Memories

In my collection of London postcards, a curiosity is provided by two cards, one in colour and the other black and white, purported to show Lord Nelson’s house in Merton, writes Jan Bondeson.

20 Years Ago – Firefighters drafted in to tackle a blaze in a garage block were shocked to find them being used as homes.

Tit-Bits Villa, a rather humdrum suburban semi-detached house, had been won in a competition by Private William Robert Mellish, of the Eight Hussars.

After his many tribulations, recorded by one Mr Dickens, Samuel Pickwick, tired of his wanderings, put aside his Papers and took up residence in a pretty little villa in Dulwich.

10 Years Ago – People living on a dozen estates are to become the first in the country to be given responsibility for financing their own development and repairs.

On May, 16 1913, St Catherine’s Church, Pepys Road, Hatcham suffered serious damage as a result of fire, writes Sheridan James.

This week ten years ago – A massive public party is being organised on the banks of the Thames to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Up to 8,000 people will sit down for The Big Jubilee Lunch event in the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College on Sunday, June 3.

Severin Klosowski was born in a small Polish village in 1865, the son of a carpenter. He was apprenticed to a barber-surgeon, learning hairdressing and acquiring enough medical knowledge to get a job as an assistant surgeon at a hospital.

Edward Callaghan was a Deptford dock labourer of somewhat dissolute habits, fond of drinking, revelling and fighting. A strong, sturdy fellow, standing six feet tall, he had several times been imprisoned for assault.

10 Years Ago: Nearly 300 homes were left without water after workers demolishing part of their estate damaged pipes leading from a pump.

In 1908, the little semi-detached house at 29 Chatfield Road, Croydon, was home to the widow Mrs Mary Jane Manser, her son Francis and her daughter Mary. Her married daughter Eva also lived in the house, with her husband Walter Jennings.