Mick Jeffs
Frederick William Hobill Lee (about 1876 to 1954, aged 78) was the son of Frederick W Lee, a local builder of No 18 Clarendon Avenue. He was active as an architect in Leamington Spa from around 1898 to 1954 in a partnership with Harry Quick which was simply known as Quick & Lee. The other … Read more
We are delighted at the success of our first video, “Birth of a Spa Town” We have commissioned a sequel following the life of the town in the second half of the nineteenth century. It will be entitled “Leamington’s Victorian Legacy” and we expect it to be available before the end of October 2020. This … Read more
A few years ago, Jim Dean, of 6 Woodbine Street, Leamington Spa, CV32 5BG, put together a collection of sources for the history of Woodbine Street and he has now turned it into a more user-friendly website called “WikiWoodbine”. You can find it at https://wikiwoodbine.blogspot.com. If you can add any information, or if you spot … Read more
On 6th July 2020 the Warwickshire Industrial Archaeology Society and the Leamington History Group are proud to announce that this is one of the two books chosen for a Publications Award by the Association for Industrial Archaeology. The Judges were all “very impressed by the amount of work involved and the great variety of illustrations … Read more
Few visitors to the parish church can fail to see the various memorial tablets on the wall of the north transept. A number of these plaques record the death in Leamington of senior naval officers who had served in the wars against the French. A little research reveals that four of these were vice-admirals who … Read more
(CLICK HERE for The List of Streets) Before 1800 Leamington Priors was a village of about 200 people to the south of the River Leam. The land to the north-east of the river was called Newbold Comyn and was owned by the Willes family; to the north-west the land was mostly owned by the Greatheed … Read more
Many Leamingtonians are not aware of the detail of the bombing raids on Leamington during the Second World War. Ask them if we were bombed and they will often tell you that Queen Victoria’s statue was moved because of a bomb. Many will tell you that Lipton’s grocery shop on the Parade was demolished … Read more
The story of the ship’s orchestra playing the hymn ‘Nearer my God to Thee’ as the Titanic sank is well known and documented. Survivors of the sinking also recounted how a Roman Catholic priest gathered more than a hundred passengers round him on the stern of the ship and led them in prayer after all … Read more
Perhaps you are vaguely aware of the shield for Leamington which has a chevron on top of a lion with two tails, three stars at the top and a border containing eight fleurs-de-lys. In an idle moment you may have wondered about its origins, what it all represents and if it tells you anything about … Read more
Contact the Secretary, Margaret Rushton: secretary@leamingtonhistory.co.uk
June 9, 2026
Nelly (later known as Eleanor Velasco) Thornton was born in Stockwell, London, on 15th April 1880 to Frederick and Sarah Ann Thornton, who was also known as ‘Nellie’. They had...
May 26, 2026
This is Mark’s own brief personal and professional story about how he became interested in the history of Leamington Spa and producing films about the town’s full, varied and fascinating...
May 6, 2026
Acknowledgements to Contributors Writers of Articles Stella BolithoNigel BriggsPeter CoullsBarry FranklinMichael JeffsAllan JenningsMichael PearsonDr Sylvia PinchesMargaret RushtonSidney SysonRichard TaulbutDr John Wilmot Substantial Contributors to Articles. Kay Bugg; Alan Griffin; Dr...