Mrs. E. A. Ashwin – 90 and wants to fly A nonagenarian wanting to fly for the first time would undoubtedly make headlines in any newspaper, even in 2014. The headline above was published in the Leamington Spa Courier as long ago as 4th June 1954, which makes Mrs Elizabeth Anne Ashwin from Shrubland Street … Read more
The fashionable town of Leamington Spa attracted a host of big-name performers from all branches of the Victorian entertainment industry. One of those who came here was the world renowned tightrope walker Charles Blondin. Exactly 150 years ago the great Blondin made a tour of Great Britain and gave a series of performances. Blondin … Read more
A lot has been written about Leamington’s wells and churches, and everyone now surely knows all there is to know about its beginnings. I am writing of life, seen through the eyes of a child during the 1950s in the side streets, away from the town centre, in the streets where ordinary people lived ordinary … Read more
A Leamington Postal Scandal Leamington’s first Postmaster in 1783 was Benjamin Satchwell, who oversaw a postal service very different from that of today. A recognised postal system had been operating throughout most of the country since the 1630’s, whereby the recipient, not the sender, paid the postage, summoned outdoors by the ringing of the … Read more
Leamington Spa Borough Police Special Constabulary Special Constables are not the relatively new institution that many people suppose. They date back as far as Anglo-Saxon times, when communities policed themselves, hundreds of years before the Police Force that we know. The modern Special Constabulary was created by Act of Parliament in 1673, but in … Read more
Over the years, Leamingtonians have become accustomed to having retired Army and Navy Officers of senior rank as near-neighbours. At the outbreak of the First World War, one of the town’s most respected citizens was General Augustus Goodfellow; a former Commandant of the Corps of Royal Engineers. The General was held in high esteem locally … Read more
Harry Herbert Clarke B Squadron 6th (Iniskilling) Dragoons 7th Cavalry Brigade, 3rd Cavalry Division “A particularly fine and dashing soldier” Harry Herbert Clarke was born in Canterbury in 1872, and enlisted in 1st (Canterbury) Troop, A Squadron, Royal East Kent (Yeomanry) Mounted Rifles at the outbreak of the 2nd South African [Boer] War in October … Read more
Francis Stenton was the Master of Ceremonies at the Upper Assembly Rooms from 1821 to 1830, resigning in mysterious circumstances having been absent for a while. In an address to the subscribers at the election of his successor, Dr Amos Middleton said: “I must ever lament the necessity that has placed Capt. Stenton in a … Read more
Lieutenant General Charles Augustus Goodfellow V.C., C.B., Victoria Cross and Companion – Order of the Bath was born in Essex on 29th November 1836 . At the height of his military service Charles Goodfellow was Colonel Commandant of the Royal Engineers; in fact he was the third member of his family to be appointed Commandant of the … Read more
Bertram Saxelbye Evers, “B” Company, 9th [Service] Battalion [Prince of Wales’s Own] West Yorkshire Regiment, 32nd Brigade 3 November 1891-14 September 1916 Bertram Saxelbye Evers was born on the 3rd November 1891 in Aldborough, North Yorkshire, the youngest of the ten surviving children of Rev. Edwin and Mrs Saxelbye Evers. When he was not either … Read more
A presentation by Alan Griffin of Leamington History Group, about Eliza Scarlett – Leamington widow and Jamaican slave owner. Click on the forward and back arrows to navigate through the presentation. Click on the four-headed arrow symbol in the bottom right to enter full-screen mode.
Memories of a long-vanished trade A trawl through Leamington Street Directories of the past shows an interesting pattern in the growth and later demise of the family bakery. In 1832, there were only seven shops in the whole of the town, – two butchers, two fish shops and three mercers. Leamington families – or if … Read more
Contact the Secretary, Margaret Rushton: secretary@leamingtonhistory.co.uk
October 16, 2026
October 13, 2026
October 12, 2026