On a Spring day in 1970 Malcolm Sayer suffered a fatal heart attack on the main street of his adopted home town Leamington Spa, he was 53 years of age. In the years since his death, his achievements as a designer have been celebrated locally by the erection of a Blue Plaque on his … Read more
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
A look at a seasonal pursuit tinged with real sadness. I admit to never having owned or even to have put on a pair of ice skates and you will be pleased to hear that I have no immediate plans to take up skating. It does however say much about our indomitable ancestors that many of them looked upon ice skates as essential … Read more
Jill Walters, now living in Norfolk, remembers her first school, St Albans Preparatory School, 28 Clarendon Square, (North side) Leamington Spa My parents had a disagreement when I was a five-year old about to start school. My father wanted me to go to the local authority school nearby, but my mother, thinking I would be … Read more
Leamington’s Motor Car Heritage: Charles T Crowden 1859 -1922 Charles Thomas Crowden, an early automotive designer and engineer, settled in Leamington with his family, in Eastnor Grove in the 1890s. Charles Crowden came to Leamington and the motor trade via an early interest in engineering and tool-setting in Bath, fire-engine design in London, safety-bicycle development, and finally, the Great … 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
Sunshine House Nursery School 15 Warwick New Road The Ordnance Survey map of 1886 shows 15 Warwick New Road approached by a sweeping drive, a substantial house and attached stable block set in good-sized gardens well-planted with trees. Named Milverton Lawn, it was built for the Company Secretary of the Warwick and Leamington Bank, Hubert … 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
Newbold Beeches was an imposing mansion built on a hilltop site overlooking the Leam and most parts of North Leamington. The house was sited on a parcel of land acquired from Lady Willes, on the side of a steep hill. To create a sufficiently large flat site some quite serious engineering work was required. … 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
This is a long story and is told in three parts – 1. Coventry to Leamington and then to Rugby on the LNWR 2. Leamington to London and Birmingham on the GWR 3. “Merger” by Nationalisation and Beyond Part Three – “Merger” by Nationalisation and Beyond On 1st January 1948 all … Read more
Contact the Secretary, Margaret Rushton: secretary@leamingtonhistory.co.uk
November 6, 2026
November 6, 2026
November 6, 2026