General Brixton history - photos, stories etc

[CH1]

I was sent this alarming TV news clip from the 1978 Lambeth Central by-election.
Looks like it's Martin Webster marshaling people into a National Front election meeting in Loughborough School.
Rather hairy - this is where I've voted for the last 35 years.
You can see from the clip that the SWP took a very hands-on approach in those days.
The election result was as follows:

Party	Candidate	Votes
Labour	John Tilley	10,311
Conservative	Jeremy Hanley	7,170
National Front	Helena Steven	1,291
Liberal	David Blunt	1,104

also rather alarming. I can't really comment on local factors as I was living in Merton then and only moved to Brixton in November 1978.

 

[peterkro]

I was sent this alarming TV news clip from the 1978 Lambeth Central by-election.
Looks like it's Martin Webster marshaling people into a National Front election meeting in Loughborough School.
Rather hairy - this is where I've voted for the last 35 years.
You can see from the clip that the SWP took a very hands-on approach in those days.
The election result was as follows:

Party	Candidate	Votes
Labour	John Tilley	10,311
Conservative	Jeremy Hanley	7,170
National Front	Helena Steven	1,291
Liberal	David Blunt	1,104

also rather alarming. I can't really comment on local factors as I was living in Merton then and only moved to Brixton in November 1978.

I was there along with quite a few other Villa road squatters, they were chased off eventually.

 

[cresconius]

I have these old photos of Cormont Road School. I am presuming this is Saint Gabriel’s College, which later became the 1st London General Hospital and is now sitting desolate as another local white elephant.

However, I can find limited evidence it was ever called Cormont Road School. Is there anywhere online I could look or would I need to delve deeper into the archives.

There seem to be no other suitable locations where these could be from so I am fairly confident this is the right place.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

However, I can find limited evidence it was ever called Cormont Road School. Is there anywhere online I could look or would I need to delve deeper into the archives.

web search on "cormont road school" gets a few results but also haven't found anything definitive.

photo of the group of schoolmasters feels pre 1914 (or possibly a few years after 1918 if they were a really old fashioned bunch), photo of (class?) E8 looks more 1950s.

I have a 1957 Lambeth Borough guide book. Schools were run by the London County Council not the boroughs, so it doesn't list individual schools, but there is a mention of the Robert Browning Men's (Junior) Institute at Cormont School, SE5. Don't think I have anything LCC to hand that lists individual schools.

It was not unknown for the LCC to change the purpose and name of school buildings depending on population changes, opening / closing of other schools (and emergency arrangements following bomb damage) and after 1945 if particular sites got re-developed. The primary school I went to (in Lewisham) had been built as a secondary school and changed both name and status later.

Also was not unknown for LCC to have two (administratively) separate schools on the same site - I can find a suggestion (again in the case of my old primary school) that at one point one building was primary and another secondary (one was an adult education centre when I was there, but think both are now used by the primary school.) Also, one school could have two sites.

1911 London suburbs directory for Cormont Road -



think the 'LCC School' and St Gabriel's College may be two separate entries - they seem to be 2 separate buildings (1914 OS map here) and a couple of things I've found online may be confusing the two. OS maps from pre-1914 and early 50's just show 'school' rather than a school name.

no mention of either in the 1919 version (the latest currently in public domain) but found a reference to the building (or one of them) being used by the war office in (and presumably for a short while after) the 1914-18 war

1951 phone book (these are on 'Ancestry', and my local library allows remote access) muddies the water further



There was a school building (site since redeveloped) in the middle of the triangle formed by Cormont Road, Halsmere Road and Calais Street (1950-ish OS map here) -

1919 London Suburbs Directory lists this under Halsmere Road (not Flodden Road) as Kennington Secondary School for Girls - it may be that the site of the house shown as 'ruin' (probably bomb damage) on the 1950 map was bought by the LCC to form a new entrance off Flodden Road.

 

[cresconius]

That is good there is evidence of a Cormont Road School.

I didn’t realise there was a school in the Halsmere-Flodden-Calais triangle and it would be strange to call it Cormont Road School. But the listing of the school at Flodden Road does muddy the waters as Flodden and Cormont do not bisect.

I actually said the school was the site of the old Saint Gabriels College although I didn’t realise that the sites were separate but that looks obviously to be the case. I will assume that this is the current dilapidated site then.

Amazing information- thanks.

 

[Casaubon]

That is good there is evidence of a Cormont Road School.

