London Archaeological [email protected] Hornsey Historical Society Archive and Research Old Schoolhouse, 136 Islington Museum Centre Online Catalogue London Westminster & Tottenham Lane, N8 7EL, 245 St John Street, EC1V http://archive.museumof Middlesex Family History secretary@hornseyhistorical. 4NB, 10am-5pm, closed Weds london.org.uk/laarc/ Society org.uk, 020 8348 8429 and Sun, 020 7527 2837, catalogue/ www.lwmfhs.org.uk

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 29 Markfield Beam Engine National Piers Society Royal Air Force Museum Thames Discovery and Museum www.piers.org.uk 020 8205 2266, www. Programme Markfield Park, N15, 01707 rafmuseum.org.uk/london Mortimer Wheeler Hse, 46 873628, [email protected] Newcomen Society for the Eagle Wharf Rd, N1, 020 7410 History of Engineering and Royal Institute of British 2207, thamesdiscovery.org Marx Memorial Library Technology Architects (RIBA) 37a Clerkenwell Green, EC1 020 7371 4445, office@ 66 Portland Place, W1B 1AD, Theatres Trust 0DU, 020 7253 1485, info@ newcomen.com www.architecture.com 020 7836 8591, www. marx-memorial-library.org theatrestrust.org.uk Newington Green Action St Marylebone Society Mausolea & Monuments Group www.stmarylebonesociety.org Tiles and Architectural Trust 020 7359 6027, www. Ceramics Society www.mmtrust.org.uk newingtongreen.org.uk Science Museum http://tilesoc.org.uk Exhibition Road, SW7 2DD. The Model Railway Club New River Action Group www.sciencemuseum.org.uk Tottenham Civic Society 4 Calshot St, N1 9DA 020 8292 5987, mail@ www.tottenhamcivicsociety. 020 7837 2542, www. newriver.org.uk Sign Design Society org.uk themodelrailwayclub.org www.signdesignsociety.co.uk North London Railway Transport Trust Museum of Brands Historical Society Sir John Soane’s Museum Lambeth Rd, SE1, 020 7928 111-117 Lancaster Road, W11 020 7837 2542, www.nlrhs.org.uk 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, 6464, www.transporttrust.com 1QT, 020 7908 0880, info@ WC2A 3BP, www.soane.org museumofbrands.com Northview – 1930s estate Twentieth Century Society www.northview.org.uk Smithfield Trust 70 Cowcross St, EC1, 020 7250 Museum of Domestic Design 70 Cowcross St, EC1,  3857, www.c20society.org.uk & Architecture (MoDA) Ocean Liner Society 020 7566 0041, info@ 020 8411 4394, www.moda. wwwocean-liner-society.com smithfieldtrust.org.uk Union Chapel and Friends mdx.ac.uk/home of the Union Chapel Pauper Lives in Georgian Society of Genealogists Compton Avenue, N1 2XD, Museum of London London and Manchester www.sog.org.uk, 020 7251 www.unionchapel.org.uk 150 , EC2Y http://research.ncl.ac.uk/ 8799, booking: 020 7553 3290 5HN, 020 7814 5511, info@ pauperlives Victoria & Albert Museum museumoflondon.org.uk Society for the Protection of Cromwell Rd, SW7, 020 7907 Peckham Society Ancient Buildings 7073, www.vam.ac.uk Museum of London www.peckhamsociety.org.uk 37 Spital Sq, E1 6DY, 020 Archaeology 7377 1644, www.spab.org.uk V&A Museum of Childhood 020 7410 2200, www.museum Petrie Museum of Egyptian 020 8983 5200, www. oflondon archaeology.org.uk Archaeology Southwark and Lambeth museumofchildhood.org.uk www. ucl.ac.uk/museums/petrie Archaeology Society Museum of London 79 Ashridge Cres, SE18 3EA Victorian Society Docklands The Postal Museum 020 8994 1019, www. 020 7001 9844, www.museum 020 7239 2570, info@ The Streatham Society victoriansociety.org.uk oflondon.org.uk/docklands postalheritage.org.uk www.streathamsociety.org.uk Wallpaper History Society Museum of the Order of Prehistoric Society Streets with a Story: the wallpaperhistorysociety.org.uk St John www.prehistoricsociety.org Book of Islington St John’s Gate, EC1M 4DA, A-Z of streets, buildings and Walthamstow Historical 020 7324 4005, www. Proceedings of the Old Bailey open spaces in Islington. Society museumstjohn.org.uk www.oldbaileyonline.org tinyurl.com/islington-streets www.walthamstow historicalsociety.org.uk/ Musical Museum Railway Correspondence Stuart Low Trust 399 High Street, TW8 0DU, and Travel Society www.slt.org.uk Wellcome Collection www.musicalmuseum.co.uk www.rcts.org.uk www.wellcomecollection.org Royal Archaeological National Archives Rescue/British Institute John Wesley’s House and 020 8876 3444, www. Archaeological Trust [email protected] Museum of Methodism nationalarchives.gov.uk www.rescue-archaeology.org.uk 49 City Rd, EC1, www.wesleys Royal College of Nursing chapel.org.uk/museum.htm National Churches Trust Ragged School Museum Library and Heritage Centre www.nationalchurchestrust. 020 8980 6405, www.ragged 0345 337 3368, rcn.library@ Women’s Library Collection org schoolmuseum.org.uk rcn.org.uk tinyurl.com/womens-library

