A Wee History Of Effra Road & Brixton, London

~ 1880
Building of my part of Victorian Terrace Houses

Living in my "House":

1882 - The first owner of my Effra Road Victorian Terrace House - as yet, I can't determine :(

Brixton Life:

• 1880, Brixton - The Morley & Lanceley department store opened in 1880, on 472-488 Brixton Road.
• 1880, Brixton - The Brixton Railway Hotel was built in 1880 on 20 Atlantic Road, opposite Brixton Railway station and featured a 'Swiss Garden' in the courtyard, complete with palms, coloured lanterns and alpine scenery murals. The Railway Hotel was renamed to Brady's in the 1990s and closed down in 1999.
  
  
  The Brixton Railway Hotel - a hundred years later. Source: flashbak.com
• 1880s, Brixton - Quin & Axtens Ltd was set up as a business of drapers, furnishing and general warehousemen and eventually occupied numbers 412 to 440 Brixton Road.
• 1881, Brixton - William Ward (1796 to 1881) (who shares my grandfather's name!), was a Brixton resident and philanthropist who was buried in a large tomb in front of St Mathew's Church in 1881. He left a third of his fortune, towards the establishment of a high school for girls (the City of London School for Girls as he believed that girls should be given a broad and liberal education with an emphasis on scholarship) and the rest of the money was to be used for the benefit of "the Poorer Classes".
• 1882, Effra Road - In 1882, some Brixton streets were renumbered. My part of Effra Road had been called: Roseville Gardens. In 1882, subsidiary names of Effra Road were abolished: Elgin Gardens and Roseville Gardens.
• 1883, Brixton - Electric lighting was introduced to St Mathew's Church in 1883 making it the first established place of worship to have electric lighting in Britain!
• 1885, Brixton - In 1885 the Walton Lodge Sanitary and Steam Laundry on 374 Coldharbour Lane was established. Dairy owner Charles William Newland and his wife set up a domestic laundry service from their home as the business boomed, in 1885, they abandoned their dairy and expanded into a large house on Coldharbour Lane called Walton Lodge. Walton Lodge Laundry managed to survive the 1920's recession and kept on operating through two world wars. After trading from the same location for 119 years, the laundry closed in 2015 and in the 2020s it was converted into a restaurant.
  
  
  Find out more
• 1887, Brixton - Brixton Road was the scene of the very first murder in the very first Sherlock Holmes' story A Study in Scarlet, published in 1887, and it was the hiding-place of a mysterious recluse in one of Conan Doyle’s last stories.

1891 - c. 1895
Matilda Merry (nee Marsh)

Living in my "House":

1891 to at least 1895 - Widowed Matilda Merry (nee Marsh) is documented as living in my "house" with: her Daughter? Kate (nee Marsh) Goodchild (37), Son-in-law Walter Goodchild (52) and grandchildren Florence Goodchild (13), Constance Goodchild (11), and Percy Goodchild (9) from 1891 to at least 1895. Her husband, William Rolls Merry (1816 - 1870?) had been a Missionary London City Mission.

Note the image is taken from an Electoral Register of 1894 - it was HUGELY rare for a women to be able to vote.

• 1882, Britain - Until 1882, common law in Britain deprived women of the right to keep their own property. Besides other matters, The Married Women's Property Act 1882 allowed married women to own and control property in their own right.
• 1894, Britain - The Local Government Act 1894 entitled women who owned property the right to vote in local elections, become Poor Law Guardians and serve on School Boards.
• 1918, Britain - Women over the age of 30 the right to vote - The Representation of the People Act of 1918 granted the vote to women over the age of 30 who met a property qualification. The same Act, however, gave the vote to all men over the age of 21 and abolished almost all property qualifications for men.
• 1928, Britain - The Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928 gave women electoral equality with men by giving the vote to all women over 21 years old, regardless of property ownership.
• 1970, Britain: The Representation of the People Act 1969 - lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, with effect from 1970

Brixton Life - I hope Matilda and her children enjoyed:

