I was posted to Christmas Island in the territory of Australia in 1957, from RAF Wyton in Huntingdonshire, just after getting engaged to my future wife, Evelynn. Plans for marriage were put on hold, and my fiancée and her cousin Doreen spent the time while I was away making a wedding dress and preparing for … Read more
Charlie Johnson Payne never had any formal training in art nor did he ever exhibit a painting at the Royal Academy. That said, he was blessed with natural artistic ability and was described by his biographer as one of the leading equestrian artists of the first half of the twentieth century alongside such eminent practitioners … Read more
Basil Nightingale was the youngest of the ten children of Elizabeth and Robert Nightingale R A, a reputed animal painter of Maldon, Essex. Nightingale is thought to have been trained by his father and worked with him on known pictures. He certainly showed early promise: at the age of twelve he produced a copy in … Read more
Mary Dormer Harris was a remarkable woman. Multi-talented, hard-working, an enthusiastic party-giver with a great zest for life, she had a wide circle of friends young and old. She wrote and published books and plays, lectured in local history at the University of Birmingham and was Vice-President of the Workers’ Education Association and an associate of the Dugdale … Read more
Part One, 1777 to about 1875 [Note – A version of these articles in a different format is available HERE] This follows the firm from some early members of the Flavel family to the time when Sidney Flavel junior took the reins from Sidney senior. The history of the Flavel family in manufacturing has been … Read more
Part Two, about 1875 to 2015. [Note – A version of these articles in a different format is available HERE] This follows the firm from the moment when Sidney Flavel junior took the reins to the present day. Sidney Flavel junior (1847 to 1931) was educated at Warwick School and was later a governor of … Read more
Digital Archives Leamington History Group are now in a position to start arranging for the Archive, containing over 5000 Photos, documents and maps, to be attached to this web site to enable anyone to access this fabulous collection which is growing monthly. Not only will the Archive cover all aspects of Leamington life but will … Read more
The twins Ernest (1861 – 1899) and William Renshaw (1861 – 1904) were the tennis players of their age. They were born at Brandon Lodge, Brandon Parade, Leamington, and baptised at Saint Mary’s Church. When the twins were only a few months old, the family moved to Cheltenham, where eventually they built their own tennis … Read more
In 1856, Mr JH Hawley of the Castle School Kenilworth, announced in the Leamington Courier his intention to set up a ‘Classical and Commercial School’ in Brunswick Place, Leamington. An advertisement in the Courier in November of that year referred to ‘Brunswick House School, most healthily situated outside the town’, where a first class education … Read more
Beatrice Janie Whitby was born in Ottery Saint Mary, Devon where her father Charles was in medical practice. The family numbered three daughters and five sons, the oldest of whom, a professional soldier, was killed in the Afghan war of 1880, almost at the same time as Dr Whitby moved to Leamington Spa, where he … Read more
Ribbon has long been regarded as one of the oldest of decorative materials. During the Middle Ages merchants travelled throughout Europe trading ribbons of silk and other expensive fabrics from the East. Geoffrey Chaucer mentions ‘ribbands’ in the Canterbury Tales. Originally only the well-to-do could afford such a luxury item but by the 1800’s ribbons … Read more
As a result of the Spanish Civil War, over 4000 children, some only just over the age of six, were evacuated from Northern Spain to Britain in 1937. Suffering extreme hardship, violence, imprisonment without trial, and widespread poverty under the Franco regime, for the families of the Basque evacuees life had become an endless struggle … Read more
Contact the Secretary, Margaret Rushton: secretary@leamingtonhistory.co.uk
July 22, 2026
June 9, 2026