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Number 1 to the Salutation or St George's Almshouses, Old Brentford

In the 1841 census what we now know as Kew Bridge Road was listed as part of the High Street, but in preparing these notes I’ve ignored Kew Bridge Road and concentrated on what became number 1 High Street onwards.

This section of the High Street was listed as ‘Front Street’ in the 1851 census, presumably in contrast to ‘Back Lane’.

Properties

Number 1

The Valuation Records (1909/10) describe the property as a house and corner shop on the East corner of The Hollows, with a washhouse in the yard for milk cans etc with a clearing yard at the side, the front wall of which was used as an ‘advertising station’ . There were cart gates to the yard and the premises were in ‘fair repair’. The owner’s name was altered from Messrs Pickfords Ltd to Mr Handsley, who lived in Chiswick. The occupiers were The National Dairy Co Ltd.

In 1911 Fred Brown and his wife Mary Ann lived here with their four children, the parents and eldest son being born in Lincolnshire, the remaining three children in Brentford. Fred Brown was a dairyman, a worker and one of his sons, Alfred Stokes Brown, age 18, was a ‘milk carrier assist in business’. The property had 5 rooms. Living at the same address was Mrs Annie Kemish, a widow aged 62, who occupied one room.

The Oak Farm Dairy Co is listed here in the 1913 trade directory, then David Haywood in 1920, 1928, 1933 & 1940.

See reference on Museum of London's archaeology website to 1 Brentford High Street:

“Cutting natural gravels and, on the N side of the site, brickearth, were three small post-medieval pits, an 18th-c ditch aligned at right-angles to the High Street, and several brick structures. Of particular interest were the remains of a large building on the E side of the site, identified on 19th-c maps (dating back to 1839) as a malthouse. Walls abutting the malthouse were dated to the 19th c, as was a brick-lined soakaway.”

Number 2

In 1890 and 1891 Alfred Ives, a shoemaker, lived here. The census shows he was 61, had a wife Elizabeth, stepson James(?Waren), labourer and widowed lodger Harriet Beesley, laundress.

In the 1909/10 Valuation I have not found a reference to no. 2 High Street yet. The Rpyal Tar (no. 3) is described as having a 32’ frontage to the Hollows, suggesting that no. 2 had been demolished or incorporated into the Royal Tar Beerhouse by this date.

Royal Tar Beerhouse - number 3

By 1871 Isaac Beese ‘beerseller & boiler maker’, Bristol-born, ran the beerhouse. In the same household were his wife and daughter, both named Priscilla, and Richard Pearce, his wife’s father, who ran the Royal Tar previously. Two nieces surname Marriner also lived here.

William Brooks, lighterman, had taken over by 1881: Trevor Mitchell advises William was the husband of Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Pearce and that another daughter, Jane Pearce, was working there as a waitress.

By 1891 John T Wilson, gas stoker lived here, in 1898 John Francis Wilson, beer retailer, and in 1901 William Atkinson from Knutsford in Cheshire. In 1907: Arthur Ernest Dodgson, in 1911: E. Britton.

The Valuation Records (1909/10) describe the property as brick built and slated, with 3 bedrooms, a club room and WC on the first floor; 2 main bars, a jug bar and kitchen on the ground floor. The small yard had a WC and urinal. The owner was Ashby’s Staines Brewery and the frontage to the High Street was 34’ 0”, to The Hollows 32’ 0”.

In the 1911 census Henry Arthur Webb managed the Royal Tar. He had a one year old adopted daughter. The property had six rooms and four boarders: a mother, Constance Harvey, her married daughter Daisy O’Brien and sons John Nue, 18, (pointsman, electric tramway) and Thomas Nue, 15, errand boy for a corn chandler.

There were a number of changes of occupier: to Richard Evans by 1913, Henry George Spilling by 1921, Albert Charles Barber by 1928, George Charles Payne by 1933, Arthur Burrows (1937 & 1938) then Tom Hills by 1940.

By the 1990s the pub was O’Riordan’s and continues in 2011 under this name (but during 2005 to 2008 it was known as Captain Morgan’s).

Number 4

In 1861 George Winter, lighterman, lived at no. 4. Brentford & Chiswick Local History Journal 2007 notes ‘The Winters ran the largest of the lighter fleets in 1841, and Thomas Winter … was one of only four barge owners to receive compensation’ (following the 1841 flood). George Winter may be related to Thomas Winter.

In 1871 William Becknell, barge builder, and William Bearman, blacksmith, shared the property; John William Smith, another barge builder, lived here in 1881, then John Wilson, carman, in 1891.

In 1901 a building was recorded between number 3 and the almshouses at no. 6.

In 1911 John Wilson, 52, was recorded in the census at 4 High Street in the enumerator’s list, but he gave his address as 4 Victoria Wharf suggesting the two addresses were interchangeable. He was a yardsman, lime and cement merchants and the property has three rooms.

1913 – 1933 trade directories show Wiggins & Co, lime merchants at numbers 4 & 5, The 1909/10 Valuation records Wiggins & Co as occupiers, Fanny E Mann as the owner. The premises consisted of a house, stables, wharf & premises with a frontage of 18’ 6” to the High Street, more at rear. The house was old, brick built and slated with one floor and basement. The ground floor had 1 room divided into two, a cart entrance at the side and a store room over. The basement included a stable with 4 stalls; there was a large brick built stores on two floors fronting the river. The annual rent was £60.

Number 5

By 1871 Thomas had died. His widow Sarah remained at no. 5 running a sweetshop. With her lived her widowed daughter, Catherine Burley or Bailey who assisted in the shop, granddaughter Susan Burley or Bailey, 8, nephew William Hathersley and a lodger Charles Matthew.

