Build 11 — 19 July 2026
House No. 1 of the Five Houses of Wandsworth Common
Name: Bolingbroke House - House No. 1
Date Built: 1777
Date Demolished: 1937
Builder/Developer: Richard Norris
Architect: Richard Norris
Bolingbroke House was situated towards the northern end of what has become Bolingbroke Grove - on the site of what is now the Bolingbroke Academy, between Wakehurst Road and Belleville Road. There was a pond on the Common opposite, although this was filled in at the end of the 19th century.
[PB:Add a Box Feature on the ponds? But not necessarily here - it could go into the Introduction. Or even be included in a general early chapter on the history and geography of the overall area - including the Falcon Brook , the proximity to the Common, encroachments, topography, lords of the manor etc etc.]
[There was a pond on the Common opposite the Bolingbroke House, which was roughly the same size as the Three-Island Pond [opposite Bolingbroke Grove House?] just to the south. Both ponds are clearly shown on a number of 18th- and 19th-century. These probably started as gravel pits supplying the needs of Bolingbroke House and its neighbours - gravel was widely used in carriage drives and garden paths, and probably surfaced the Five Houses road itself.
When they ceased to be worked, the ponds filled with water.
As ponds, they may have been made more ornamental over time, with planting and the introduction of fish. Edward Thomas calls the one in front of Bolingbroke House the "Box Pond":
"There were carp, too, ... in the roundish Box Pond that lay half-way between the top of our street [Wakehurst] and the railway." He continues: "I once saw a carp many times as big as a gudgeon in the possession of a rough: he had torn its head off to make it fit his jar. Much larger ones were talked about, caught in the Box Pond by the elder brothers of one boy. I saw them fishing there once or twice without a motion of the float in the motionless water. Once I tried there myself all alone. My expectations were huge: that I failed completely only increased my respect for the sacred pond."
I'm not sure exactly when Thomas's "sacred pond" was filled in. I'll check the maps . It's still there on the 1868 OS map, but gone by 1894. After the 1871 Act that saved the Common, the Conservators largely put an end to gravel digging and gradually filled in most of the many pits that covered this side of the Common. ]
When Bolingbroke House was built in 1777 the environment was largely rural.As we see on the Rocque map of 1761 and the Harman plan of [date?], the five houses were all built on fields - arable, pasture and meadow - sloping down to the Falcon Brook. In front, to the west, the Common lay open as far as today's Heathfield Road, when field boundaries began again.
[Location of future Bolingbroke House and Bolingbroke Farm]
The Harman map of 1773 (below) shows the Bolingbroke Farm just north of the house. It was under separate ownership at this time, but it is valuable in it shows the range of crops - mostly barley but also wheat and potatoes in strips.
[PB: The 1773 "Harman map" is a historical estate plan officially titled "Plan and description of Mr Harman’s Estate at Battersey-Rise" by surveyor Thomas Davey. It provides a snapshot of agricultural and land use for John Harman's 30-acre estate on Battersea Rise, which was largely devoted to a mix of wheat, barley, and potatoes. See Survey [p?].]
The Corris map of 1787 (below) shows the house sitting in a rectangular plot fronting Wandsworth Common on its west side - a tree lined lane divided the house from what we can assume was rough ground. Opposite the house, sat a large pond on the Common which was characterized by poor, damp land with gravel pits. The house’s grounds lay principally to the east down to the Falcon Brook.
The “Explanation” of the “Plan of Battersea Surry” supporting the Corris describes the blue line and shading depicting the property owned privately, the red line showing land owned by Earl Spencer and the green line depicts edge of Wandsworth Common.
Bolingbroke House
Twenty years after the house was built, Willis acquired the freehold of Bolingbroke House and in about 1797 purchased Bolingbroke Farm - this included fields north of the house and on the east side of the brook totalling around 64 acres. [This gave the house ownership not just its own landscaped gardens but agricultural property too.]
Also in 1797 the land on the Clapham Common side of the Falcon Brook was sold to the owners of some of the houses on what was to become Bolingbroke Grove. This extended the land of Bolingbroke House to the eastern side of the stream.
The 1800 Milne map shows its land marked as “P” meaning “Paddocks and Little Parks” – this is also true for Bolingbroke Farm, which is confusingly not described as “A” “Arable” or “M” “Meadow and pasture”. This suggests that the grounds of Bolingbroke House will have had a large proportion of rough grass for grazing alongside more formal planting of trees and shrubs.
It is interesting to note that at this stage the Common was known as “Battersea Common”
The grandest of the five houses, with the most extensive grounds, a carriage drive and service quarters. The house was built as part of a speculation of five houses by [Robert?] Dent, who acquired the land from Earl Spencer in 1772. The house was designed and built by Richard Norris, and he was the first lessee in 1778.
There is a description of the house in the Survey of London: Battersea. The house was a three storey, five bay, classical affair: plain and flat at the front facing Wandsworth Common, with an entrance portico, but far livelier on the East front, where a projecting pedimented central bay with tripartite upper windows and canted end bays added movement and interest to a well-composed facade by Norris.
In 1838 described as an 11-bedroom mansion, and the lithograph of about 1830 shows wings at either side of the house, possibly added by the Willises, single storey at first, later raised to two storeys.
[Editorial note: the two paragraphs above cover much the same ground as the fuller account below, beginning “The Survey of London describes the house...” — worth checking whether both versions are needed, or whether one could be trimmed?]
The Survey of London describes the house as a three-storey, five-bay classical affair: plain and flat-fronted facing the Common, with an entrance portico; but far livelier on the east front, where a projecting pedimented central bay with tripartite upper windows and canted end bays added movement and interest to a well-composed façade by Norris. This aspect was made all the more picturesque by being framed by clumps of trees in the well-wooded grounds, and by lawns sloping away from the house down to the brook, which broadened and curved at this point.
