Tachbrook Road was one of the early residential streets in Leamington, but it has changed character several times over the years. In 1893, Tachbrook Road included such smart addresses as Claremont Terrace, Eastnor Terrace and Park Place, where a Miss Collins ran her own school. Shrubland Hall (Home of Rev W G Wise, incumbent of … Read more
This was a Challenge Project during Lockdown, 2020-2021 Six people entered the challenge and received one vote each. Their entries are published here B01. ALAN JONES. ROLLING STONES at HYDE PARK 1969 It was probably a Friday or Saturday evening, in June 1969, when the die was cast. A group of close friends were enjoying … Read more
Here are the eleven entries in this Lockdown Project about Memories at Work. Many thanks to all the authors A01 My First Job – Kay Bugg I left Leamington College for Girls as Kay Sheasby in July 1959 and two weeks later was working at Automotive Products or Lockheed as everyone called it. This large … Read more
Charles Richard Burgis was descended from a line of traders in Oxfordshire going back to the late 17th century. Some of our Burgis ancestors were millers in Benson, and I have a certificate of Indenture of a James Burgess, dated 1761, from his apprenticeship to Henry Goodwin, a Tallow Chandler and Soap Boiler in Benson. … Read more
John (aka Jack) Milton Woodward might have become a household name in Leamington as the second generation of the family to own Woodward’s department store on the Parade, but instead chose a career in showbusiness. Leamington History Group member and member of the Inner Magic Circle, David Budd, learned his first tricks from Jack Woodward … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
One of Leamington’s longest established businesses became yet another casualty of the increasing rents demanded for commercial premises when H B Dunn the Regent Street Chemist moved to alternative premises this year. The properties adjoining the old Lloyd’s Bank including the Golden Lion Inn were some of the first buildings to be erected when … Read more
This is Richard Soans’ introduction to the fascinating story of a well-known Leamington family business. CLICK HERE to read the full article. Soans is an unusual name. It may be English, a variant of ‘son,’ or it may be Scandinavian. What is indisputable is that our family can be traced back to 1655. Recent generations … Read more
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 … Read more
Mrs Margaret Mary Maitland Fowler, sometime owner of Leamington’s famous Blue Café in Bath Street, became something of a Midlands legend in her own lifetime. She was appointed OBE for her services to charity, to disabled ex-servicemen and the Red Cross. Mrs Fowler worked for the Red Cross and fund-raised for charity for most of … Read more