• 1890s, Brixton - residential mansion flats were being erected along Coldharbour Lane, Rushcroft Road and Canterbury Crescent. At the time, Mansion flats were, a new and innovative housing type, pioneered in utilitarian form by the Peabody Trust in London. George Peabody set up The Peabody Donation Fund (later known as The Peabody Trust) in 1862 as his contribution to supporting low rent housing, which made provisions for low-income families to live in homes they could afford. Some of the mansions had flat roofs providing communal amenity space. In Brixton the mansion flats were often ornate and were popular with Music Hall performers and other artists who gave Brixton a slick bohemian flavour.
• 1890s, Brixton - Langtry Lodge (a former coach house) on 70 Wiltshire Road, was gifted to the famous London actress and socialite Lillie Langtry by a member of the Royal Family ... the future King Edward VII? There is a stone plaque engraved with her name. Later the coach house became a piano workshop and during WW2, it became a safe muster point for the local Jewish community.
• 1891, Brixton - By 1891, Brixton had a population of 73,405. Source: Lambeth Council.
• 1891, Brixton - Brixton Postal Office was opened in 1891 at 20 Blenheim Gardens, Brixton.
• 1892, Brixton - a cable line for double deck, open top trams was opened in 1892 to replace horse power between Brixton and Kennington, and was extended south to Streatham Library in 1895.
• 1892, Brixton - Brockwell Park was created in 1892. Originally Brockwell Park was the private residence of John Blades (1751-1829), a famous London glass merchant. On the death of John Blades in 1829 the Hall and Estate passed by marriage to the Blackburn family who lived there until 1888. Brockwell Park was purchased by the London County Council for the people of Lambeth and London in 1891 in order to provide a public park in the area south of Brixton. It was then laid out as a landscaped park, and formally opened to the general public in 1892. Soon afterwards London County Council created a pond suitable for bathing BUT... only men and children were allowed to swim there.
  
  The English Oak in Brockwell Park is thought to be over 600 years old. It not only pre-dates the founding of Brockwell Park in 1892 but was already a mature tree when the original Brockwell Estate, from which the park was created, was established nearly 200 years ago. The English Oak in Brockwell Park has been voted as one of the top 20 "Great Trees of London" by the by charity, Trees for Cities.
• 1893, Brixton - The Tate Central Library was opened in 1893, see above.
• 1893, Brixton - Rance's Turkish Baths operated at 461 Brixton Road (behind what is now H&M) from 1893 to 1932. They claimed that "Rance's Turkish baths are now recommended by the Medical Profession for the cure of Rheumatism, Gout and all Acid and Liver troubles ... Turkish Baths Beautify the Skin and Complexion".
  
  
  Source: BrixtonBuzz
• 1896, Brixton - Brixton Theatre designed by renowned Theatre Architect Frank Matcham (1854-1920), opened next to Brixton Tate Library.
  
  
  Source: arthurlloyd.co.uk
• 1896, Brixton - Madame Olivia (aka Edith Aubert), opened a Theatrical Dressmaker and Milliner at 35 Acre Lane in 1896. Madame Olivia made artistic hats and stage costumes including costumes for music hall performers such as Fish & Warren, Minnie Duncan.
• 1898, Brixton - The Empress Theatre of Varieties opened on the corner of Bernay's Grove and Brighton Terrace and quickly became one of Brixton's best-known venues and "one of the finest of London’s suburban music halls". Popular performers at the time, included: Arthur Lloyd, Harry Lauder, Joe Elvin, Marie Lloyd, Tommy Fields, Wilson, Keppel and Betty and, Vera Lynn.
  
  
  Source: arthurlloyd.co.uk

1907 - c. 1938
James George Jones

Living in my "House":

1907 to 1937 - James George Jones (1852 - 1922) who was Checktak L Theatre (Theatre Producer?) was living in my "house" with his wife Amelia Ann Jones (nee Dickins) (1854 - 1935) and children: Iris Jones (24 years old - a clerk in a hardware store?), Ivy Jones (18 years old - Telephone operator for the National Telephone co.) and Lionel Jones (16 years old) until James's death 1922.

• 1922 - 1935 Amelia Ann Jones (his wife) lived with some of the children. In 1935, the probate upon her husbands death goes to her.
• 1936 - 37 Lionel Francis Augustus Jones (son) lived in the family home with 10 boarders!

Brixton Life:

• 1908, Brixton - Max Wall (real name Maxwell George Lorimer) was born into a music hall family on March 12 1908, at 37 Glenshaw Mansions, Brixton who became a famous actor and comedian.
• 1908, Brixton - Streatham Jewellers Sidney Sanders and William Metherell, trading under Sanders & Co. Ltd, opened their second jewellery shop, which later became the firm’s headquarters, under a railway viaduct, on 458-460 Brixton Road, in c.1908. The ornate signage is still visible today. Though Mr Sanders left the company 1920 to found a rival company, both companies were merged in 1969 and were taken over by H. Samuel in April 1984.
• 1909, Brixton - Following an Act of Parliament in 1904, a foundation stone was laid, in 1909, for a new King's College hospital at its present site at Denmark Hill, Camberwell which was to serve Camberwell, Brixton and Peckham. King's Hospital had been orginally located in the disused St Clement Danes workhouse in Portugal Street close to Lincoln's Inn Fields and King's College London itself and was opened in 1840.
• 1910, Brixton - Morley & Lanceley suffered substantial fire damage on the 19th August 1910.
  
