Basics

People Records

Property Records

Sources & More

Brentford High Street Project Home Page

Brentford Festival June 2008

Purpose of this site

Use links under 'People Records', Property Records', 'Sources & More' to access details if you know your way around, or read on if you are interested in a particular family, a property or history, sources, web links etc.

Interested in a particular family?

The site includes many pages which can be searched by surname. Has somebody already researched your family? It is worth checking the Families pages, which include research notes generously contributed by people from around the world. These often include details only a family member knows; some pages have family trees, occasionally photos and other material are included. Over 60 family names are available.

Trade directories from 1811, 1826 and 1928 are searchable by surname and may include your ancestor and their occupation. The earlier two cover the whole of Brentford, the 1928 directory covers just the High Street and gives an exact address.

The 1841 Census index includes details of the head of household for each High Street property, their occupation and likely location (house number) on the High Street.

You may have an ancestor who left a Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) will: check PCC Wills 1800-1858. As well as a list of PCC wills of Brentford people, summaries extracted from over 20 wills are included.

Did your ancestors own any High Street property in the early C20? Check the 1909/10 Owners Index to find out.

Did they attend the first Mayor of Brentford, Jim Clements, funeral, in 1934? Over 150 Brentford people did, from William Adderley to Mrs Zinzan, and their names were noted in the newspaper.

Interested in a particular High Street property?

If you know the house number of a High Street property the Properties introduction is a good starting point.

Maps from ca 1840 and 1894 may show your ancestor's home, the shape of their yard or garden and nearby local landmarks such as pubs and alleys. A brief description of each property was prepared in the early 1900s, see 1909/1910 Valuation.

If you don't know exactly where your ancestors lived then the surnames index to the 1841 census or a 1928 trade directory may help. (I also have details from the other censuses for the High Street, 1851 - 1901, please email me for a free look-up.)

Perhaps a postcard or photograph includes your family home. The Photos page has links to a range of images from the last 100 years, including a set of photos from 1945/6 showing over 50 High Street properties.

History, sources and more

Sources lists local history books: even if no longer in print, copies may be available via Amazon, or Ebay. Links includes web sites which may help in your local or family history research. Document Samples includes documents which may be relevant to your research: eg a Brentford British School certificate from 1894.

What did writers think of Brentford? Read John Betjeman's evocative piece from his visit in the 1950s.

What about the views of people who lived and worked in Brentford in the past? See Memories for unique memories dating from the 1920s onwards.

Finally if you want to know more about

• future additions to the site see Next
• how the site is technically constructed see Site Technology
• the author see Author

Recent Additions

• There are plans to resite the New Brentford WW1 War Memorial so it is timely to include a detailed photo showing the inscription (thanks to Dave Stoneleigh for this) and an index of the names recorded; can you add any details about any of the men recorded here? please contact me if so (2 August 2008)
• The Brentford Festival attracted a number of people whose families came from Brentford, see notes from the day, which include references to the Pharos Marine Co., Brentford Bun, Girls Friendly Society and more (1 August 2008)
• A few people have been in contact about Bobby Henrey, child actor and grandson of Thomas Selby Henry (vicar of St George's in Old Brentford until his retirement in 1930); Ann Corkett has kindly provided some information about Bobby, see the Henrey family page for more details (16 July 2008)
• A postcard of Dock Road area appears to be later in date than previously estimated, following Dave Stoneleigh's observation that a tram in the background has a closed roof; in the course of 'noodling on the Internet' I came across some 1980s photos of the same area on the Brentford Dock web site, and a link to these has been added (16 July 2008)
• Lynn Hayter is descended from Charles James Hutchinson, a carman who lived in Brentford from 1871, possibly earlier (14 July 2008)
• Clark(e) is a common name and Robyn Gross nee Clarke is descended from a John Clark(e) born in Isleworth around 1813/4. Is anyone else tracing Clark(e) of Isleworth? The IGI shows a number of Clark(e) couples producing families 1800-1820 and a couple of Clark(e) tree branches have been added to the web site. Interestingly, the surname distribution maps for the with / without an 'e'versions are quite distinct. (9 July 2008)
• Over 10,000 hits for the site (5 July 2008)
• James Fleetwood, a hairdresser in Old Brentford, died in 1831 and left a PCC will; is he related to the Fleetwood family who moved into Brentford from Whitechapel in the 1840s? (22 June 2008)
• Another postcard, thanks to Ebay! This one was taken in the (late?) 1950s and shows the County Parade, including Woolworths, opposite the Market Place and Magistrates Court (21 June 2008)
• A rare view of around no. 300 High Street, an area known as 'High Ground', from an early C20 postcard (8 June 2008)
• Roger Davis has provided a scan of a postcard showing the High Street around WW1: it includes the Fire Station, built in 1897 and the pawnbrokers opposite: Rattenburys (8 June 2008)
• This home page has been 'spring cleaned' and includes a link to the first piece in the new 'They Said' section, John Betjeman's thoughts on visiting Brentford in the 1950s (2 June 2008)
• Thank you to Janet McNamara, who has sent a recent photo from the former St George's Church in Old Brentford commemorating local man John Mills, who died in 1891 having been Parish Clerk for 50 years (31 May 2008)
• The Hinge family were blacksmiths & veterinary surgeons in New Brentford from the late C18. PCC wills and other sources have enabled a Hinge family tree to be constructed (31 May 2008)
• Another 1945/6 photo, this time showing three modest terraced properties, numbers 260 - 262, which were recorded in the tithe returns over 100 years before the photo was taken; the notes for this area have also been updated and each property is now included (27 May 2008)

I hope you find something of interest and if you have any memories or stories about Brentford High Street please get in touch, I’d be delighted to include them.

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