Nineteenth-century illustrations show wings at either side of the house, possibly added by the Willises — single-storey at first, later raised to two storeys.
Images
IMAGE 1 – “Bolingbroke Grove, Wandsworth Common", a lithograph is by Louis Haghe (circa 1830). It shows the rear view of Bolingbroke House with its extensive grounds .
IMAGE 2 – Bolingbroke House circa 1830 with, at that time, just single-story wings on either side
Tithe Apportionment, c.1840
These two maps show clearly Bolingbroke Farm as well as Bolingbroke House
The 1894 OS map shows the precise location of Bolingbroke House in the context of the new road layout of Wakehurst and Belleville Roads. By this time the house has been converted into the Bolingbroke Pay Hospital. It shows that houses had been built around the original Bolingbroke House and on most of its estate.
“Bolingbroke Grove Wandsworth Common”, a lithograph by Louis Haghe c.1830, shows that the house enjoyed sweeping views to the east across lawns and rough grass to the Falcon Brook which was widened to make a slim lake framed by clumps of mature trees. This damming of streams to create lakes or ponds was the contemporary vernacular for landscaping, immortalized by Capability Brown. The grazing sheep suggest that the property may have supported this livestock. If not, then sheep were included to enhance the rural, peaceful aspect. It is difficult to confirm the tree species depicted as the artistic style was to portray a “generic” tree type. We can suggest that the trees may have been elm, white or black poplar, horse chestnut, oak or lime just by way of example. It is worth noting that these trees all flourish on the Common today, suggesting favourable conditions.
Likewise, the shrubs are unidentifiable but would have been either of traditional native type to the UK or newly introduced exotic varieties from the global plant hunting expeditions at the time. Wealthy individuals were keen to display new and “status” trees from abroad to embellish their grand grounds.
The Tithe map of 1838 is a gem of extra information. We can see the creation of tracks around the house for carriage and pedestrian access but also across to Bolingbroke Farm. Carriages could conveniently go from house to stables. The property had a circular sweeping drive between the lane and house with a central round area shown undescribed - although the style of the time of Humphrey Repton was to create “artificial” circular shrub or flower beds. Typical of Repton's style was to have paths and tracks of gravel. The perimeter of the grounds alongside the lane appears densely planted with shrubs or small trees perhaps to create seclusion. It is tempting to assume this, as the trees marked on the property east facing grounds are graphically slightly different and more sparsely positioned again in clumps which were of the Brown and Repton style.
Interestingly the map shows trees lining the brook at far end of grounds although the lithograph c1830 shows a much more stylised - perhaps idealized - line of planting with symmetrical framing along edges of the grounds down to the brook.
The Common is depicted as rough ground compared to Bolingbroke House.
The apportionment book supporting the tithe map, shows Bolingbroke House and Farm as follows.
Description: Upper Bramlands. (A = Acre = 160 Perches; P = Perch; R = Rod.)
| Section | Land use | Acre | Rod | Perch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 328 | Garden | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 329 | Meadow/orchard | 1 | 1 | 24 |
| 331 | Arable | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 332 | Meadow | |||
| 333 | Meadow | |||
| 334 | Meadow | |||
| Total (332–334) | 38 | 5 | 26 | |
| 335 | Meadow/Pleasure Ground | |||
| 336 | Meadow/Pleasure Ground | |||
| Total (335–336) | 8 | 3 | 6 |
*We have been unable to clarify exactly what Upper Bramlands means. There was an area north of Battersea Rise described as Upper Bramlands and the name may refer to an individual. “Bram” has been known to mean brambles or gorse so perhaps - as we know gorse was prevalent in the area- it genuinely referred to a type of vegetation.
Why this description was given for both Grove House and Bolingbroke House remains unclear.
The 07/7/1858 sale details in the Morning Herald describe the land and outbuildings as
“Conservatories, convenient domestic offices, and all requisite accommodation for a large establishment, stabling for six horses, double coach - home [coach-home?], gig house* and men’s rooms, and several acres of excellent meadow land, beautifully timbered, in all about 15½ acres.” * building for carriages.
These sales details largely support the details of maps of the early and mid-19th century mentioned here.
An additional point of interest from the above property sales ad is the mention “having very considerable frontages to Wandsworth-common and Battersea-rise” - suggesting evidence of a “green lane” running from Battersea Rise (where Webbs Rd is now) parallel to the frontage of The Five Houses. We know that “Australia Lodge”, complete with gates, stood on current Battersea Rise and believe it protected the lane and its access to the houses. It seems reasonable to assume that this functional access route would have facilitated the movement of goods such as hay and other produce. There must have been either bridges or fording points to cross the Falcon Brook.
From the evidence of maps and sales ads, we can only guess at the range of plants Bolingbroke House may have enjoyed. Here is a generic list of plants we know were available at the time and could have been planted within the estate. It is worth noting that there was a large plant nursery just on the other side of the Common at the time.
| Category | Plants |
|---|---|
| Tender plants | aspidistra, pelargonium, carnations, hyacinths, mimulus, fuschia |
| Perennials and bulbs | tulip, anenome, lupin, gaillardia, gardenia |
| Shrubs | magnolia, azalea, daphne, rhododendron, rose, hydrangea, berberis, aucuba, holly, laurel, privet, box, conifer |
| Trees | white or black poplar*, elm*, plane*, chestnut*, lime*, oak*, sycamore, purple beech, cherry, almond birch, lilac, robinia, laburnum, ash |
* These are the more likely trees, and it is worth noting that these trees all flourish on the Common today, suggesting favourable conditions.
