Milverton Lawn, better known to many Leamington residents as The Sunshine Home, is now apartments, and renamed Goodway House, but it was once a substantial Victorian family home, with a fine multi-coloured marble staircase, and a double height ballroom.. The house was built in the early 1860s for the Company Secretary of the Warwick and … Read more
In the early 1970s, Kit and Ivy Reading were interviewed for the 1st edition of the Bath Place Times, painting a vivid picture of their lives and the area where they grew up. The Reading family kept the Althorpe Arms in Althorpe Street for 42 years, until the area became a trading estate in the … Read more
This large copper beech tree stood in Jephson Gardens, close to the Davis Clock, for almost 170 years. According to Leamington History Group member Robin Stott, the tree dates back as far as the late 1840s when Edward Willes’ Newbold Gardens were remodelled and renamed Jephson Gardens. The tree was felled in 2013 because although … Read more
Leamington Priors was one of only four Spa towns in 19th century England to have Bath-chairs as a form of transport, and Thomas Timms played a major role in developing this form of transport. Towards the end of his life, he published a short memoir, detailing his early life and experiences. He was … Read more
From its earliest days as a Spa town, Leamington has always hosted bands and their music. There used to be military bands playing in the Pump Room Gardens every morning in the summer season, – an unwelcome distraction in the early years of the 20th century, for the girls at the Grammar School, sitting examinations … Read more
It is always assumed that Leamington only ever produced one car, the Crowden*, – in spite of the fact that the town is only 10 miles away from Coventry, the spiritual home of the British motor industry, and many of the industry’s high flyers and managers chose to live in Leamington. However, one of the … Read more
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
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
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
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
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
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
