Major Harry Gem – Pioneer of Lawn Tennis
December 6, 2018
Major Thomas Henry (Harry) Gem was born in Birmingham on the 21st of May 1819. His father was a local solicitor dealing with criminal cases and was also clerk to the Birmingham Magistrates. After studying at King’s College, London, Harry also pursued a career in the law and joined his father’s chambers in Moor Street.
Feldon School
October 12, 2018
Feldon School was set up at Milverton Hill by Dr J.L. and Mrs S.A. Matthews in the summer of 1950. They had taken over a small private school, ‘Ardmore’ based at 69 Willes Road/corner of Leam Terrace in September 1948, when Ardmore’s previous owners left to run a boarding establishment in Monmouth. In a matter
Edith Devis
October 11, 2018
Edith Devis was a prominent businesswoman in Royal Leamington Spa in the 1920s and 1930s. She was born Edith Clark in Brigg in Lincolnshire in 1882. She moved to the Midlands in the early 1900s and in June 1906 she married Walter Dowding who had been the landlord of the Golden Fleece in Loughborough since
59 Beauchamp Avenue: A Short History of the House and its Residents
September 6, 2018
The house I grew up in, which we know today as 59 Beauchamp Avenue has not always been No. 59, or even Beauchamp Avenue. When the first plans for the development of this part of Leamington’s ‘New Town’ were made in 1825, the street was going to be called Newbold Terrace. When it was
Eric Taylor, Leamington-born Musician and Gamelan Pioneer
July 3, 2018
Eric Robert Taylor was born in Leamington on 5th May 1928. He attended Warwick School, where he distinguished himself as a musician. He also sang in the choir at St Mary’s Church, Warwick. In 1945, he made the pages of the Leamington Courier, – where it was announced that “Eric R Taylor has added lustre
The Smith Family of Bath Street: Memories of Kit Smith
June 21, 2018
William Smith was born in 1844 in Fenny Compton, where his father Thomas was a grocer and draper. At the age of fifteen, William came to work in Leamington Priors, where he became apprenticed to Daniel Humphrey, a shoemaker in Bath Street. By the age of 37, he had become a Master Bootmaker with an
Bombing, Memorial to those who died in Leamington Spa in World War II
November 6, 2017
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
Father Thomas Byles, Titanic hero, and Rev Ernest Carter
October 13, 2017
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
Thomas Baker Revisited
August 21, 2017
Thomas Baker was a well-known artist based in Leamington Spa from 1833 and has been the subject of a page on this website for some years; this can be found HERE We have learnt recently of a new website dedicated to the artist and this can be seen by clicking HERE. The site has been developed
Henry Eric Maudslay, DFC, Dam Buster Pilot
July 27, 2017
Squadron Leader Henry Maudslay DFC Blue Plaque unveiled The youngest Squadron Leader of the Dam Busters, and one of the youngest pilots, was a local man. Henry Eric Maudslay was born at 1 Vicarage Road, Lillington on 21 July 1921. The Maudslay family had been involved in various branches of engineering for several generations. An
