Waltham Forest Archives

Photographic portrait of Lady Catherine McEntee when Mayor of Walthamstow, 1955-56. Photo from Vestry House Museum collection, available in our Searchroom.

Biographical details for Lady Catherine McEntee, from printed programme for the Presentation of the Freedom of the Borough of Walthamstow, Jan 1948.

Remembering Lady Catherine McEntee who died #OTD 1 Feb 1962. She was twice mayor of Walthamstow, and Walthamstow's first woman councillor in 1921. Her lifetime of public service was recognised by the award of Freedom of the Borough in 1948 alongside her husband Valentine McEntee, 1st Baron McEntee.

Portrait of Eleanor, Lady Wigram by Charles Turner. Mezzotint. Source Creative Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Turner_-_Lady_Wigram_-_B1970.3.475_-_Yale_Center_for_British_Art.jpg

Page from the burial register of Walthamstow, St Mary's, recording the burial of Eleanor, Lady Wigram on 29 Jan 1841.

Eleanor, Lady Wigram (1767-1841), of Walthamstow House. Mother of 17 children & stepmother to six, she was influential in developing education & welfare provision in Walthamstow, founding the Walthamstow Female Benefit Society, 1815. Lady Wigram was buried at Walthamstow, St Mary's #OTD 29 Jan 1841.

Study of Light, by Frederick Cuming (1930–2022), Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead. © the artist's estate. Image credit Williamson Art Gallery & Museum via Art UK: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/study-of-light-68241/search/actor:cuming-frederick-19302022/page/2/view_as/grid

Study of Light,
Frederick Cuming (1930–2022), Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead. © the artist's estate. 🖼️ Williamson Art Gallery & Museum. Fred Cuming taught at Walthamstow School of Art. For @artukdotorg.bsky.social's #OnlineArtExchange on light and dark. artuk.org/discover/art...

Page recording women residents of Walthamstow workhouse in Jan 1826. From Walthamstow workhouse admissions register for Jul 1821-Feb 1827.

From 200 years ago, entries from Walthamstow workhouse admissions register listing women residents in Jan 1826. They range from Ann Burrell aged 95, to Elizabeth Webb aged 19, admitted when pregnant. Entries for several long stay inmates include Mary Pickett, recorded as Blind. #DocumentoftheMonth

...That is why, at sixty, and some publisher asks me for biographical details, I still carefully give the year of my birth, the name of my hometown - Gerda Mayer, born 27 in Karlsbad, Czechoslovakia.
Write to me father.'
Make Believe, by Gerda Mayer. #HMD26

...Say my verse was read in some distant country and say you were idly turning the pages, the blood washed from your shirt, the tears from your eyes, the earth from your bones....

Gerda Mayer (née Stein) as a child, with her father Arnold. Source: https://youtu.be/vXezsVs8WZI?si=HjhkxCfRqY6IvF7L

Remembering poet & Chingford resident Gerda Mayer (1927-2021) evacuated from Prague on a Kindertransport flight in 1939. Her father probably died in a Soviet labour camp. Her mother died in Auschwitz. Her poem Make Believe:
‘Say I were not sixty, say you weren’t near a hundred, say you were alive...

Cover of 'Rosa Lewis, an Exceptional Edwardian' by Anthony Masters (1977).

Mid 19th century view of High Road, Leyton. Illustration in 'Rosa Lewis, an Exceptional Edwardian' by Anthony Masters (1977).

'Rosa Lewis, an Exceptional Edwardian' by Anthony Masters (1977). This biography tells Rosa's remarkable story from birth in Leyton and domestic service at one shilling a week from age 12, to esteemed society cook, then owner of the Cavendish Hotel, London from 1902-1940s. #BookoftheMonth

Flyer for 2019 exhibition by Kirstin Sibley and Rachel Gomes: 'Beryl Swain - Need For Speed'.

Today is the 90th anniversary of the birth of Beryl Swain in Walthamstow on 22 Jan 1936. A motorcycle road racer, she was the first woman solo rider in the Isle of Man TT in 1962. Her life is celebrated in Kirstin Sibley's The Need For Speed 2019
issuu.com/invisiblenum... We hold related ephemera.

Mother and Child by Frank Dobson, Kirklees Museums and Galleries. © the artist's estate. Image credit: Kirklees Museums and Galleries, via Art UK https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/mother-and-child-257781/search/actor:dobson-frank-18861963/page/3

Mother and Child, Frank Dobson, Kirklees Museums & Galleries. © the artist's estate. Frank Dobson went to Harrow Green School & Leyton Technical School. For @artukdotorg.bsky.social's #OnlineArtExchange, motherhood for Anna Ancher: Painting Light at Dulwich Picture Gallery. artuk.org/discover/art...