The 1862 Stanford map, which may not be accurate in showing the detailed layout and position of the Five Houses, but is consistent with e.g. 1838 Tithe Map, shows trees sporadically placed within its grounds and also the conspicuous marking of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway running parallel to Bolingbroke Grove. Just beyond this lies the Royal Patriotic School (now Building), the Surrey County Prison (now Wandsworth Prison), a large plant nursery (now Capital Gardens/ Neals Nurseries), and the County Arms. The area was "developing" fast.
The house and farm yard of Bolingbroke Farm, known previously by other names (King’s Farm for example) was situated near the Falcon Brook on the eastern side of what is now Northcote Road, about where Shelgate Road is now.
From the Survey of London we have learnt that it was part of a bigger farm in the ownership of Thomas King in 1719 and then John King.
Earl Spencer acquired the land that comprised the farm and buildings in 1763 from Lord Bolingbroke when he squared the manor of Battersea.
In 1765 it was purchased from Earl Spencer by Samuel Hoare/John Harman and we have the delightful Harman map of land use for the farm.
[Author’s note: Insert image of Harman map?]
[Editorial note: spelled “Harman” earlier in this chapter (the 1773 map) and “Harmon” here - confirm the correct spelling, and clarify whether it was Samuel Hoare or John Harmon (or both jointly) who purchased the farm in 1765.]
In 1797 William Willis acquired the farm buildings and land from [?] Lovelace, a local landowner, or his successors, and all of the land thus became part of the estate of the house we know as Bolingbroke House.
This farm was about 50 acres and comprised the area to the north of Bolingbroke House as far as Battersea Rise and down the western slope of the Falcon Brook valley and over the brook, meeting the estate of Battersea Rise House.
Bolingbroke House was the grandest of the five houses on Bolingbroke Grove, with extensive grounds, a carriage drive and service quarters.
| Years | Occupants | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 1778 – ? | Richard Norris, the younger | Architect who designed the house |
| Before 1797 | William Willis | |
| 1803 | William Willis the younger | |
| c1830 | Henry Willis | |
| 1841 - 1846 | Robert Davies | Merchant |
| 1846 - 1877 | Henry Wheeler | Clerk in Merchant office |
| 1878 - 1937 | House turned into Bolingbroke Pay Hospital | New Bolingbroke Hospital built in stages |
| 1937 | HOUSE DEMOLISHED |
City surveyor Richard Norris designed and built several of the Five Houses. This was most likely Richard Norris the younger (d.1792), rather than his father (d.1779), James “Athenian” Stuart’s right-hand man, who at the time was busy building Mrs Montagu’s house in Portman Square. 75 [??] Both men held a string of important surveyorships, Norris junior’s including, inter alia, Christ’s Hospital, the Sun Fire Office, the London Assurance Incorporation and the Charterhouse. It is likely that Norris also designed several of the Five Houses; he was the first lessee of at least two of them.
Norris’s brother Philip, a Holborn builder and bricklayer trained by their father, witnessed all these deeds and probably handled the construction side. Another brother and witness, Christopher, of Lincoln’s Inn, was presumably their lawyer. All four men were listed in newspaper advertisements during the winter of 1777–8 as contacts for prospective purchasers or lessees.
Richard Norris, who designed the house, became the fist lessee in 1778, but shortly afterwards it ws taken on by William Willis the elder (d.1831), partner in the long-established Lombard Street banking house of Willis Percival & Company.
William Willis later acquired the freehold, and around 1797 purchased Bolingbroke Farm and its associated fields north of the house and on the east side of the brook from Richard Lovelace, thus creating a valuable freehold estate of about 64 acres.
In 1803 he passed the estate to his son, William Willis the younger (d.1828), and his wife Sarah, as part of their marriage settlement.
They were succeeded in turn by another Willis - Henry Willis (d.1879) - who also took the controlling interest in the bank, Willis Percival & Company.
Henry Willis had moved from the house by 1834 but retained ownership.
Willis, Percival & Co.
This City of London firm’s origins go back to the goldsmith business of Thomas Williams who traded at the sign of The Crown in Lombard Street in 1677. By 1698 Benjamin Tudman, a “goldsmith and bancker [sic] in Linnen” was at the address. In about 1708 he was joined by Stephen Child, formerly of the bankers Child & Co., when the business was renamed Tudman & Child. Frequent name changes followed as new partners joined, finally becoming Willis, Percival & Co. around 1814. The bank financed international trade, in particular cargoes of sugar from the West Indies in the 1780s. In 1878 the collapse of a large customer, a Greek firm of importers, caused the bank to suspend payment with liabilities of about £500,000. It was acquired by Capital & Counties Bank (est. 1877) in 1878.
[Editorial note: this paragraph largely repeats the fuller account above, but gives a different founding date (1668 here vs 1677 above) and adds a detail not mentioned above (the bank’s customers included owners of West Indian plantations with enslaved people) — worth reconciling into a single paragraph, and checking the correct founding date?]
Willis, Percival & Co. London bank founded in 1668 as a goldsmith. The bank financed international trade, including cargoes of sugar from the West Indies in the 1780s. Customers included owners of West Indian plantations with enslaved people. Taken over by Capital & Counties Bank in 1878, which was taken over by Lloyds in 1918.
In 1841 the house was occupied by Robert Davies (65), a merchant, with his wife Elizabeth (45) and their three children: Robert junior (25), an underwriter; Joseph (20); and Elizabeth (20). Ages for adults in the 1841 census were rounded down to the nearest five years, so these should be taken as approximate.