  
  Morley and Lanceley Brixton fire. Source: BrixtonBuzz
• 1910, Brixton - Brixton Woolworths at 415-417 Brixton Road (now occupied by an O2 store) was Woolworths first London store which was opened on the 10 December 1910. As the lease was to run out after 25 years, on 3rd September 1936, the Brixton Woolworths store was relocated to the other end of the street, to 457-461 Brixton Road, where an iconic Art Deco building was built. Due to the financial crash in 2008, its parent company collapsed into administration, and the store was closed in in January 2009. The building is now occupied by H&M. Find out more
• 1911, Brixton - The Electric Pavilion opened in 1911 and was described as one of England's earliest purpose-built cinemas with 750 seats, a proscenium arch and an organ by the side of the screen to add musical accompaniment to the silent films. The entrepreneur behind the Electric Pavilion was Israel Davis, a successful cinema developer. FYI The first public performances of films before a paying audience in Great Britain began at the Polytechnic in Upper Regent Street, central London, on 21 February 1896. The Electric Pavilion later was renamed The Pullman (1954), The Classic (1964), Little Bit Ritzy (1978), and finally the Ritzy Picturehouse.
  
  
  Find out more.
• 1911, Effra Road - William Govett, who was one half of the comedy duo the Poluski Brothers, was living at 2 Effra Road, in 1911. Will and his brother Sam began as circus performers in the 1870s. Billed as "eccentric comedians and acrobatic marvels", the Poluski Brothers became one of the most popular pre First World War music hall performers. The Poluski Brothers
• 1913, Brixton - The Palladium Picture Playhouse (now the Electric Brixton) opened on the 20th of March 1913, on Town Hall Parade, Brixton Hill. It had a capacity of around 1,200 people on two levels: Stalls and Balcony. During it's lifetime it was bought several times and renamed: 'The Palladium Cinema', 'The Regal', 'ABC Brixton' by ABC owners and finally "The Ace Cinema" by an independent operator who closed it on the 28th March 1981. The venue was then converted for Music and Concert performances.
  
  
  Find out more arthurlloyd.co.uk.
• 1915, Brixton - Billed as the World's Greatest Lady Gymnasts, The Caron Troupe lived at 24 Lambert Road, near Brixton Hill in 1915. They were known as the only female troupe (7 to 8 lady performers) of its kind and performed daring feats on high bars and rings at music halls across Britain, until the mid 1920s. Find out more.
• 1916, Brixton - Brixton was bombed during a Zeppelin raid, in 1916.
• 1920, Brixton - Bon Marche took over rivals Quin & Axten.
• 1922, London - Daily radio broadcasting by the BBC began in Marconi's London studio, 2LO, in the Strand, on November 14, 1922.
• 1924, Brixton - Brixton Market was built for street traders with Reliance Arcade, 45 Brixton Road. The Reliance Arcade was built into an existing Georgian house in an Art Deco style. The Electric Lane frontage of the Reliance Arcade is a rare surviving example of Egyptian inspired terracotta architecture which was in fashion following the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922.
  
  
  Source: BBC / Lambeth Council
• 1926, Brixton - Bon Marché (now including Quin & Axtens) was bought up by Selfridges Provincial stores in 1926, and was rebuilt a year later.
• 1926, London - the first iconic red telephone box, a cast iron K2 telephone kiosk, was installed in London in 1926 though it had been first designed in 1924 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880 - 1960). Over the course of the next decade, more than 1,700 K2 telephone kiosks appeared across London.
• 1927, Brixton - Morley & Lanceley reopened as Morleys of Brixton at 472-488 Brixton Road.
  