I didn’t realise there was a school in the Halsmere-Flodden-Calais triangle and it would be strange to call it Cormont Road School. But the listing of the school at Flodden Road does muddy the waters as Flodden and Cormont do not bisect.

I actually said the school was the site of the old Saint Gabriels College although I didn’t realise that the sites were separate but that looks obviously to be the case. I will assume that this is the current dilapidated site then.

Amazing information- thanks.

Is this of any interest?

Charles Edward Brooke School, Cormont Road

The original building, built in 1897 for the London School Board, consisted of a 3-storey central block with a 6-storey tower on each side. It was extended in 1912. The girls' entrance was in front of the left-hand block (left), while the boys' was on the right-hand side (right). As neighbour to the First London General Hospital in St Gabriel's College during the First World War, Cormont Secondary School was prepared for convalescent cases, but the building had no bathrooms and these had to be added. The 3-storey building housed 100 beds on each floor. After the war the Cormont Secondary School became the Kennington Boys School, an annexe of the Kennington Secondary School.

Charles Edward Brooke School, Cormont... © Robin Stott cc-by-sa/2.0

The original building, built in 1897 for the London School Board, consisted of a 3-storey central block with a 6-storey tower on each side. It was extended in 1912. The girls' entrance was in front of the left-hand block (left), while the boys' was on the right-hand side (right). As neighbour...

www.geograph.org.uk

 

[Puddy_Tat]

That is good there is evidence of a Cormont Road School.

probably stating the obvious, but if you do want to dig further, the London Metropolitan Archive is home to the London County Council / GLC / ILEA archive

 

[Puddy_Tat]

couple of brixton trams on Flickr today

Effra Road at what's now Windrush Square -




Milkwood Road -

 

[editor]

Brixton views from 15 years ago

Brixton Market views from September 2006

 

[Puddy_Tat]

and today's - junction of Poplar (Walk) Road / Lowden Road

presume due to narrow streets, trams had a one way system, north via Milkwood Road, south via Poplar Walk Road / Lowden Road

 

[blossie33]

Saw this today and thought of this thread - apologies if it's been posted before - too many pages to look through!

 

[teuchter]

and today's - junction of Poplar (Walk) Road / Lowden Road

presume due to narrow streets, trams had a one way system, north via Milkwood Road, south via Poplar Walk Road / Lowden Road

It's the tram route that was scandalously never replaced with a bus route!

 

[Puddy_Tat]

It's the tram route that was scandalously never replaced with a bus route!

umm - tram 48 became bus 48 in 1952 (although without the one way system arrangement)

The Herne Hill end got tacked on to various incarnations of routes 42 and 40 and disappeared at some point in the mid 60s

 

[teuchter]

umm - tram 48 became bus 48 in 1952 (although without the one way system arrangement)

The Herne Hill end got tacked on to various incarnations of routes 42 and 40 and disappeared at some point in the mid 60s

Yes, I should have said scandalously not retained as a bus route - it only seems to have lasted a few years (1952-58?). It looks like the 40 and 42 routes ran from Herne Hill to Camberwell via Denmark Hill instead.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Yes, I should have said scandalously not retained as a bus route - it only seems to have lasted a few years (1952-58?). It looks like the 40 and 42 routes ran from Herne Hill to Camberwell via Denmark Hill instead.

think the 42 ran via Milkwood Road on Mon - Fri until 1966, and the 40B on Saturdays (London Transport used to enjoy that sort of thing)

ETA - can't find any specific reference to why this bit of route came off, but December 1966 had a batch of bus service changes (broadly involving reductions) - London Transport implemented the 5 day week for bus crews around then, and was perennially short of staff.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

today's tram porn



1938-ish in Streatham Hill 'Telford Avenue' depot (the site that's now the 1950s built bus garage, not the Brixton Hill site that's still obviously an ex tram depot)

Six of the trams are the 'Feltham' type, introduced in the early 30s in north and west london - they were bigger and better than earlier generations of tram, had new features like air brakes, saloon heaters (not something that started getting fitted to london buses until the late 50s) and so on. they could do close to 50 mph on an open road.

They were displaced by trolleybus conversion and ended up on the Streatham / Brixton routes because the depots needed less work doing to make them fit than any other depot on the network.

Tram at left of picture was a one-off, the London County Council's 1930's prototype for a new fleet which never happened.