The servants at the same address included two male servants — John Mallard (60) and Stephen Jupp (30) — and four female servants: Elizabeth Knight (30), Mary [?] Abbott (30), Emily Pavitt (25) and Sarah Ellis (25). A further household at the address comprised William Strange (25), of independent means; John and Martha Martin (both 25), servants, with their children Robert (4) and John (2); and William Knight (25), male servant — most likely the coachman's household.
Very little detail has been established about Henry Wheeler, but he was clearly a very wealthy man, certainly by the time of his death. Online histories suggest that he might have been the Governor of the Bank of England, but this is not correct. More likely he was a merchant trading around Europe, looking at the birth-places of some of his children: Genoa, Leipzig and his marriage to Portia Gaudiano on 6th Sept 1828. Portia was the daughter of John Smith, British Consul in Sicily. She was only fourteen at the time of their marriage and they had at least fifteen children, and possibly sixteen.
The estate’s principal resident thereafter was Henry Wheeler (d.1873), a retired merchant and fundholder, who lived at Bolingbroke Grove House from 1846. Wheeler bought the house from Henry Willis in 1859, when it was described as an eleven-bedroom mansion with a suite of reception rooms, walled garden and 15 acres of meadow.
The Morning Herald of 7th July 1858 describes the house, which was for sale by auction, as comprising eleven bedrooms, nurseries, bathroom, noble suite of reception rooms, comprising lofty dining room, about 23’ x 21’, drawing room 28’ x 20’ [sic — the source advert below gives 23 feet by 20 feet for the drawing-room], smaller drawing room, library, conservatories, convenient domestic offices and all requisite accommodation for a large estate, stabling for six horses, double coach house, gig house and men’s rooms. Wheeler also bought the adjoining Bolingbroke Farm.
However, he did not purchase the entire estate from Willis, part being sold to create St Mary’s (or Battersea Rise) Cemetery in 1858/9 and part to build Auckland and Middleton (now Buckmaster) Roads.
Wheeler eventually sold up to the Conservative Land Society in 1868, although his family stayed on while new streets were built around them – they moved out some time between 1873 and 1877.
The advert below shows a freehold estate consisting of fourteen lots being put up for auction.
Lot 2, described in this sales advert, relates to Bolingbroke House and is described in some detail, both the interior layout of rooms and the land and other buildings as well.
“Freehold Estate, with possession, situate close to the Clapham-common and Crystal Palace Railway Stations, on Wandsworth-common, having the advantage of railway communication with the City and West-end.
MESSRS. H. BROWN and “l”. A. ROBERTS [sic — likely T. A. Roberts?] will SELL by AUCTION, at the Mart, on Thursday, July 29, at Twelve, in Fourteen Lots (unless acceptable offers are previously made), valuable FREEHOLD ESTATES, land tax redeemed, known as the Bolingbroke Grove Estate, having very considerable frontages to Wandsworth-common and Battersea-rise.
……………………………………………
Lot 2 [Relating to Bolingbroke House – House No. 1] .... comprises a capital detached Family Mansion, standing in its own grounds, in the occupation of Henry Wheeler, Esq., containing 11 bed-rooms, nurseries, bath-room, noble suite of reception-rooms, comprising lofty dining-room, about 23 feet by 21 feet; drawing-room, about 23 feet by 20 feet; smaller drawing-room, library, conservatories, convenient domestic offices, and all requisite accommodation for a large establishment, stabling for six horses, double coach-home [sic?], gighouse and men’s rooms, and several acres of excellent meadow land, beautifully timbered, in all about 15 1/2 acres.”
[PB: Will have to work out a nice way of conserving and presenting all the glorious detail that follows, but also of writing something reader-friendly to explain it!]
By 1851 the house had passed to Henry Wheeler (61), fundholder, born London, and his wife Portia (37), born Palermo (British subject). They had nine children living with them: Henry junior (21), a clerk in a merchant's office, born Islington; Portia (19), born Islington; Harriett (17), born Islington; Ellen (15), born Islington; Maria (11), born Islington; Alice (6), born Genoa; Constance (3), born Leipzig; Nina (2), born Battersea; and Laura (4 months), born Battersea. A visitor was also present: Mary H. Walsh (63), an annuitant, born London.
The youngest daughter, Nina Wheeler, was baptised in Battersea on 17 April 1849. She died on 24 July 1937 at Worcester Park House — in the same year that Bolingbroke House itself was demolished.
The household staff in 1851 comprised: Charles Gregory (28), footman, born Frome, Somerset; Eliza Hasledon (39), house servant, born Sudbury, Suffolk; Hannah Grimsby (30), house servant, born Maidstone, Kent; Ann Sugg (28), house servant, born Knowle, Somerset; Fanny Cleare/Chase (19), house servant, born Exeter; Sarah Camden (24), house servant, born London; Mary Connor (19), house servant, born London. In a separate household at the same address: James Death (33), coachman, born St Osyth, Essex, and his wife Elizabeth (39), laundress, born Whitehaven, Cumbria.
By 1861 Henry and Portia Wheeler were still in residence, their family now complete with four more children born since 1851: Augustus (24), born Islington; Francis (18), born Italy; Clara (8), born Battersea; and Blanche (6), born Battersea.
Household servants included: Betsey Haseldon (50), domestic servant and nurse to the children, born London; Hannah Grimsby (40), born Maidstone; Sarah Maddox (50), born Lancashire; Harriet Maryon (30), born Essex; Sarah Pettit (22), born Kent; Maryan Thrussle (18), born London; Richard Pettit (27), born Essex. A second servant household comprised Robert Thompson (27), born Knightsbridge, Middlesex, and his wife Eliza (35), born West Drayton, with their son Robert (7), born Windsor, a niece Jane Wheeler (10), born Windsor, and nephew George Thompson (7 months), born Wandsworth.