Apologies for late reply. We can confirm that the memorial was moved from Lloyd Park because increasingly heavy traffic in Forest Road made it very difficult to hold the annual Remembrance service there safely. The first service was held at the Town Hall location on 11 Nov 1961.

Pimp Hall Farm, Chingford, c.1890. Photo from VHM collection, available in our Searchroom.

Pimp Hall Farm, Chingford, c.1890. This was a working farm until the mid 1930s. The farm house was subsequently demolished and the site became a Council run nursery and allotments. The 17th cent Dovecote survives and is Grade II listed. #ImageoftheMonth

Knot, by Bernard Cohen 1962, Ulster Museum. © the artist/Flowers Gallery. Image credit National Museums NI, via Art UK: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/knot-121780/search/actor:cohen-bernard-b-1933/page/3

Knot, Bernard Cohen,
Ulster Museum. ©the artist/Flowers Gallery. Bernard Cohen grew up in Leytonstone & went to South West Essex Technical College. 🖼️ National Museums NI. artuk.org/discover/art... For @artukdotorg.bsky.social's #OnlineArtExchange on bold & colourful art for Colour at Tullie Carlisle

Advertisement for Pure New Milk from J Soper's Low Hall Farm dairy, from Guide to Chingford, 1907. #MilkDay

Portrait of John Travers Cornwell VC by F Lawton, after Frederick William Elwell. Depicted in naval uniform, Cornwell stands with crossed arms. Behind him is a wide expanse of cloudy sky, above a calm blue sea. Image credit: Vestry House Museum via Art UK https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/john-travers-cornwell-19001916-vc-135299/search/venue:vestry-house-museum-6486/page/1/view_as/grid

Jack Cornwell was born at Clyde Place, Leyton #OTD 1900. Awarded the VC posthumously, he stayed at his post on HMS Chester when mortally wounded in Battle of Jutland 1916. 🖼️ John T Cornwell VC by F Lawton, after F W Elwell. Vestry House Museum via @artukdotorg.bsky.social artuk.org/discover/art...

Angels around the Cross, Norman Adams (1927–2005), Manchester Art Gallery. © the artist's estate. Image credit Manchester Art Gallery via Art UK: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/angels-around-the-cross-204342/search/actor:adams-norman-19272005/page/3

Angels around the Cross,
Norman Adams (1927–2005),
Manchester Art Gallery. © the artist's estate. Norman Adams was born at 74 Shernhall St, Walthamstow. For @artukdotorg.bsky.social's #OnlineArtExchange: angels & guardians with Liverpool Cathedral. 🖼️ Manchester Art Gallery. artuk.org/discover/art...

Thanks for this - an intriguing question! We'll ask the team to check when onsite next week, and will reply after this.

Clement Attlee speaking at the Town Hall opening ceremony of Walthamstow's celebrations for the Festival of Britain, May 1951. He stands at a microphone, on a dais set up at the Town Hall entrance. The mayor and mayoress, with other civic dignitaries are seated behind him. At the front are two Life Guards in uniform. Photo from VHM collection, available in our Searchroom.

Clement Attlee speaking at the Town Hall opening ceremony of Walthamstow's celebrations for the Festival of Britain, May 1951. Prime minister from 1945-51 & Labour Party leader from 1935-1955, Attlee was MP for Limehouse 1922-50 and Walthamstow West 1950-55. He was born in Putney #OTD 3 Jan 1883.

Black and white photo of foundations at the site of Salisbury Hall manor house, Walthamstow during archaeological excavations in 1952. From VHM collection, available in our Searchroom.

Print depicting Roger Ascham on the left in profile, reading from a document held in his right hand. He wears a loose sleeveless gown over long puffed sleeves, with a ruff at the neck. On the right is Princess Elizabeth, facing forward as she listens to her tutor. She wears a fitted bodice with elbow length sleeves, a long full skirt with decorative edging, an overskirt draped back at the hips and a tall ruff framing her face. Illustration from 'The Manors of Low Hall and Salisbury Hall, Walthamstow' by George F Bosworth, Walthamstow Monograph no 7 (1920).

The 1952 excavation at the site of Salisbury Hall, Walthamstow revealed its medieval foundations. Rebuilt in late 16th century, it was the manor house of Salisbury Hall, held by Roger Ascham from 1564-68. Author of The Scolemaster, and tutor to Princess Elizabeth, Roger Ascham died #OTD 30 Dec 1568.

