From our Correspondents

On Sunday, 7th March, Alan Warren wrote

Hello Ham,

Thanks for doing the pic for my parents story. For some time I’ve been meaning to comment on the wonders of Google World as I’m sorry to say that both entries under ‘The Story so far’ are incorrect.

Pic 1 is of 4 The Green, Merton which is clearly a typical terrace house with (probably) 3 bedrooms built in the 1930’s. On the basis of Census 1911, Francesca’s household consisted of no less than 13 people which included 3 nurses, 2 patients, 3 servants plus Henrietta’s eldest daughter, Ruth Hamilton Smith (19) and adopted son, William Edward Graeme Gibson (12).

The address is shown as ‘Old Trees’ The Green, Wimbledon but it is not traceable on present day records. However, it is probably in Surrey Records at Woking so I’ll be going there again – maybe with Cousin Janet when she is over here again this summer ….

Pic 2 is wrong as it shows 56 St Philips Ave in Sutton and not Worcester Park. On the gossip front, I’m told there was a massive family row when another daughter to Thomas S & Norah Lilian was born in 1921 and she was named Violet Norah .

This was 11 years (and one world war) after the tragic death of Violet Graeme Gibson (Francesca’s only child) at the age of 22. Perhaps Francesca was not consulted beforehand – unlike 1919 when Denis Graeme was named, no doubt to great approval !

Alan W

On Tuesday, 9th March, Hamilton replied

Hey Alan, Trevor came by, and when I told him about your “History of the Hamilton Girls”, he mentioned that he knew that Henrietta, his grandmother, was buried in an unmarked grave in the cemetery at Worcester Park, at the back , in the corner, possibly in St Philips Church yard.

He also recalled the final row between Lilian and Thomas Samuel, outside number 56, when Trevor was about four years old (about 1939) when a milk bottle was smashed.

A story from Thomas Horace, (told to Trevor) from the time when he worked alongside Thomas Samuel, tells of a violent side of his father, when another worker, removed the wooden platform, or ‘duckboard’ from his father’s position, gave a rude answer to his fathers’ enquiries, and got knocked out for his recalcitrance.

Trevor’s memory of his brother , Thomas and May , living above a newsagents, at North Cheam, with ‘old Mrs Steel’ , after their marriage, may be worth following up, later.

He mentioned the baby Violet, being given the name “Blue”, but nobody has mentioned why, ‘ Blue’. Perhaps, it was “Bluebell”, another flower name after “Iris” and ‘Poppy”, the name that Janet used recently for “Blue”. Always, another answer, another mystery!

As for your queries about Google, you are absolutely correct about the locations, but the ‘Sutton’ location of ’56’ is a Google description of all of Worcester Park. Maybe it chooses electoral districts.

As for the other one, sometimes Google comes up with another address, even if you have carefully typed in the correct one. Thank you, anyway, for your help, and we will get rid of the one we suspect is wrong.