The 1871 census finds the Wheelers still at Bolingbroke House. Henry and Portia remained in residence, with nine of their children — Portia, Ellen, Augustus, Francis, Alice, Constance, Nina, Laura and Blanche — all still at home and all recorded as single.
Their domestic staff comprised: Elizabeth Haseldon (59), born Sudbury, Suffolk; Hannah Grimsby (50), born Maidstone; Eliza Sturges (45), widow, born Lingfield, Surrey; Sarah Maddox (59), cook, born Liverpool; Mary Ann Sweetser (20), born Tooting; Sarah Sylvester (25), parlourmaid, born Brockford, Suffolk; Anna Cooper (24), housemaid, born Guildford; Harriet Field (19), born Tooting.
Henry Wheeler died in 1873 in Wandsworth, aged about 83. He was buried on 2 September 1873 at Battersea, his address given as Bolingbroke House, Wandsworth Common; his personal estate was valued at £350,000 — approximately £33 million in today's money. His wife Portia, born 1813, died on 4 May 1889 at Worcester Park House, aged 76. Their daughter Portia (born 1832) died at Elham, Kent on 28 June 1906, aged 74, also resident of Worcester Park House; by her Will she left £17,000 to her sister Laura. The 1881 census records Portia Wheeler senior, a widow of 67, born Italy, at Worcester Park House, Long Ditton, Surrey, with several of her children and six servants.
The house was leased for 14 years in 1877 by Augustus Wheeler, Henry's third son — by which time the family had moved out, if not already upon Henry's death in 1873. Augustus was still trying to sell Worcester Park House in 1878 and retained ownership of it until his own death in 1911.
In 1851, James Death, 33, the coachman at Bolingbroke House, born St Osyth, Essex, was with his wife, Elizabeth, 39, laundress, born Whitehaven, Cumbria. They had no children with them according to the census.
James Death married Elizabeth Authers on 20th August 1849 at St Andrews, Holborn. They were both single and of full age (i.e. over 21). James was described as a coach-maker, along with his father, John. They lived in Christopher Street.
Sadly, by 1861, the next census date, James had died, and Elizabeth was living in Balcombe Place, Balcombe, Sussex as a live-in servant, a laundress.
In 1871, Elizabeth was living at 48 Hastings Street, St Pancras with her son, James Death, 24, born Streatham, Surrey, a printer compositor. Elizabeth probably died in 1876 in Camberwell.
James Death, the son, was born on 2 Sept 1846 and baptised on 11th Oct 1846 at St Leonard’s, Streatham. The family’s abode was given as Balham and father’s occupation, coachman. James senior and Elizabeth were not married at the time, but James was baptised as though they were.
James did not live with his parents, potentially because at the time his mother secured her position, she was not married. In both 1851 and 1861 James the son was living with his aunt and uncle in St Osyth.
Research has failed to identify the death record for James senior between 1851 and 1861. In 1841 he had been living in Christopher St, Holborn, with his parents.
Another servant who was living at Bolingbroke House in 1851 was Elizabeth Hasledon. She was born in Sudbury in about 1811 and was with the family, certainly from 1851 until her death in January 1900, aged 88. She is listed with the Wheeler family at Worcester Park House in 1891 as a servant. she never married and was simply referred to as a house servant.
Also, Hannah Grigsby, house servant, was with the Wheeler family 1851 until her death in November 1879. She was buried at St John the Baptist, Malden, abode St Matthew’s, Long Ditton. She never married.
[PB: Fascinating case study. Tidy up the chronology and perhaps make more of it.]
From the census returns we have:
In the 1851 census, Uriah Wackrill was the head of the household at the farm. He was aged 47, married and listed as a gardener, born Danbury, Essex.
His wife, Sage, was with him, aged 52, born Rotherhithe, and with them was their niece, Hannah Wackrill, aged 9.
1861 Uriah Wackrill was again the head of the household, but now widowed, aged 58, gardener and living with him was his niece, Hannah Wackrill, aged 19.
By 1871 the farm and its land had been sold and partially redeveloped, some being used for St Mary’s Cemetery on Battersea Rise/Bolingbroke Grove, and for the construction of Auckland Road, Shelgate Road, Cairns Road, Abyssinia Road, Northcote Road etc.
Uriah Wackrill was born in 1803 in Danbury, Essex, near Chelmsford. He married Sage Bolton Masters on 26 April 1833 at Newington St Mary, Southwark.It would appear that they didn’t have any children.
In 1841 the couple were living in Tiverton, Devon, where Uriah worked as a gardener on the Knightshayes estate. However, his occupation was about to change.
Uriah entered into several partnerships with others to set up and run brewing and malting businesses, but each of these appears to have ended in dissolution and/or bankruptcy during the 1840s.
In 1856 he won a prize of 15 shillings for growing six peaches (variety Violette Hative) and exhibiting them at The Chelmsford Grand National Flower Show, as reported in the Chelmsford Chronicle on 18th July 1856.
What an undertaking to transport six peaches all that way — his address was given as Bolingbroke Farm! Perhaps the peaches were grown in the kitchen garden at Bolingbroke House.
He was bankrupted again in 1863, when his address was given as Bolingbroke Farm and occupation as Farm Bailiff.
He joined the Freemasons in Devonport while residing in Tiverton and then joined the Wandsworth lodge in 1864.
He acquired land in Essex, perhaps on the death of a family member, which he let, enabling him to progress from being a farm bailiff/gardener to being a house and land agent in his final years.
