A little bit of Eltham from Ontario in Canada

Now, a fascinating collection of photographs of Eltham fell through the letter box today, and what a journey it has had to arrive here in Manchester.

Cover of Village Eltham, undated

It was sent by my friend Barbara who like me left Eltham a long time ago and while I washed up in the North, she kept on going and lives in Canada close to heaps of my Canadian cousins.

Not only do we share Eltham but we both went to Crown Woods and she knew one of my great aunt’s sons who was well known locally in her part of Ontario.

We found each other via social media and despite its detractors Face Book and those other platforms can be a positive force in making new contacts, as well as allowing people to share their writing, and photographs with a wider world.

And make no mistake the writing and pictures which appear can be as excellent as anything produced by a professional.

All of which leads me back to the book which consists of 36 photographs from the early 20th century.

Some will be familiar, but many are new to me, and I suspect will be to others.  Most were I think produced by commercial photographers who will have sold some to residents as well as picture post card companies.

Often the photographer would have walked down particular streets and captured a selection of the houses, only to go back and offer up a copy to the occupants of each house.

This collection goes under the title of Village Eltham and were compiled by Gus White, Ian Murdock and Paula Richardson in 1984 and published by G & Pi Publications Eltham.*

I went looking for the company so that I could get permission to reproduce some of the images, but so far I haven’t been successful.

But then I guess someone in Eltham will know the three individuals or were involved with the publisher and if I am lucky will help me get in touch with them.

Until then mindful of copyright I shall just reproduce one image which ticks lots of boxes.

The carousel and the hutments, undated

It is number 36, “Entertainment at the Hutments”, and the caption runs “This horse drawn carousel was hand-cranked by the operator providing welcomed amusement for the children living in the huts. 

The Eltham hutments on the slopes of Shooters Hill were built during the First World War for the Woolwich Arsenal workers and removed in the 1930s”.

Few people will now know of the temporary accommodation which was built along with an estate of houses which became known as the Progress Estate.

And here the story takes a personal turn because we lived in one of those houses and all of us have fond memories of the place where we grew up and owned for 3 decades.

Added to this one of the huts featured in my book on Manchester and the Great War, and the story of George Davison from Manchester who in the March of 1918 made his will shortly before embarking for the Western Front.*

It was witnessed by H M Drinkhall and V L Dade and was hand written in a single sheet of note paper and is simple and the point. “This is the last will and testament of me George Gurnel Davison of Birch Vale Cottage, Roomily, Cheshire.

I give devise and bequeath to my dear wife Mary Ellen all my property whatsoever and wheresoever and I appoint her sole Executor of this my will.”

The will, 1918

By the time he made the will he had served with the Royal Artillery for four years and spent time in London and Ireland but now with the German offensive in full swing he was about to go to France, and as we know would be killed just three months later.

In one of his letters to his wife he had mentioned the Drinkhall family and how they were looking forward to her coming back to stay.

And that set me off looking for them, and in that I was helped by my friend Tricia, who located them to one of the hutments on what is now the site of the old Well Hall Odeon, which is just a few minutes’ walk from our old house.

So having made that connection between me, our house, H Drinkhall and a Manchester soldier I will close with that “horse drawn carousel” which was exactly like one I encountered on a Greek island in 1994, and another a decade later in a small remote Italian village.  

Both were operated by muscle power, and both were owned by a family of iterant travellers who pitched up for a few nights in a small village offering entertainment to the local children before moving on.

All of which just leaves me to make an appeal for anyone who knows or knew the three authors, so that I can share more of the images.

Location; Eltham

Pictures, cover and horse drawn carousel from Village Eltham, Will, 1918, of George Davison, from the collection of David Harrop

*Eltham Village,  Gus White, Ian Murdock and Paula Richardson in 1984 and published by G & Pi Publications Eltham

**A will ……. the Eltham Hutments and a soldier of the Great War, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2020/06/a-will-eltham-hutments-and-soldier-of.html