No reference has been found to no. 5 in the 1881 or 1891 census.

In a 1898 trade directory Wiggins & Co, lime, slate, tile, cement & drainpipe merchants, are listed at Victoria wharf, High Street and Lionel Road, Kew Bridge.

Later directories give an address of 4&5 High Street: see no. 4 for details.

Saluation Almshouses, number 6

In 1871 the Almshouses were recorded as four houses, each occupied by two households; the enumerator was working from west to east:

• Ann Kelley, widow, 80 born London
• Ann Richardson, widow, 61 born Hadstock Essex
• Mary Narraway, widow, 76, formerly lace maker, born Winslow, Bucks
• Mary Chutter, widow, 68 born Brentford
• Margaret Morgan, widow, 72 born (?) Merthyr Tydfil Wales
• Mary Ann Wilde, widow, 74, needlewoman born Warborough, Oxon
• Elliner Hart, widow, 79, born ? ford, Surrey? (in 1861: Back Lane, Elanor Hart, occupation ‘pew opener’, age 70 born Deptford, Kent.)
• Charlotte Weatherly, widow, 81 birthplace ditto-ed from Elliner Hart; her 51 year old unmarried daughter Eliza shared the room

The 1881 census listed 1 Alsmhouse, room 1, room 2; 2 Almshouse room 3, room 4 etc:

• Room1: Sarah Richards, unmarried, 81, born Brentford; her sister Mercy Sansom, widow 71 and a boarder, Susan Stannard, 17 shared the one room with her
• Room 2: Ann Treadaway, widow, 76 born Ascot, Berkshire
• Room 3: Georgina Hall, widow, 72, born Chelsea
• Room 4: Mary Walsh, widow, 64 born Cork Co.
• Room 5: Jane Dickenson, widow, 80 born Staines
• Room 6: Eliza Basley, widow, 62 born Brentford
• Room 7: Ann Richardson, widow, 70 born Hadstock Essex
• Room 8: Sarah Lingwood, widow, 80 born Binnington (Benington?) Hertfordshire

In 1891 the occupants of the almshouses were listed as two groups of four, I think the first four lived in the western block, the next four in the eastern block:

• Martha Armitage, widow, 80 born Ealing
• Eliza Bazley, spinster, 72 born Brentford
• Ann Richardson, widow, 79 (birthplace blank)
• Sarah Lingwood, widow, 90 (birthplace blank); her married daughter Fanny Austin, 52, born Brentford, was also recorded at this address
• Mary Welch, widow, 76 born Ireland
• Mercy Sansom, widow, 82 born Brentford
• Susanna Dawson, spinster (?24 - seems unlikely), born Holborn London
• Hannah Weblin, widow, 59 born Brentford

In 1901 the Almshouses were recorded in the following sequence: number 8, 7, 3, 4, 2, 1, 6 and 5. The occupants, who were all 'parochial pensioner', bar one lady who was still working, lived in numbers 1 to 8 as follows:

• 1: Judith Rand, widow, 76 born Plumstead Norfolk
• 2: Emma Sheppard, widow, 66, born Brentford End, Isleworth
• 3: Maria Field, widow, 65 born Brentford
• 4: Ann Pritchard, widow, 72 born Dover Kent; her grandson, Thomas E Batten, 14, was also at this address
• 5: Ann(a?) Weblin, widow, 69, charwoman, born Ealing Road Brentford
• 6: Phoebe Martin, widow, 81, born Egham
• 7: Hannah Wills, widow, 65 born Isleworth
• 8: Mary Parkins, widow, 75 born Brentford

The Valuation Records (1909/10) describe the almshouses as ‘consisting of 2 small blocks of rooms, each block containing on the top floor 2 rooms and on the ground floor 2 rooms, the ground floor rooms have a coal cupboard each’. In the West block the numbers upstairs were 1 & 3, downstairs 2 & 4. In the East block 5 & 7 upstairs, 6 & 8 downstairs. At the rear was a small garden, a common washing house and 2 WCs. The premises were repaired in 1871. The trustees, who paid the insurance and were liable for repairs were:

• M Thomas, The Lodge Brentford
• Rev T Selby Henrey, St Georges Vicarage Brentford
• J Clements JP, Thames Bank House, Brentford
• G H Jupp, Stafford House
• W J Newens, 327 High Street Brentford
• W J Noy, The Homestead, Clayponds Lane, Brentford

In 1911 the occupants of the 'St George's Almshouses' were:

• 1: Harriett Newton, 72, who had 14 children born alive, 9 still alive; she was a monthly nurse, born Waterford
• 2: Harriett Elizabeth Newman, 80, widow, old age pensioner born Paddington
• 3: Mary Ann Thomas, widow, 74, old age pensioner born Brentford
• 4: Matilda Jane Wheatley, widow, 78, born Thorpe Surrey
• 5: Catharine Seares, widow, 76, old age pensioner born Isleworth
• 6: Maria Field, widow, 72, old age pensioner born Old Brentford
• 7: Emma Jane Sheppard, 76, widow who had 9 children, 8 still alive, old age pensioner born Brentford
• 8: uninhabited

According to Gillian Clegg in ‘Brentford Past’ when the almshouses closed the inhabitants were re-housed and money from the sale of the site used to establish a pension fund for them.

See Photos/Ephemera/Maps for a link to a 1945 photo of the almshouses.

Photos/Ephemera/Maps

References such as '1899 (A11)' indicate the date of a photo (1899) and where it is published (A11). Details of 'A' are available: see Mainly paper sources page; '11' refers to the page no, or photo no. in the publication.

Roads Off

Published 2005; last updated December 2011