Chelsfield — Uncovering Five Centuries of History P6 the Newsletter of the Bromley Borough Local History Society
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Bromleag The newsletter of the Bromley Borough Local History Society March 2004 Chelsfield — uncovering five centuries of history P6 Beckenham — the life of a 19th century author P8 A Russian tragedy P4 Bromley Borough Local History Society Registered Charity No 273963 About the Society Contents Bromley Borough Local History Society was formed in 1974 so that anyone with an interest in any part of the borough could meet to exchange information March 2004 and learn more about Bromley’s history. History is continually being made and at the same time destroyed, buildings are altered or demolished, memories fade and people pass away, records get destroyed or thrown in the bin. We aim, in co-operation with the local history library, museums and other relevant organisations, to make sure at least Local studies computer some of this history is preserved for future generations. Database 3 We hold regular meetings and produce a journal and occasional publications where members can publish their research. History of the Chairman and Membership Secretary Dr Anthony Allnut Letter Box 4 Woodside, Old Perry Street, Chislehurst, BR7 6PP 020 8467 3820 Feature: Murder in [email protected] North Russia 5 Secretary Mrs Patricia Knowlden 62 Harvest Bank Road, West Wickham, BR4 9DJ Review: Chelsfield 020 8462 5002 Chronicles 6-7 Bromleag This newsletter is published four times a year. The editor welcomes articles College appeal 7 of between 100 and 1,000 words, along with illustrations and photographs. These can be in paper copy, disk or e-mailed. Feature: Please enclose a stamped addressed envelope if you wish material to be returned. Items remain the copyright of the authors and do not necessarily Dinah Maria Craik 8-11 reflect Society views. Each contributor is responsible for the content of their article. Review 11 Articles are not always used immediately as we try to maintain a balance between research, reminiscences and articles about different subjects and parts of the borough. Feature: Farnborough Editor Hospital 12-13 Christine Hellicar 150 Worlds End Lane, Chelsfield, Kent BR6 6AS News 13 01689 857214 Email chrisandpathellicar @talk21.com News/Research Queries 14-16 All copy for the June Subscription Rates edition of Bromleag must reach the editor by Yearly subscription from 1 January Individual £8.50; couple £10. Senior citizens pay a re- Monday 26 April 2004 duced rate of £6 per person or £8 for a couple. Members joining after 30 June pay half rates. 2 Bromleag March 2004 Society meeting Calm and collected in the Bromley local studies library new computer database that will make searching looking for volunteers to help with the cataloguing of the Bromley Local Studies collections easier, and biographies and sale particulars. A which will eventually be available on the Internet, was demonstrated to society members by archivist Bromley records on the Internet Elizabeth Silverthorne at the February meeting. CALM – which is already used by several other local Some Bromley archive catalogues are already on the studies libraries – is a cataloguing system for archives, Internet on A2A, Access to Archives, which contains libraries and museums. Elizabeth and Loraine Budge have catalogues describing archives held throughout England been working with the system for the past six months to and dating from the 900s to the present day. make it as effective and user friendly as possible. A2A is a series of projects to put archive catalogues on At present data is only viewable on staff PCs and the the Internet. It is funded mainly through grants from the public can either ask staff to carry out a CALM search or heritage lottery fund and currently has 5.7 million continue to use the old written catalogues. But, over the catalogue entries from 335 record offices and other next couple of years, as more data is added, CALM will repositories. A2A bids for funding for specific projects. become accessible to the public both in the library and on Bromley has already contributed details of records in the the Internet. It is hoped that the first stage of public access series, Aladdin's Cave, a wide variety of non-official will be ready for Archives Awareness week in the autumn. archives held in six record offices in the South East and Local Governance and the Community, archives of local The data is currently only at collection level, with each bodies including parish councils, Poor Law Unions and entry a simple description of each collection. It doesn’t yet give information on individual items within collections, schools held