Sage died in 1859, registered Quarter 3, Wandsworth.
In 1871 Uriah was living at 2 Lime Cottages, Battersea Rise as a boarder, widower, occupation estate and house agent.
He died in 1872, registered Q1 Wandsworth aged 69 and was buried on 7th February 1872 at St Mary’s.
His abode was given as 2 Lime Cottages.
His Will states that he was a widower, a land and house agent and let his estate to his brother, value under £50.
In Battersea terms this was a large estate and was tackled by its Victorian developers in several phases, the last houses, at the west ends of Wakehurst and Belleville Roads, beside the old mansion, not going up until 1878–80. By then Canon Clarke, the parish vicar, had set in train the purchase of the property for conversion to a much-needed local hospital, which opened in 1880.
[Editorial note: much of the hospital-history section below closely follows the wording of the “Lost Hospitals of London” extract given in full as Appendix 1C — worth adding an inline citation here, as is done for the Survey of London material above?]
The Hospital could be a new chapter, don't you think?
In 1876 Bolingbroke House was purchased for £4,500, through the auspices of The Vicar of St Mary’s Church, Battersea - Canon John Erskine Clarke, who was the main instigator for using this building for the establishment of a voluntary pay hospital in the area.
[PB: Something like this is repeated elsewhere — worth consolidating.]
A Provident Dispensary, with a resident doctor, was established in the house for out-patients only until enough money could be raised to open the wards (the house was large enough to accommodate 50 in-patients).
The Bolingbroke Self-Supporting Hospital and House in Sickness opened in 1880 and became a small general hospital with 30 beds and an Accident and Emergency Department. It was one of the first to cater for both the artisan and middle classes. (While the rich could afford private treatment in their own homes and the poor received medical care in workhouse infirmaries, the middle classes could not afford private nursing care but did not want to be admitted to infirmaries. By the late 19th century, hospitals for those who could afford to pay a moderate fee began to be established). As with other voluntary hospitals, patients with infectious or contagious diseases, the mentally ill, the incurable, epileptics and maternity cases were not eligible for admission.
John Erskine Clarke (1827–1920) was a British clergyman who issued the first parish magazine. He established several other religious publications and was responsible for founding churches schools and hospitals in Battersea.
Clarke inspired the building of several churches in Battersea during the second half of the 19th century. His own endeavours led to the building of St Mark’s, Battersea Rise, St Peter’s, Plough Road, St Matthew’s and St Luke’s in 1889.
Clarke was a member of the Board of Governors of the Provident Dispensary (Battersea), and saw an urgent need for an in-patient hospital in Battersea. Through public subscription and charitable gifts, Clarke was able to buy a house in Five Houses Lane, Battersea (now Bolingbroke Grove) there in 1880 a “House of Sickness” which became the Bolingbroke Hospital. Clarke’s aim was that the hospital should provide for “the artisan or self-respecting middle class people” who preferred to pay something for their care instead of going into a [ workhouse infirmary, such as the one on East Hill Poor Law Institution (workhouse)].
In 1893 a ward specifically for accident cases was opened, with casualties receiving free treatment.
IMAGE 3 – This shows Bolingbroke House circa 1880 having now been turned into Bolingbroke House Pay Hospital, with double story wing extensions on both sides.
IMAGE 4 – [date/description needed?] – Showing Bolingbroke House as the Bolingbroke House Pay Hospital with further extensions.
At the end of the century plans were drawn up for the building/complete rebuilding of the Hospital, including demolition of Bolingbroke House.
The first phase was completed in 1901, when the Hospital was extended by a single-storey wing in Wakehurst Road, at the northeastern part of the site. The new building housed the Out-Patients Department and was named the Victoria Memorial Wing after Queen Victoria, who had recently died.
The second phase began in 1906, when Princess Louise laid a foundation stone for another wing to be added to the north of Bolingbroke House. It was named the Canon Erskine Clarke Wing and contained wards, an operating theatre and a mortuary. The 3-storey building also had a basement. Its flat roof was used as an airing ground for patients and staff.
[PB: There's the cutting from the ILN, and some nice images here .]
Patients taking the air on the balcony of Bernard Baron ward of Bolingbroke Hospital, overlooking Wandsworth Common, c. 1927. The hospital was enlarged in 1927 and 1937.
Another 3-storey ward block - the Bolingbroke Wing - was added just before the outbreak of WW1 in 1914. During the war, 20 beds were reserved for military cases transferred from the Third London Hospital. By 1917 this number had been increased to 25 beds. A prefabricated X-ray room was built (this was later converted into a chapel).
In 1925 the foundation stone of a new wing was laid by Princess Mary, Viscountess Lascelles. It opened in 1927 as the William Shepherd Memorial Wing, after William Shepherd, a “philanthropically minded builder”. An imposing stair-tower divided the wing into two parts. The ground floor of the southern part contained an 18-bed ward. On the first and second floors were single rooms for private patients and a 4-bedded ward. A corridor connected the building to the Canon Erskine Clarke Wing.
[Placeholder — caption or text missing here?]
By this time, the Hospital had 120 beds, including 20 cots in a children’s ward on the first floor of the Shepherd Wing. The Anne Carmichael Children’s Ward was decorated with picture tiles of nursery rhymes and animals.
[PB: Say more about the Carmichaels? They were a prominent local firm of builders, with a large workshop and woodyard between Trinity Road and Heathfield Road.]
In 1928 the weekly charge for a private room was 6 guineas (£6.30) or 4 guineas (£4.20) for a bed in a five-bedded ward. This fee included provision of care by the Resident Medical Officer and nurses, board and lodging, medicine, certain stimulants, surgical dressings and the use of the operating theatre. The cost of a special nurse, laundry, massage, pathology and X-ray examination was extra. The attending clinician was paid separately.