  
  Morley and Lanceley Department Store's rebuild. Source: BrixtonBuzz
• 1928, Brixton - Market Row was added as second Brixton Market arcade.
• 1928, Brixton - British Home Stores (BHS) was launched at 452-456 Brixton Road (now occupied by Superdrug) in 1928. British Home Stores had been branded to appeal to consumers’ patriotism and the ethos of the day - to "buy British". It grew to 163 stores located in high streets or shopping centres across the UK, as well as 74 international stores across 18 separate territories but the company entered administration and closed August 2016.
• 1929, Brixton - Brixton Astoria Theatre opened at 211 Stockwell Road on on the 19th of August 1929 and was designed by Thomas R. Somerford (1881-1948) and Edward A. Stone (1880-19??). The Brixton Astoria was a "Super Cinema" with stage facilities and the auditorium was decorated by Marc Henri in the ‘Atmospheric’ style. Brixton Astoria's opening show was the Al Jolson film "The Singing Fool", followed by a variety act, including Heddle Nash and Derek Oldham which was broadcast by the BBC.
• 1929, Brixton - Two underground toilets (for males and females) were constructed in 1929 to serve visitors to the Brixton Theatre and the Electric Pavilion, by the Tate Library. They have remained locked up and unused since 1985.
• 1929, Brixton - Women were finally allowed to bathe in Brockwell Park's lake for the first time in 1929 - that's almost 37 years after the pond was opened (circa 1892)! Source: Brockwell Lido
• 1930, Brixton - The Brixton Ambulance Station was located at 250 Milkwood Road, Herne Hill. The London County Council had created the London Ambulance Service in 1915 and oversaw it.
• 1931, Brixton - In 1931 an A504 biplane being used for filming a British comedy thriller called, "The Flying Fool," crashed into a garden behind 60 Gresham Road, Brixton. Source: BrixtonBuzz.
• 1934, London - Street traffic light signals on Brixton Road were installed in 1934 and inaugurated by the Mayor of Lambeth, Councellor John Frederick Evans. FYI The first set of traffic lights in the U.K was set-up outside the Houses of Parliament in Bridge Street in 1868. The invention was credited to railway engineer John Peake Knight, to help M.P's crossing the road by stopping horse-drawn vehicles. During the day the lights comprised a set of semaphore arms that looked like a railway signal. At night a revolving gas lantern with red and green signals was used, controlled by a police constable. There was no amber light at the time so the PC would blow a whistle to indicate when the signals were about to change. Source: Knowledgeoflondon.com
• 1937, London - The UK's and the world's first television transmitter was located at Alexandra Place in London, which began broadcasting BBC programmes to London and the Home Counties in November 1936. The first transmission from Crystal Palace, south London, took place on 28 March 1956, when it succeeded the transmitter at Alexandra Palace.
• 1937, Brixton - Granville Arcade, named after the developer Mr Granville-Grossman (now known as Brixton Village) was opened by the actor Carl Brisson on 6th of May 1937.
• 1937, Brixton - Brockwell Lido was opened in July 1937. The pool is 165ft long, 90ft wide and holds 600,000 gallons. Though it closed in 1990, after a local campaign Brockwell Lido was re-opened in 1994. A history of Brockwell Lido
• 1937, Effra Road - There was an amusement park at the corner of Effra Road and Saltoun Road where Windrush Square is today. An omnibus depot and an Esso Petrol Station were stationed beside it.
  
  
  Source: ghostsigns.co.uk and check out 1930s Brixton Amusement Park - pic 1 and 1930s Brixton Amusement Park - pic 2.

1948
Mutiple Occupants

Living in my "House":

1948 - 10 people are recorded as living there. Can't suss out who the owner was :(

Brixton Life:

• 1948, Brixton - the first Windrush immigrants arrived from the West Indies who settled in Somerleyton Road, Akerman Road and around Railton Road. They came to help rebuild England after the Second World War. Sadly they suffered much unjust racism.
• 1948, UK - the National Health Service was created.
• 1951, Brixton - trams were withdrawn from use in 1951.
  
  
  Source: urban75
• 1952, London - The Great Smog was the worst air-pollution event in the history of the UK, and affected London during December 1952. The stifling fog was the result of a period of cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions which collected airborne pollutants, mostly from the coal fires burning all over the city and caused up to 12,000 premature deaths and over 100,000 illnesses. Find out more.

1965 - 2003?
Mutiple Occupants

1965 - 2003 - Mutiple Occupants. Though ancestry.co.uk's census documents only go up until 1960, I stop here for privacy reasons, but continue with Brixton life ...

Brixton Life:

• 1967, UK - The hideous National Front (NF) was formed in 1967 when three far right groups merged: the League of Empire Loyalists, the British National Party and the Racial Preservation Society. Later the more explicitly neo-Nazi Greater Britain Movement joined the NF, whose leadership came to dominate the NF. The National Front's key beliefs included nationalism and racism. Find out more
• 1971, Brixton - Oh my Gosh! Brixton tube station (an extension of the Victoria line) was opened on 23 July, 1971. That's mega late considering that London created the first, urban, underground railway in the world in 1863, The Metropolitan Railway between Paddington and Farringdon! Holy, Moly - why did it take until 1970 to get a tube to Brixton? Unexpectedly, the fast tube service hurt the trade of many local Brixton shops and department stores as Brixtonians could travel to Oxford Street for shopping so speedily and conveniently that this led to further economic decline in the 1970s.
  