in 11 repositories in the South East. which will still have to be searched for in the old manual typed lists. View on line The system is easy to use. The user enters one or more To see how CALM works look at the Hampshire records terms, such as a name or a category i.e. Darwin or office site at www.hants.gov.uk/record-office/catalog/ naturalists, or a phrase in the search box. The results of index.html. And Access to Archives is on www.A2A.org.uk. the search are displayed in a list of the catalogue entries. Internet access is available in the borough’s libraries. While the long task of cataloguing the main archives onto CALM will continue to be done by library staff Elizabeth is Future meetings March to June 2004 Meetings are held at 7.45pm on the first Tuesday of the month, from October to July, in the Methodist Church Hall, North Street, Bromley. The hall has free off-street parking, good public transport links and fascilities for the disabled. Non-members are welcome at the society’s meetings for a nominal charge of £1. Tuesday 2 March Spirit of Invicta: Kent in 20th century — Bob Ogley Tuesday 6 April Annual General Meeting To follow: Darwin at Downe: Annie & the World — Randal Keynes Tuesday 4 May Pioneers of Flight in North West Kent — Monty Parkin Tuesday 4 June Life of Charles Dickens — Alan Watts March 2004 Bromleag 3 Society meeting Uncovering the history of the humble letter box Posting a letter has taken on a whole new perspective Returning to 1857, it was decided that pillar boxes were for those of us who heard Neil Lloyd give his rather expensive and could obstruct country roads. Thus the fascinating and humorous talk on the history of letter wall box appeared in those areas duly bricked into a pillar or boxes. For those who were unable to attend Neil has a convenient wall. Some of these could have a larger capacity than pillar boxes and wall boxes soon spread to written a summary of his entertaining talk towns. In 1885 James Ludlow produced a design for insertion into the facades of sub-post offices. These boxes riginally, anyone wishing to post a letter had to were made of wood with a metal front normally including either take it to a post office or, on payment of a the royal cipher on an enamel plate. A smaller alternative to O small extra fee, give it to a bell-man who would both these models was introduced in 1896 in the form of a ensure its entry into the postal system. However, Anthony lamp box which could be fixed to lamp posts or telegraph Trollope worked for the Post Office as a surveyor's clerk poles but would only be suitable for cards and letters. and was sent to the Channel Islands to see if The Penfold Box lasted until 1879 when it was decided to improvements could be made as it was known that return to cylindrical pillars but unfortunately the designers roadside boxes were in use in France. forgot the lower aperture and the royal cipher - Queen Trollope submitted a report and it was agreed to trial the Victoria would not have been amused! idea initially in Jersey and, in 1852, the first hexagonal After suitable adjustments the basic design has remained pillar boxes appeared. The oldest box now in use dates the same ever since although we had to wait until 1899 for from 1853 and is sited in St. Peter Port in Guernsey. A year the arrival of the oval pillar box with two apertures for use later saw some octagonal pillars on on busy sites. the mainland and the oldest of Experiments have taken place, especially these can be found at a country during the reign of George V, when the GPO cross-roads at Bishops Caundle in tried letterboxes in the back of telephone Dorset. Different designs were kiosks and stamp machines built into pillar introduced by the district postal boxes as well as special Air Mail boxes painted surveyors including a bizarre 8 ft blue. tall fluted column surmounted by a crown! There is still a box at Cork A number of EviiR boxes, large and small, Station with the aperture on top of exist around the country but the observer will the pillar. Luckily, this is under not find any EiiR ones in Scotland as the cover as the design failed generally Scottish crown was used instead to placate because of the problem of rain. A the purists! However this has not prevented National Standard was applied the arrival of six lampboxes in Kent happily from 1859 but discipline slipped to sporting Scottish crowns! During the present the extent that crowns appeared Queen's reign we have seen cuboid -shaped on top of these boxes in Liverpool pillar boxes made of sheet steel and cast iron and one in Rochdale even sported as well the stylish cylindrical K-type box which can be seen represented opposite Bromley a gas lamp! South station.