In 1928 the average weekly cost of an in-patient was £2 13s 2d (£2.66), compared to £3 13s 6d (£3.67) in 1927. The average length of stay was 17 days.
[PB: Is it really worth spelling out modern equivalents of the shillings and pence? Few people will care and it just adds to the visual clutter. Perhaps just have a brief summary at he start of the book?]
Following the addition of the new wings, Bolingbroke House itself was hemmed in on three sides, with its front facing the back of the Shepherd Wing.
In 1937 the old mansion was demolished and work began to build a central administration block to unify the frontage on Wakehurst Road and to create a main entrance for the Hospital.
[PB: Add some choice examples of people taken to the hospital after injury — showing its local importance.]
[PB: Make more of this biography? A box feature? Erskine Clarke is such an important figure. He pioneered illustrated children's magazines which he edited for decades. And add material on the hospital's extraordinary fund-raising activities — stunts such as Dan Leno's cricket matches, and fancy-dress balls at the Albert Hall. Some wonderful images.
Dan Leno ("The funniest man on earth") was involved in many fundraising stunts on behalf of Bolingbroke Hospital, including benefit shows at The Grand Theatre, Clapham Junction, and hilarious knockabout celebrity cricket matches photographed by Dorrett and Martin.]
[PB: Also fundraising fancy-dress charity balls at the Albert Hall.]
During the period 1880-2008 Bolingbroke House became Bolingbroke Hospital. Here the pioneering regime of giving patients access to open views and fresh air was truly embraced. Those from the polluted streets of Battersea and Wandsworth really benefited.
The photo below in 1883 shows the hospital view and its balconies across the Common.
The photo here shows the Common became more densely planted with mature trees mostly of one type and it is this outlook Bolingbroke Hospital would have enjoyed.
The census records show during the mid-19th century the following staff descriptions:
Footman, domestic servant, coach man, house servant and both men and women. For the scale of property we can assume maintenance of the extensive grounds were carried out by labour living both in the house or elsewhere. This is surprising as the sales particulars for 1858 quote “all requisite accommodation for a large establishment”.
In conclusion, Bolingbroke House was the largest and longest surviving of all of The Five Houses.
Although it was the most prominent, the details of its garden and grounds show less sophistication and development than in some of the other four houses. It is possible that it did have, for example, kitchen gardens, hahas and melon grounds but we have no evidence.
Positioned at the northern end of the Five Houses it differed from the others. It was closest to the young road layout around current “Battersea Rise” and by the late 18th century to Bolingbroke Farm, while the others seemed to have less “development” around them. By the mid-to-late 19th century the cemetery and rail station had also developed close by.
When Bolingbroke House was demolished in 1937 the new Hospital building remained between Wakehurst Road and Belleville Road. [When the hospital closed in 2008, the building was repurposed once again as the Ark Bolingbroke Academy.]
Further Notes.
Appendix 1 includes details of the new Bolingbroke Hospital up until 2012 [see Appendix 1E — please confirm], when it became the Ark Bolingbroke Academy
Research undertaken by: Sarah Vey/Henrietta Gentilli /Mark Luboff/Philip Boys
Date: February 2024
Obviously we'll be as accurate and as complete as possible, especially given this book is likely to be regarded as definitive for years to come. It would be good if we checked the content of this chapter against as many sources as we have available. It would also be useful to check for additional material. And let's ask Sue Demont to read this chapter..
Some sources:
Locate specific references in the Survey of London: Battersea:
1. A. Saint (ed.), Survey of London, Volume 49: Battersea, Part 1: Public, Commercial and Cultural (London: Yale University Press, 2013), p. XX. [Short form: Saint, Survey of London, p. XX]
2. Thom, C. (ed.) (2013) Survey of London, Volume 50: Battersea, Part 2: Houses and Housing (London: Yale University Press), p.XX. [Short form: Thom, Survey of London, p. XX]
Further references in History of Wandsworth Common / Chronicles [check]
Historic England: Bolingbroke Hospital.
Lost Hospitals: Bolingbroke Hospital
City St George's, University of London, Library: Bolingbroke Hospital. This appears to be based on the Lost Hospitals text.
Sue Demont's Talk to Friends of Wandsworth Common, September 2024, A Harley Street for the Poor? The Lives and Times of Bolingbroke Hospital (my transcription using AI).
Other?
British Newspaper Archive contains many stories covering the whole life of the house and hospital.I have bookmarked quite a number, but haven't read them thoroughly, or cropped/cpied/transcribed vry many.
[PB: The material below is a first pass at the British Newspaper Archive coverage of Bolingbroke Hospital — primarily the South Western Star (1892 to early 1960s), which reported on the hospital regularly. There is a great deal of choice material. Worth going through it more systematically, covering: accident and injury reports; fund-raising activities; new buildings; appointments and jobs. The accounts of the reasons people were being brought in paint a vivid picture of local life in Battersea and Wandsworth.]
[PB: It might be worth making considerably more of the hospital phase, and in particular of the period when the original Bolingbroke House was still embedded in the midst of the expanding hospital buildings — hemmed in on three sides, its front facing the back of the Shepherd Wing, a grand Georgian mansion gradually being swallowed by Victorian and Edwardian additions. That is a compelling image in itself.]
