The Dulwich Society - The Dulwich Society

Who was Who in Dulwich

Who was Who in Dulwich
100 notable people
Edited by Bernard Nurse
 
Who was Who in Dulwich was the work of the Local History sub-committee of the Dulwich Society. Entries have been compiled by members mostly from standard sources, and the initials of the main author are added at the end of the entry. This publication considerably expands the section on local worthies printed in the first history supplement to the Dulwich Society Newsletter October 1982. The original editorial work was carried out by Patrick Darby. In addition much valuable assistance was provided by George Young of the Herne Hill Society especially in extracting Dulwich references from the six volumes of Boase’s Modern English Biography. Recent CD-ROM publications of Who was Who and the Dictionary of National Biography have made the task of searching for entries by place of association possible.

Last Updated on Monday, 25 February 2013 12:05

A Gazetteer of Dulwich Roads and Place Names

A Gazetteer of Dulwich Roads and Place Names

Compiled in 1997 by Patrick Darby for the Dulwich Society, with assistance from fellow members of the Society's History Sub-Committee, specially Mary Boast and Brian Green. Revised 2009 by Bernard Nurse.

This gazetteer is restricted, for reasons of space, to those roads and place-names falling mostly within the old boundary of the Dulwich Estate.  For the location of addresses and photographs taken in 2008 of local streets see Google Maps and Street View.

The dates when names have been approved for roads and flats have been given when known, but this does not necessarily indicate when building took place. A new name could replace an older one to avoid confusion and names could be assigned before buildings were erected.

Last Updated on Monday, 25 February 2013 12:06

About The Local History Sub-Committee

The Local History Subcommittee arrange lectures, walks and visits for Society Members and encourage individual research into Dulwich's fascinating past.

Some local history publications are available by post from P L Spencer, Hon. Sec. Dulwich Society, 7 Pond Cottages, London SE21 7LE. These include:

1. A Gazetteer of Dulwich Roads & Place Names
   £4.00 + 50p postage
2. Bell House, College Road
   £2.50 + 75p postage
3. Dulwich - The Home Front
   £5.00 + 75p postage (Also available to personal shoppers at the Art Stationers, 31 Dulwich Village, London SE21 7BN)
4. Who Was Who in Dulwich - The brief biographies of 100 notable past residents
   £6.95 + £1 postage (Also available to personal shoppers at the Art Stationers, 31 Dulwich Village, London SE21 7BN)

Cheques in sterling should be made payable to THE DULWICH SOCIETY

Contributors and Society Members who are interested in further information or in contributing to the work of the Local History Subcommittee should contact Bernard Nurse, Chairman.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 21 March 2012 02:28

Guide to Sources

Tracing the history of houses in Dulwich

The most useful general collections can be found in:

Southwark Local History Library, 211 Borough High Street, London SE1 1JA;
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ;
website: www.southwark.gov.uk/DiscoverSouthwark/LocalHistoryLibrary.                       
The equivalent record centre for that part of Dulwich in Lambeth is:
Lambeth Archives, Minet Library, 52 Knatchbull Road, London SE5 9QY;
tel: 020-7926-6076;                            
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ;
website: www.lambeth.gov.uk/services/leisure-culture    

Records generated by the Dulwich Estate can be found in Dulwich College Archive, Dulwich College, Dulwich Common, London SE21 7LD.
Tel: 0208-299-9201;
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ;
website: www.dulwich.org.uk.                         
[access is only by prior appointment]                                        

Some records mostly after 1900 are still in The Dulwich Estate, The Old College, Gallery Road, London SE21 7AE;
tel: 020-8299-1000;
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ;
website: www.thedulwichestate.com.                        
[requests for information should be made to The Dulwich Estate]

Last Updated on Monday, 25 February 2013 12:06

The Wardens Post

".... today, parts of the ancient village, which goes back beyond Domesday Book, are reminiscent of the battlefields of France in the last war." It is difficult to imagine that this could ever have been a description of Dulwich, but it comes from a booklet, The Wardens' Post, published during Spring 1946, after the end of World War II. The editor was George Brown, sometime Warden of Post 60, a well-remembered local resident, Dulwich historian, and former editor of The Villager. The booklet, dedicated to "all our comrades who wore the silver and gold of London's Civil Defence", is one of a number of records of the Air Raid Wardens' Post 60, which have been presented to the Dulwich Society. Another booklet, Pen Portraits of Post 60 by R.K. Spedding, has graphic lino-cut illustrations by Edwin Tucker sometime Senior Fire Guard. The other items in the collection are the actual archives of the Post, a rare survival: the Minute Book, April 1941 - March 1944 and Log Books, August 1941 - April 1942 and June 1944 - June 1945. These latter are brief notes, in pencil, by whoever was on duty that day. Much of the contents of both Minute Book and Log Books is of a routine nature, but as a whole this little collection gives a revealing and human insight into the life and work of one local A.R.P. Post among the thousands that covered the country during the war years. Used in conjunction with records at the Southwark Local Studies Library such as Camberwell Borough Council Minutes 1939-45, the unpublished Camberwell Incidents Register and the published List of Civilian Dead, combined with the memories of local residents, one could build up a detailed history of Dulwich during the war.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 21 March 2012 02:28

Pond Cottages

'Pond Cottages', the picturesque cluster of houses lying to the immediate south of the Mill Pond adjoining College Road, Dulwich, were not originally intended for residential use, as might be deduced from their somewhat eccentric lay-out and lack of any coherent style of architecture. Comparison of old leases reveals that from 1663 (and possibly much earlier - there were at least four 'tylemakers' in Dulwich between 1400 and 1420) until the 1780's the site was used for manufacturing tiles and, later on, bricks. In his 1808 Report, the College Surveyor William James wrote: "It would be advisable to give every encouragement to Builders, and for that purposes I recommend the College to allow the Tenants to make Bricks on their Land, free from Royalty, to be employed only on the College Estate". This had already been done in the case of 'Belair', whose builder and lessee, John Willes, had used earth excavated from his premises (possibly, dare one suggest it, where the lake now is) to make bricks for the work because of the high price of bricks generally and the inadequate supply locally; he had been prompted to do so at the suggestion of William Oxlade, of whom more later. However, the College never acceded to Mr James' proposal, and even today requires tenants to agree "not to make, burn, sell or deposit any bricks on the premises".

Last Updated on Wednesday, 21 March 2012 02:28

The 1851 Census

The Census return for 1851 gives a fascinating picture of Dulwich before the impact of the railways and the Crystal Palace, when it was still part of the administrative county of Surrey and a village in every sense. The census enumerators took their own idiosyncratic route in carrying out their duties, so that it can be difficult to link households with particular buildings. Occasionally houses are named, and it would be possible (although this has not been done for the purposes of this survey) to arrive at definitive answers to such problems of identification by consulting College leases. Allowing for a few houses which may have been included incorrectly, this appraisal is concerned with the Village, the Common, Half Moon Lane, Dulwich (now Red Post) Hill, Herne Hill, the west side of Lordship Lane, and the Penge (now College) Road, in other words the College Estate excluding Sydenham Hill. It covers 278 households, about two- thirds of which had 'heads of households' born in the south-east of England. 122 had come from what is now Greater London or Middlesex, and of this number only 38 had their origins in Dulwich, showing (perhaps surprisingly to most people) that although the population may not have been as mobile as it is today, Dulwich was by no means an inbred country village. Of the remaining one-third 'heads', a substantial group came from the south and west of England, 7 from Scotland, Ireland or Wales, 7 from Europe, and 2 from Asia.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 21 March 2012 02:28