IN PROGRESS — NOT FOR PUBLICATION

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The Black Sea

DRAFT 2

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Hello, my name's Philip Boys. I sometimes masquerade as HistoryBoys.

I research just about anything I can find on the long history of Wandsworth Common. Every month I publish some of the findings as Chronicles of Wandsworth Common.

Tonight I'll be talking about the Black Sea, that once flourished in the north-west of the Common, in the angle between North Side and the London-South-Western Railway.

It's part of a bigger project - that I think of as on the lines of an Anatomy, Physiology and Evolution of Wandsworth Common considered a kind of complex living organism that changes over time.

And to see that organism in relation to its wider ecosystem of Battersea and Wandsworth, London, England and indeed the world as a whole.

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Here is the Black Sea, in a Stanford map of about 1864?

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Let's take a minute or two to orientate outselves.

The railway line between London and Southampton, opened in ?

Here's North Side

Trinity Road

West Side

The old "New Wandsworth Station"

Does anybody need some more pointers?

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Several things missing

And of course, Trinity Road is much narrower and there's no underpass...

The RVPA's there but no Emanuel School

No Spencer Park

No Earlsfield Road or Windmill Road...

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At this time the Black Sea was a well-known beauty spot. But not just a place for strollers, or picnickers, or anglers.

Also for a range naturalists historians - the Black Sea was famous for its rare plants, insects, ? and ?. It features in many specialist listings...

Here's one of my favourite images of the Black Sea, that gives an idea of what it was like in its heyday. [Though it may have been [scheduled for destruction already].]

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I first saw this many years ago on a greetings card, published by the Wandsworth Heritage Service.

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I've never seen the original, which I assume is safely stored somewhere in the basement at the old West Hill Library - where I'm told most of the much-missed Wandsworth Museum is located.

Many of the old images in Wandsworth's collection can be seen on ArtUK website.

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But not, alas, this image.

If you don't know the ArtUK website, I strongly recommend it.

www.artuk.org

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So what are we looking at?

It's a watercolour, and skilfully done (though I don't know by whom).

We appear to be peering out from the bank of a lake, with a small island to our left, partly obscured by a silver birch tree. There are flag irises and dense vegetation on our right, possibly alder trees.

In the foreground, probably a path, and more flourishing vegetation.

In the centre, some way away, quite clearly rendered, is the Royal Victoria Patriotic Asylum for Girls.

The surface of the lake is still, and the bulk of the building, with its many towers and pinacles, are reflected in the water.

There may be some grass, but are no trees around the school.

It was probably still quite young in 1858 [?] - it was built to house orphans whose fathers had been killed in the Crimean War of 1853-6.

It doesn't look like a painting from a photograph to me, though I suppose it might be. It lloks as though it was painted from life.

And we can't know if it is a literal "photographic" depiction. It might have been tweaked.

But if we assume this is we appear to be somewhere along the north bank of the lake, possibly from one of these two positions:

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Coming in closer:

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Frustratingly, there's no windmill to be seen. Did the artist ignore it? Or, more likely, it is obscured by the vegetation on the right.

In any case, as we shall see, it had already lost its sails so it had ceased to pump water.

Notice there are no signs of the railway line that crosses the picture right in front of the Asylum - admittedly in a deep cutting.

Nor of the road - Windmill Road parallel to it. An extension of what is now Earlsfield Road. At this time, neither road had yet been built. There was quite a hoo-hah from Conservators and other local people about the loss of common entailed.

Eventually, the roads were agreed.

We may return to this later.

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John Rocque's maps of London and its surroundings, from 1740s onwards...

In the meanwhile, I want to go back to the origins of the lake.

I'd like now to go back in time.

Here's the earliest map that I know of of Wandsworth Common as a whole - Rocque's ... of 174?

I've tinted the area covered by Wandsworth Common

Here's a closeup

You can see a house and its grounds - fairly small at this point.

But no lake.

There is a lake in the area, but it is over here, a few hundred yards to the west.

Incidentally it was this lake that caused the otherwise dead straight Trinity Road to vere to the left at the top of East Hill.

It looks as though this was filled in and enclosed at more or less the same time as the Black Sea was created.

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Let's have a quick look at different maps to see when the Black Sea arises...

Corris estate maps, 17??

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1800 / Milne

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But here it is on the earliest OS map, 18??-18??

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OS c.1810 / OS And now finally, we see the lake...

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Cruchley maps, 1820s and 1830s

Now we come to the most curious sequence of maps by Cruchley

I've never found any decent high-resolution scans of the Cruchley maps but by using versions online (mainly at auction) I've been able to enlarge and digitally enhance them.

Here's the earliest, from 1828/9

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But something important is about to happen.

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the railway. But it's route has not been precisely determined 1834 Act acts of Parliament allowing the construction of railways, and the approximate route. But often with [line of deviation?]

Here's one from ?, with a [red] line denoting the course of the future London and South Western Railway to Woking and Southampton

And here it is again a few years later, presumably after the line has been cut and trains are running.

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Tithe map / c1840 / Tithe

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How many islands? 13? [or 7? or?] - one for every child?

Did the railway cut through Black Sea?

Stops water flowing naturally off the Common, hence a clay lining and a wind pump were necessary...

Why is no water shown to east of [proposed?] railway line on the Tithe map?

Notice the projected rail tracks for Wandsworth and Battersea do not quite align - the Battersea line would have cut further into the lake. Which tithe map was completed first?

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Let's return to the map I showed at the start, from the 1860s, to show the house...

The Wilsons of Price's Candles / "Black Sea House"?