By 1930 the hospital had grown almost beyond recognition from the house in which it began. Visitors attending the annual meeting of the Linen League (a charity supporting the work of the hospital) found the building a labyrinthine world of its own:
"To find the meeting place was not easy for those who knew the hospital only in its embryo days. Bolingbroke Hospital is a very big building with corridors and ramifications which, unless one knows them, cannot be traversed successfully without the assistance of a guide. The meeting was held in a huge hall somewhere in the depths. On the way thither the visitor caught glimpses of spacious wards bright with flowers and peopled with patients who were obviously well looked after, and who were as obviously pleased and cheerful. Wednesday was visiting day at the hospital. Groups of visitors, all carrying flowers, were met at every turn."
[PB: "Wednesday was visiting day" — the regularity and formality of visiting hours is worth noting. Source: South Western Star, 21 November 1930. BNA link.]
[PB: The hospital's accident admissions were reported weekly in e.g. the South Western Star, giving a running picture of everyday hazards in the area. A typical? week in June 1902:]
"During the week the following people have been admitted to the Bolingbroke Hospital suffering from injuries as the result of accidents — Albert Phillips (7), 42 Putney Bridge-road, Wandsworth, fractured thigh; William Palmer (12), 21 South-street, Wandsworth, broken leg; Charles Ladd (16), Summerstown, Earlsfield, shot wound in foot; Charles Ladd (19), 128 Cavendish-road, Balham, broken arm; Sidney Simmons (32), 39 Lockington-road, Battersea, severe bruising as a result of fall; George Alfred Hilton (6), 16 Wardley-street, Garratt-lane, Wandsworth, scalp wound and collapse.
All the patients are doing well with the exception of Hilton, who is likely to remain in a weak state for a couple of days. The lad Finchley, from Cabul-road, Battersea, who last week was admitted to the hospital suffering from severe internal injuries as the result of being crushed at Clapham Junction Wharf, and who underwent an operation last Friday, [is] progressing satisfactorily towards convalescence."
[PB: Note that these only refer to accident cases — there will have been other categories of admission besides. Worth checking whether this was a typical week or a busy one. Source: South Western Star, 20 June 1902. BNA link.]
Two years later, the numbers had grown sharply. In a single week in August 1904 the hospital treated 148 accident cases — an extraordinary figure for what had begun as a thirty-bed house-hospital:
"New accident cases to the number of 148 have been treated at Bolingbroke Hospital during the week. On Saturday John Tidy, a man living at 8 Hazelhurst-road, [was] admitted suffering from carbolic acid poisoning. He took the poison by mistake. He has been cured and discharged. Percy Lawrence, age one year and ten months, of 8 Stainforth-road, Battersea, was taken in the same day. He had swallowed a halfpenny. He is now under treatment as an out-patient. On Monday Annie Berringer, aged 40, of 23 Cairns-road, was admitted suffering from a broken leg."
[PB: 148 cases in a week is a remarkable total. Source: South Western Star, 19 August 1904. BNA link.]
[PB: The hospital's admissions records, as reported in the local press, offer a vivid cross-section of the risks of everyday life in late Victorian and Edwardian south London. A running list from the newspaper coverage — could be developed into proper prose:
Falls from ladders and buildings; burns and scalds; injuries from moving vehicles of all kinds; collisions with trams; being crushed by horses, carts, cabs, motorcycles and motor cars; attempted suicide by shooting or poisoning; industrial injuries. Some of the worst cases — often fatal — involved railwaymen, particularly shunters.]
The hospital served the heavy industrial district around Wandsworth and Battersea, and its accident wards regularly received men injured in the factories and yards nearby. One case from 1894 was grimly severe:
"In our issue of April 7th we recorded a melancholy accident to a manager of Orlando Jones' starch factory in York-road, where he was caught by the coat-tails in the machinery and one arm was torn off at the elbow and the other crushed considerably. He was removed to the Bolingbroke Hospital at Wandsworth Common, where both arms were amputated and the injuries to the ribs and left leg attended to. The latest information received shows that Mr. Govey is now making progress towards recovery, although at first life was despaired of.""
[PB: Source: South Western Star, 21 April 1894. BNA link. Also: railway shunters appear frequently in the accident reports — some so severely injured that their families were reportedly prevented from viewing the bodies. Worth tracking these down and quoting one or two.]
The hospital also received cases from Wandsworth Common itself.
"ELTRINGHAM STREET MAN'S MISHAP
On Wednesday evening, while vaulting the iron railings surrounding Wandsworth Common, West Side, Maurice Pimm of 36 Eltringham Street, Wandsworth, slipped and cut his hand. He was taken by ambulance to Bolingbroke Hospital."
[PB: Source: South Western Star, 21 April 1939. BNA link.]
And this this extraordinary story, covered in the Chronicles (January 2024):
"POISONED LOVERS
STRANGE STORY OF ATTEMPTED SUICIDE
Alice Allen, a good-looking girl of 16 ... has parents who oppose her marriage with a youth named George Bastow. For this reason she and her lover resolved to die together. Providing themselves with a bottle, labelled "Spirits of Salts — Poison," they made their way to Wandsworth Common, where, sitting on a seat, they shared the contents.
A policeman found them there on the night of January 1st, ill and half-unconscious.
With assistance, he carried them to the Bolingbroke Hospital, where the young man is still lying in dangerous condition. The girl, who had admitted that they tried to poison themselves, was brought up yesterday at the South-Western Police court.""
[PB: Source: Daily Mirror, 8 January 1907. BNA link. There is a lot more on this story in my January 2024 Chronicles : Love tragedy.]
Is it worth developing this material on the Hospital? Or is it too remote from the story of the House itself? It certainly could be full of human life, and therefore fascinating. What do people think?
[PB: Appendices follow... How are these appendices to be used? As sources of brief quotations? For background information? Inserted as box features within the main chapter? As a standalone collection of items separate from the main chapter?]