In the next part of a series looking back at the history of the built environment of Rickmansworth and its surrounding areas, Three Rivers Museum Trust chairman Fabian Hiscock looks at the people who once lived in a residential road.
We’ve looked at the development of the streets of and around Rickmansworth. But who was actually living in them, and what did they do?
The 1921 Census gives us not only names and occupations but also employers of the residents. Let’s look, for example, at who was then living in Talbot Road, a firmly residential street with several building styles.
The Hodges had a lodger, Albert Page, a Sarratt man and farm labourer. Henry Melton was a timekeeper for North & Sons making speedometers in Whippendell Road – their younger daughter was a short hand typist for the same firm, the elder a primary school teacher at Mill End. Amy Payne, a widow, had her granddaughter living with her as well as another lodger, a fishmonger working in the High Street. John White was a local man who drove a brewer’s dray for Salters, while his stepson was a labourer in one of the local gravel works. Edward Sheppard was the gardener for Dr Clarke at ‘The Old House’ in the High Street. All these people were very much local, probably of modest means: there were several ‘boarding houses’ in the road.
But this was a mixed community, which included the police station. Daniel Bone at No 4 was a retired contractor, of a well known local family. Albert Poot, aged 28, was a Belgian (possibly a war refugee?) with a Scottish wife, working in the City of London for the Anglo Saxon Petroleum Company – so a commuter. William Fenton, from south-east London, was an architectural draughtsman and surveyor at Bell’s Asbestos works. They formed a much more diverse group.
Others included Jacob Powell at No 6, a joint maker for the water company, Charles Gristwood (of another very prominent local family) at no 10 was a railway porter for the Metropolitan Railway at North Harrow station, and his neighbour Thomas Miller a platelayer for the same railway but at Pinner – his son was a porter at Rickmansworth. Adjacent was Walter Sills, a workman for the gas company, whose son was an errand boy for the fishmonger in the High Street. Also there was Frederick Stevens, now unemployed but a barge builder formerly with Walker Bros, where his married son William still worked – the family all lived at no 18.
And at no 36 was a piano tuner, Herbert Moore, while Stephen Beeson and his family had inherited no 50, about the largest house in the road and built for the family, from his father Stephen, the founder of the firm whose premises stood on the corner of Talbot Road and Church Street. The resident at no 60, William Ling, worked for him as a gas fitter and bell hanger – Mr Ling’s neighbour at no 64, Joseph Riley, was a railway draughtsman.
Interestingly, there are very few photos of roads like Talbot Road – shops and businesses abound in the photo archive, but not residential streets. As we think about the buildings in our (or any other) town, let’s not forget the homes, and the people who lived in them. By no means all owned their own houses, but we can see from this snapshot the diverse nature of the residents, as well as of their homes, in this single street.
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