 

[happyshopper]

today's tram porn

Thanks. There’s another Brixton picture close by in the Flicker stream I haven’t see before here.

 

[teuchter]

Thanks. There’s another Brixton picture close by in the Flicker stream I haven’t see before here.

Posted by Puddy_Tat a couple of weeks ago upthread!

 

[editor]

This looks interesting London Transport’s Caribbean Workforce exhibition to open at London Transport Museum in February 2022

 

[brixtonscot]

I was sent this alarming TV news clip from the 1978 Lambeth Central by-election.
Looks like it's Martin Webster marshaling people into a National Front election meeting in Loughborough School.
Rather hairy - this is where I've voted for the last 35 years.
You can see from the clip that the SWP took a very hands-on approach in those days.
The election result was as follows:

Party	Candidate	Votes
Labour	John Tilley	10,311
Conservative	Jeremy Hanley	7,170
National Front	Helena Steven	1,291
Liberal	David Blunt	1,104

also rather alarming. I can't really comment on local factors as I was living in Merton then and only moved to Brixton in November 1978.

Interesting candidates in bye election...
".....several far left groups organised in the area stood in the hope of combating the National Front and raising their own profiles. Actor Corin Redgrave stood for the Workers Revolutionary Party, while the Socialist Unity coalition and Socialist Party of Great Britain also stood, while the Socialist Workers Party stood in the name of their publication Flame - Black Workers Paper For Self Defence."

1978 Lambeth Central by-election - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The Socialist Unity candidate , John Chase , was from Black group Brixton & Croydon Collective , which Big Flame ( not SWP Flame ) had links with.

1978-socialist-unity-lambeth

1978 Socialist Unity meeting in Brixton. Lloyd from the Brixton and Croydon collective speaking.

radical-lambeth.org

 

[Judy B]

That's ace. If I get a few moments, I may do a little history piece on Buzz based on that colourised pic.
*gets ready to start researching

The John Myland in the photo was a French Polisher Indeed Mylands is stilll going now in a second site in West Norwood purpose built - I used to use them loads in my cabinet amking and carpentry days.

The History of Mylands

The Company’s founder John Charles Francis Myland (1860-1932). John Started life as an apprentice French polisher, in the late 1870s. After a few years he started selling supplies to other …

mylandsoflondon.wordpress.com

 

[Puddy_Tat]

today's brixton tram



shop still carries 'tusons corner' sign, but no longer tuson's (street view here)

 

[friendofdorothy]

Any idea when that is from? - I had thought that those flats were from the 50s or are they prewar? - when did trams go out of use?

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Any idea when that is from? - I had thought that those flats were from the 50s or are they prewar? - when did trams go out of use?

photo is 1948 or after from one or two of the details on the tram.

Tram 16 / 18 became bus 109 in April 1951, the last trams through Brixton (on Kingsway Subway service 33) were April 1952, London's last trams (on the central London - Woolwich area routes) were July 1952.

I can find a reference that Dumbarton Court was built 1939, and a photo of it under construction dated 1937.

 

[RoyReed]

Any idea when that is from? - I had thought that those flats were from the 50s or are they prewar? - when did trams go out of use?

Dumbarton Court - Modern Movement building built to a design by Couch & Coupland completed in 1939.

 

[friendofdorothy]

thanks - looking again, I had forgotten the deco curves on those flats. trees obscure the veiw now. Love the ads on the photo.

 

[RoyReed]

Her's a photo of the building under construction in 1937.

Dumbarton Court on Brixton Hill

Dumbarton Court flats, Brixton Hill, Brixton, with scaffolding in the process of construction. It was later acquired by the Lambeth Borough Council in 1959 and significant alterations and part demolition occurred on the site. The exterior shell has largely been maintained. Adverts that appear on...

www.londonpicturearchive.org.uk

 

[friendofdorothy]

Her's a photo of the building under construction in 1937.

Dumbarton Court on Brixton Hill

Dumbarton Court flats, Brixton Hill, Brixton, with scaffolding in the process of construction. It was later acquired by the Lambeth Borough Council in 1959 and significant alterations and part demolition occurred on the site. The exterior shell has largely been maintained. Adverts that appear on...

www.londonpicturearchive.org.uk

Puddy_Tat beat you to it. great photo. the ads are great

 

[RoyReed]

Yeah, he must have posted while I was looking stuff up. I'll have to be quicker next time.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

the ads are great

there appears to have been an Empire Tea Market Expansion Bureau

from here