30 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 Islington Archaeology & History Society Events

Summer break, summer fairs Walk: George Orwell’s Islington The Islington Archaeology & History Society takes a break from meetings over the summer. George Orwell was at his most prolific during his time in Islington. We’re still busy, and will be running our bookstall at local He was living at 27b Canonbury fairs and festivals, including the Angel Canal Festival on Square when Animal Farm was Sunday 3 September, 11am-5pm, at City Road Basin, N1 published. While in Canonbury, he drafted Nineteen Eighty-Four, Keep up with us over the summer at our Facebook group published numerous essays and and www.facebook.com/groups/islingtonhistory articles, and broadcast extensively. The tour takes in locations that Orwell’s press Our programme of talks resumes in September. inspired Orwell. It also includes links card picture, to Arthur Koestler, John Betjeman, taken in 1933 Malcolm Muggeridge and the Wednesday 20 September, 7.30pm, Islington Town Hall Bloomsbury Set. It also takes in the pubs that Orwell knew well and Fifty years since Harold Wilson’s reforms wrote about when describing the perfect pub in the London Evening Standard. Round table discussion. Speakers tbc The walk itself takes about 90 minutes, with an additional hour for questions, answers and debate over Harold Wilson’s government made liberal changes in many tea or coffee, or ale at one of Orwell’s favourite pubs – areas, including to laws on censorship, gender equality, divorce, maybe underneath the chestnut tree in the pub garden homosexuality, immigration and abortion. Capital punishment where Orwell wrote. was abolished. Wilson handled difficult political issues including British Cost £8/£7 concessions membership of the European Dates and times are flexible Community and the role of [email protected] public ownership. His government’s social reforms also included Keep up to date education – the Open and talk history University was set up – on our health, housing, price Facebook page controls, pensions, provisions for people with disabilities and child More than 500 poverty. people have joined Wilson was prime minister the IAHS Facebook from 1964 until 1970, then group. On it, you’ll find: from 1974 until 1976. l History news and other stories l Excerpts from old newspapers l Members’ old photographs Wednesday 25 October, 7.30pm, Islington Town Hall l Discussions, including questions and answers l Talks and walks organised by different organisations The Bolsheviks in exile in London l Events and activities, including walks, talks, open days, steam train appearances and exhibitions Dr Tom Lorman, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London 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 Mellish Entwistle) (Florence Vivienne Wikimedia Commons;

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Summer 2017 Vol 7 No 2 31 The Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Back page picture Look up next time you pass the Swimmer pub in Eburne Road to see this leaf and floral panel in the brickwork Christy Lawrance