William Riley and the Birmingham and Leamington Lifeboat
October 3, 2016
One of the largest, if not the largest, monuments in Leamington Spa cemetery at Brunswick Street is that of William Riley. At the top of the monument there are 3 faces; 2 are engraved and the 3rd is blank. One of the faces shows an engraving of a panoramic view that includes a dog,
William Garbutt – and Italian Footb
July 5, 2016
“The most important man in the history of Italian Football” This is an introduction to a more detailed article which can be seen when you CLICK HERE. The Daily Mail dated Friday 15th April 2016 reviewed a new football related book entitled ‘Mister’. Part way through the article there is a reference to William Garbutt,
Miss Rosemary Thwaites
June 8, 2016
Rosemary Thwaites was the youngest child and only daughter of Captain Sidney Herbert Thwaites, a retired soldier-turned-farmer and a member of the Yorkshire brewing family. Her older brother Leslie Basil Thwaites, a farmer, engineer and inventor, set up Thwaites Agricultural Engineering Company, and Rosemary too grew up interested in motors and mechanisms, driving a car from
Mrs Margaret Mary Maitland Fowler, O.B.E.
April 20, 2016
Mrs Fowler, legendary owner of Leamington’s pre-war Blue Café, was born in Derbyshire and grew up in Polesworth, where her father was Vicar of the Parish Church, and Rural Dean. In 1906, at the age of 25, she married George Herbert Fowler, an Oxford-educated mining engineer who was managing director of Arley Colliery in nearby
Mota Singh
March 24, 2016
Living modestly in Sydenham is one of the most influential people in the county, a man who has been making an impact on the local community and on local politics for well over forty years. That man is Mota Singh. Mota was born on 23rd February 1939 in the village of 17P.S. District Ganganager Rajasthan
Miss Catherine Cutter, headmistress, 1863 – 1946
February 29, 2016
Miss Cutter’s paternal ancestors came from Ashby de la Zouch in Leicestershire. Her father Thomas was a journeyman tailor, who went on to become a master tailor. He married Elizabeth Robbins from Staffordshire in 1855, and after the birth of their first daughter Sarah Elizabeth at Ashby, they came to live and work in Warwickshire,
Raymond Pullin, Leamington Stonemason
February 25, 2016
The best known name for stonemasonry in this area is Pullin. The business, situated in High Street next to the railway bridge, still bears the Pullin name even though there is no longer a family connection. George Pullin started the business in 1875 in King’s Heath near Birmingham and his son, Charles inherited it. Charles
Monty and the Casket, 1947
February 13, 2016
Freedom of the Borough for Viscount Montgomery, 1947 During the hundred years of its existence, the Borough of Royal Leamington Spa awarded the Honorary Freedom of the Borough to sixteen individuals and three military establishments. Of those individuals, all were men who had had a close relationship with the town but there was one notable
Jan Berenska (1905-1968)
January 17, 2016
Musician & orchestra leader It is rather sad to think that a man whose accomplishments were such that a Leamington street was named after him is almost forgotten within a few years. Berenska Drive was named after Jan Berenska a multi-talented musician whose orchestra had a huge following in the heyday of radio. During the
Denis Matthews (1919 – 1988)
December 25, 2015
Concert pianist & writer When Denis Matthews left Warwick School in 1935 to take up a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music in London, one of his erstwhile masters said “They tell me that you are going in for music Matthews but what do you intend doing with the rest of your time?” The
