Percy the Painter
Just a few weeks ago, someone mentioned an unusual First World War memorial on the exterior wall of St James’ Church, Mitcham Lane, Streatham. There are about 150 names on there and most...
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Stories
Exploring the lives and heritage of Summerstown, from the trenches of the Great War to the vibrant streets of today.
Lone Pine
In 1901, William and Louise Tibbenham were living in Chiswick, west London with their nine children. Two of these were Spencer (13) and Eric (3). There were four daughters and at 11, Ethel, known as...
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The Hostel of God
Shortly after the war started, a propaganda movement encouraged women to hand out white feathers to young men not wearing military uniform. The idea being that this direct assault on their...
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The Man from Dancing Ledge
Lance Corporal John Lander of The Rifle Brigade is not one of the men whose home is indicated with a poppy on our map because, although his name is on the war memorial, so far we haven’t been able to...
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The Submariner
When I first saw the name ‘H Glasset’ on the war memorial I thought he was probably french, Monsieur Glasset. There appeared to be no trace of him but then he popped up as Harold Glassett with an...
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Patriotism and Pillage
If any of the Summerstown182 fancied an apple strudel, a viennese whirl or perhaps a slice of battenberg cake, they would very likely have frequented Peter Jung’s bakery at 48 Tooting High Street. On...
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The Frenchman
When I first saw the war memorial in St Mary’s Church, one name jumped out at me. L Danzanvilliers. This conjured up all sorts of pictures in my imagination and I assumed he was almost certainly some...
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Three Penny Pint
I was amazed to hear someone at work last week referring to a pint in London costing £7. It was of course very different one hundred years ago, as a small incident that I read about in a 1916 edition...
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Live Bait
Thomas Lindsay Kirkland from No2 Franche Court Road was the first of the 182 names on the St Mary’s church memorial to be killed in the war. As well as being on the Summerstown memorial his name...
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The Biscuit Boy
The 182 names on the St Mary’s Church war memorial served in a diverse collection of over fifty regiments of the British Army. Only two of them were ‘Biscuit Boys’ and Sidney Frank Cullimore was one...
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Wild Colonial Boy
Australia officially became a nation on 1st January 1901 and over the next decade, the new country was desperate for young men to farm its wide open empty spaces. Young strong lads like Alfred George...
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Fireworks
James Ramage Morris, 12th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment was killed in the Battle of Courtrai on 14th October 1918. This great advance of the allied armies, now including the Americans, was the last...
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