20th Century 22 - Leamington History Group

George Henry (‘Daddy’) Green

August 9, 2026June 9, 2013

Leamington’s Greatest Footballer G H Green, Capt, 1st left, front row. c 1934 George Henry Green was born in Leamington on May 2nd 1901. As his mother died giving birth, he was brought up by his grandmother in Eagle Street. His father George ( ‘Daddy’ senior) was a painter and decorator who also played … Read more

Captain Arthur Kilby VC, MC

August 11, 2026June 6, 2013

For a comparatively small town, Leamington Spa can lay claim to five recipients of the Victoria Cross, the world’s most coveted medal for gallantry. The town war memorial on The Parade bears the name of one of these brave men, Arthur Kilby VC, the only one of the local recipients to lose his life … Read more

Sir Anthony Eden

August 11, 2026June 6, 2013

Leamington Spa has been well served by her members of Parliament since the creation of the Warwick & Leamington constituency in 1885. Several of them achieved high office, two as Attorney General and another as Speaker of the House of Commons. The most distinguished of this group of Parliamentarians however was Anthony Eden, who represented … Read more

Sir Terry Frost

August 11, 2026June 6, 2013

Leamington has nurtured a number of artists who have gone on to enhance their reputations and enjoy popular acclaim.Thomas Baker, Fred Whitehead and Charlie Johnson-Payne all had considerable reputations. Terry Frost was one of the most significant British abstract painters of the twentieth century and always maintained close links with Leamington through his long career. … Read more

Sir Frank Whittle

August 11, 2026June 5, 2013

Frank Whittle (Left, in his study)holds the distinction of having invented a piece of equipment that would have a world-wide application and which would fundamentally change the world in which we live. He was the inventor of the jet engine. Young Frank came to live in Leamington in 1916 when his father Moses bought a … Read more

Sir Bernard Spilsbury, 1877 – 1947

August 11, 2026May 22, 2013

Few if any of those waiting for their prescriptions in a south Leamington chemist will know that the father of modern forensic medicine was born in the flat upstairs. On 16 May 1877 the manufacturing chemist James Spilsbury’s first child was born in the flat above his shop at 35 Bath Street, Leamington Spa (4th … Read more

The Theatre Royal

August 11, 2026April 29, 2013

The Leamington Theatre Company was formed in 1881 and it commissioned London architect C J Phipps to design a 1,200 seat theatre for its site adjoining Denby Buildings in Regent Grove. Charles John Phipps was the foremost theatre architect of his day and in a long career designed over thirty theatres including some of the … Read more

Edith Mary Warr

August 11, 2026April 18, 2013

Edie, aged 100, recalls lively episodes from her long life in Leamington – her workdays, her husband’s bands, their motorbike and sidecar.

48 minutes. 47MB file.

The Free Czechoslovak Army

August 11, 2026April 17, 2013

During the Second World War, the Free Czechoslovak Army (FCA) was based in Leamington Spa and a memorial fountain in the shape of a parachute in the town’s Jephson Gardens records their stay. It also commemorates one of the most daring undercover missions of the war which was carried out by Czechoslovak paratroop agents. The … Read more

The Last Bath Chair

August 11, 2026April 9, 2013

The small building in Farley Street, indicated by an arrow at the bottom of the map was the shed where the last Bath Chair in Leamington was kept, observed by Kit Smith, as he walked to school in about 1932. George David Taylor was the Bath Chair man, from about 1909 onwards. He operated from … Read more

A Regal Ghost

August 11, 2026April 9, 2013

Leamington’s Vue Cinema started life as ‘The Regal’, designed in Art Deco style by Horace G Bradley and opened in September 1931. It was then one of the 15 largest cinemas in the UK. Remodelled several times since then, it is reputedly haunted, by a lady thought by many to be the late Edith Devis. Mrs … Read more

The Parish Church

August 11, 2026April 9, 2013

A presentation by Alan Griffin, Chair of Leamington History Group, about the history of Leamington’s Parish Church. Click on the forward and back arrows to navigate through the presentation. Click on the two-headed arrow symbol in the bottom right to enter full-screen mode.

20th Century

George Henry (‘Daddy’) Green

Captain Arthur Kilby VC, MC

Sir Anthony Eden

Sir Terry Frost

Sir Frank Whittle

Sir Bernard Spilsbury, 1877 – 1947

The Theatre Royal

Edith Mary Warr

The Free Czechoslovak Army

The Last Bath Chair

A Regal Ghost

The Parish Church

New Sikh Heritage Book

The Leamington History Group Digital Archive

Local Olympians

Leamington History Group Walks Christchurch Gardens, Past, Present & Future

Free Self Guided Leamington Heritage Trails: Christchurch Gardens to Pump Rooms

Free Self Guided Leamington Heritage Trails: Jephson Gardens to the Pump Rooms