Aldrich-Blake, Louisa Brandreth (1865-1925) One notebook on practical chemical analysis while at St Hilda’s School Cheltenham, notebooks of lectures and courses while a student at London School of Medicine for Women, notes of cases seen while m...

A small collection of her papers can be found at Wellcome: wellcomecollection.org/works/fsxz7fak

Thank you!

OS map section showing Chingford Rectory, c.1870.

Photo of memorial to Louisa Aldrich-Blake by Arthur George Walker, in Tavistock Square, London, designed by Edwin Lutyens. Photo by Stu's Images, 2010. Source Creative Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Louisa_Brandreth_Aldrich-Blake,_Tavistock_Square,_London.JPG

Dame Louisa Aldrich-Blake died in London 100 years ago #OTD 28 Dec 1925. Born at Chingford Rectory in 1865, she was the first British woman to qualify as Master of Surgery. She was lead surgeon at Royal Free Hospital & a pioneer of surgery for cervical cancer. Her statue is in Tavistock Square WC1.

Walthamstow Palace programme cover 1913. The art work depicts a woman in a red costume, scattering glitter from a red sack on her left. She sits above a circular panel inscribed with The Walthamstow Palace against a decorative background.

Walthamstow Palace programme cover 1913. A popular music hall venue in its early days, the Palace Theatre operated in Walthamstow High Street from 1903 to 1954. It was demolished in 1960. #EYASparkle #ExploreYourArchive @exploreyourarchive.bsky.social

Photographic portrait of Birt Acres c.1900. Source Creative Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Birt_Acres.jpg

Birt Acres filming the Derby at Epsom in 1895. Source Creative Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acres_1895_Derby.jpg

OS map section showing Walthamstow Cemetery, 1939.

Birt Acres died in Whitechapel #OTD 27 Dec 1918. A prolific film maker in late 19th-early 20th cent, he gave the first public film screenings in England in 1896 & patented cinematograph system 1898. He is buried at Queen's Road Cemetery, Walthamstow. The Derby filmed in 1895 youtu.be/WbHxO6RJnxg?...

Section from facsimile portrait of the Malagasy Christian refugees who lived in Walthamstow 1839-1841. Sarah Razafy (d.1840) is in a blue cloak, second from left.

Photo of part of the Marsh Street burial ground in Walthamstow, prior to redevelopment in 1970s. From VHM collection, available in our Searchroom.

Sarah Razafy born in Madagascar, died in Walthamstow 185 years ago #OTD 26 Dec 1840. With fellow Malagasy Christian refugees, she lived with members of Marsh Street Congregational Church from 1839. She was buried at the Marsh Street burial ground & later reinterred at Chingford Mount Cemetery c1980.

Photo of the Ancient House, Walthamstow in the snow, early 20th century. The central sign reads 'The Ancient House Bookshop'. Photo from VHM collection, available in our Searchroom.

Snow at the Ancient House, Walthamstow in early 20th cent. Then used partly as a bookshop, this is a former 15th cent hall house and the earliest surviving domestic building in Waltham Forest. Internal conversion now gives several dwellings #ArchiveAdventCalendar
#MerryChristmas @arascot.bsky.social

Photo of Father Christmas on a decorative float, en route to Bearmans Toy Fair in Leytonstone, c.late 1950s. Father Christmas waves as he sits at right end of the float, which is decorated to resemble a large sleigh. He is accompanied by people dressed as teddy bears in the middle and penguins on the left. Photo from VHM collection, available in our Searchroom.

Father Christmas with penguins, on his journey to Bearmans Toy Fair in Leytonstone, c.late 1950s. #ArchiveAdventCalendar #Santa @arascot.bsky.social

They were hardy indeed! The boys' shorts here could be their school uniform, although one boy wears long trousers.

A photo of Highams Park in winter, 1924. There is a stream in the foreground. Deep snow covers the ground. Winter trees lean towards each other in the middle distance, with more trees faintly visible as the landscape recedes. Photo from VHM collection, available in our Searchroom.

Highams Park in the snow, 1924. #ArchiveAdventCalendar #WinterWonderland @arascot.bsky.social

Photo of boys throwing snowballs in the playground at Maynard Road School, Walthamstow, 1958. Snow covers the ground and the rooves of the line of houses in the background. From VHM collection, available in our Searchroom.

Snow fight mischief! Boys at Maynard Road School, Walthamstow, 1958. #ArchiveAdventCalendar #NaughtyOrNice @arascot.bsky.social