Red Rose from Pevensey Road
In November 2014 there was a 70th anniversary service in St Mary’s Church, Summerstown, remembering the victims of one of the worst Second World War bomb incidents in Wandsworth. At 830am on Sunday...
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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.
Time of Cholera
Albert Edward Hawkes of the 2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment is buried in the French town of Le Treport. In the mad dash to catch the ferry, the sign always looms large on the motorway, halfway...
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Summit of the Gods
Francis Edward Baker is one of twelve Bakers, who died in the First World War and are buried in Mikra British Cemetery at Kalamaria, on the edge of the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki. Named...
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Song and Dance
Just over three years ago I got a lovely message, out of the blue from Perth in Western Australia. It has lead to us knowing about a person of great significance called Sadie Crawford and hopefully...
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The Red Flag
At the western end of Wimbledon Road, just the other side of Keble Street, facing the roundabout and looking down Blackshaw Road, No58 shares a sad distinction with No14 Worslade Road. A family...
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The Delhi Durbar
The 1911 census showed the Leicester family living at 48 Wimbledon Road on the corner of Keble Street, next door to St Mary’s Church. There was no sign of Arthur, the eldest of their eight children....
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Horse and Groom
In a pivotal olde-world Tooting location, separated by the cobbled Salvador passage-way from Macdonalds and the great hulk of the Tooting Granada Bingo Hall, this ancient inn has seen a lot of...
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The Broken Spur
Written and researched by Chris Burge . His website is dedicated to the memory of the 587 individuals named on the Mitcham War Memorial. This is the story of seven young lads from neighbouring...
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Nine Elms
When you enter Wandsworth Town Hall Civic Suite, the first thing that you see is an impressive marble war memorial. Beneath the council’s crest, it states that 333 members of its staff served in the...
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Mrs Brown’s Boys
I’ve always liked the sound of Frank Churcher Brown, two very straightforward simple names sandwiching a more unusual middle one. As was the fashion at the time, it was the maiden name of a mother...
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The Drummer
Many years ago when soldiers were at battle in the field with no altars on which to hold religious services, they would pile their drums neatly to make an altar, perhaps draped with regimental...
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Horse and Plough
One of the saddest deaths of all of the Summerstown182 must surely be that of Henry William Ward He passed away at the Grove Military Hospital, Tooting just five days before the Armistice, on 6th...
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