  
  Source: ltmuseum.co.uk
• 1970s, Brixton - In the 70s Brixton was one of the heaviest squatted areas of London. The squatters not only occupied empty buildings to live but the spaces became creative hubs with bookshops, cafes, workshops, meeting places, gig venues, art galleries ...
• 1972, Brixton - activists in the Gay Liberation Front founded a South London branch, which initially met from 1972 in the Minet Library, North Brixton. In May 1974, no 78 Railton Road was squatted, giving birth to the South London Community Gay Centre. Source: Knowledgeoflondon.com
• 1972, Brixton - The Brixton Astoria Theatre was converted into a "discotheque" in 1972 called "Sundown Centre" (seriously?) and then was reborn as a concert hall in 1983 which is now known as O2 Academy Brixton. Since 1994, the Brixton Academy has won the NME Best Venue 12 times. Stellar performers have included: Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Madonna, The Rolling Stones, Rihanna ... and The Smiths' last gig (December 1986) :(
• 1974, Brixton - McDonald's came to 518-522 Brixton Road (euch).
• 1975, Brixton - Bon Marche closed.
• 1979, Brixton - The Clash released "The Guns of Brixton" from their 1979 iconic album "London Calling".
• 1981, Brixton Roits - After more than a decade of repeated attacks, arrests, harassment, and racist provocations by the local police and the Special Patrol Group (the paramilitary riot squad), between 6.10pm on Friday, 10th April, 1981, and 11.34pm, on Monday April 13th April 1981, Brixton erupted in a massive uprising. During the Brixton riots around 30 local buildings were destroyed by fire and 150 were damaged.
  
  
  Source: Getty Images - find out more about The Brixton Roits
• 1981, Brixton - Southwyck House, the "Barrier Block" on Coldharbour Lane, was completed in 1981 and had been designed (in 1973) to sit next to a planned raised (60ft up in the air) flyover and offer an acoustic shield to the residents. The planned flyover and motorway were eventually and luckly abandoned.
  
  
  Source: BrixtonBuzz
• 1982, Brixton - Bon Marche's freehold was bought up by British American Tobacco Industries (BAT) in 1982 for £1m and redeveloped as part of their inner city community affairs programme.
• 1982, Effra Road - The Brixton Synagogue at 49 Effra Road was closed about 1982 and was amalgamated with the Streatham Synagogue (which had separated from Brixton Synagogue in 1946).
• 1985, Brixton - A large-scale riot broke out in Brixton, after police shot Cherry Groce, a mother of 6, which left her paralysed during a dawn police raid while searching for her son. Cherry Groce passed away in 2011, as a result of her injuries.
• 1985, Brixton - Brixton Recreation Centre, at 27 Brixton Station Road, was opened in 1985 (11 years after construction started in 1974).
• 1991, Effra Road - The CoolTan Suntan Lotion factory on 67 Effra Road was squatted and in June 1991 became the CoolTan Arts Centre. The CoolTan Arts Centre squatters were evicted in February 1992, and moved to offices above Brixton Cycles and then squatting in the former Unemployment Benefit Offices in Coldharbour Lane where it became a thriving art space, with a cafe, live music and offices for various campaign groups. Alas the cool art deco CoolTan Suntan Lotion factory was demolished shortly after their eviction and the ground remained unused for over ten years.
  
  
  Source: flashbak.com
• 1992, Brixton - The former building which had housed the Empress Theatre, on the corner of Bernay's Grove and Brighton Terrace in Brixton, was demolished in 1992. A small housing development now stands on the site.
• 1998, Brixton - Windrush Square, a public plaza at the heart of Brixton, was first named in 1998 in commemoration of the arrival of the Empire Windrush, which docked in Essex in 1948, carrying 1,027 passengers, at least 500 of whom were from the Caribbean.
• 1999, Brixton - In April 1999, over fourteen days, the London communities of Brixton, Brick Lane and Soho were targeted by a series of nail bomb attacks by self-confessed racist and homophobe David Copeland. On Saturday April 17th 1999, the first nail bomb was targeted towards the Black community of Brixton and it exploded at the side of the Iceland Store in Brixton, on Electric Avenue, injuring 48 people. On the 30th June 2000, David Copeland was convicted of murder and given six concurrent life sentences.
  
  
  Source: BBC
• 2000, Brixton - For l.o.v.e, I moved to Brixton, starting off at Dalberg Road! Sadly I remember seeing a few times, police tapes where victims had been murdered.