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The Wilsons leased the house and grounds from earl Spencer in 1829. The pater familias was William Wilson, founder of Price's Candles, by the Thames...

The houas already surrounded by a large garden, but the Wilsons expanded it to about 8 acres.

From ? onward, William and his wife ? had 13 children.

1841 Census

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1851 Census: William and Margaret, parents, with 6 children. Also 6 "Household Servants"

All censuses say George was "born Surrey, Wandsworth". Really? Since they didn't move to Black Sea House until 1829, where? Or had WW taken in fact it earlier than 1829? Mary, 14 years older, was born Edinburgh. Ann, 13 years older, was born "Wilson Town, Lanark", as was Robert, 9 years older. James, 4 years older, was born Hampstead. Maria, born 4 years after George, was also born Wandsworth.

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[By 1861 George had moved with his new wife to Weybridge...]

According to Sexby he added a new island every time there was a new child.

A lovely story, and a memorable one. But as Shirley Passmore has pointed out, there are already lots od islands shown on the Cruchley maps.

The company flourished in large part because of the genius of one of the sons, George Fergusson Wilson. wilson-george-fergusson-photo-portrait-web.jpg

Carte de visite, 1863

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He was a prodigious chemist and found new ways of making candles, soaps, and lubricants using [a mix of tallow and vegetable fats and oils - composite]...then from pal oil, initially sourced from 1000 acres of land they bought i Ceylon - now Sri Lanka.

Anti-slavery...

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Here's a map from 1862 showing the relation bwteen the Wilson household at the Black Sea / Black Sea House and their candle works on the banks of the Thames below them:

[ADD LOCATOR CIRCLES?]

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In 1830 a middle-aged Scotsman living in London was considering his business future. He was no stranger to commercial failure. As a young man in Scotland he had seen the collapse of his father's iron works in 1812 during the economic slump of the Napoleonic Wars.

He had then travelled south to London and set himself up as a successful merchant in the 'Russia trade', importing goods from Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Now at the age of 58 William Wilson was approached by his partner with an invitation to go into a new venture: candle manufacture.

Perhaps it was William's familiarity with the Russian tallow trade that had suggested the idea. Tallow, a purified form of beef or mutton fat, was the only cheap available alternative to beeswax for making candles at this time. But if William was already familiar with the candle trade, he must have paused for thought.

Candle manufacture had barely progressed since the Middle Ages. The wealthy and the Church burned beeswax candles, everyone else used the cheaper tallow lights which smoked, smelled and guttered. The poor either made their own tallow dips from hoarded animal fat with rush wicks — known as 'rushlights' — or lived in darkness.

Royal Warrant

By 1840 the perfect product was ready for Queen Victoria's wedding. It was traditional for every loyal household to burn a candle in its front room window on the evening of the monarch's wedding, and in London on 20 February most people lit one of Price's new stearin 'composite' candles made from a mixture of refined tallow and coconut oil.

By 1840 the perfect product was ready for Queen Victoria's wedding. It was traditional for every loyal household to burn a candle in its front room window on the evening of the monarch's wedding, and in London on 20 February most people lit one of Price's new stearin 'composite' candles made from a mixture of refined tallow and coconut oil.

Price's Patent Candle had long had a close association with the Royal Family. From the earliest days when the launch of their new composite candle coincided with the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, there had been an ongoing Royal connection. Price's Patent Candle has held the Royal Warrant — either in its own name or through its subsidiaries Francis Tucker and Charles Farris — since the 1850s. Today it holds the Royal Warrant[1] in its own name for Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom. The company's special status as Warrant Holder means that it supplies candles for all Royal state occasions — coronations, weddings, lyings-in-state and funerals.

Innovations

Technological

There was a potential market in England for a mid-priced candle that gave a brighter cleaner light than tallow but was not as expensive as beeswax. What William Wilson and his partner discovered in 1830 was a new raw material and a scientific process that would allow them to manufacture such a candle. The firm they set up, Edward Price and Co, would make candles from coconut! Wilson took out a licence on an 1829 patent for the hydraulic separation of coconut fats, the partners built a candle factory at Vauxhall on the Thames in South West London, a crushing mill just up river at Battersea and invested in 1,000 acres of coconut plantation in Sri Lanka. The initial results were not that impressive, but the infant company had a couple of good breaks: in 1831 candle tax was abolished and by 1835 it had developed better chemical processes to obtain solid fats.

In the 1820s a French chemist, Michel Eugène Chevreul, had published his researches into fatty acids. By mixing a strong alkali with vegetable or animal fats he discovered that the solution separated into liquid and solid components. This technique, known as saponification, was already used by soap makers, but nobody had employed it for candle manufacture.

William Wilson's son, George, experimented with this process; by adding a further distillation using a vacuum or high pressure steam he improved Chevreuil's basic chemistry. Price's were now able to refine tallow and vegetable oils to produce a harder, pure white fat known as stearin. Candles made from this burned brightly without smoke or smell. The same chemistry could also be applied to a range of unsavoury raw materials that had previously been unusable — skin fat, bone fat, fish oil and industrial waste greases could all be rendered into hard white candles.

Another of George Wilson's innovations allowed Price's to exploit a second overlooked tropical product. Palm oil, extracted from the palm nut was harvested and processed in West Africa. Soap makers were already using the oil but its dark orange-brown colour made it unattractive for candle-making. George devised a process for cleaning palm oil with sulfuric acid and a new cheap source of fat was available.

There was an additional advantage to using palm oil. The region that produced the oil - the present day Ghana, Nigeria and Togo — was also the centre of the African slave trade. Slavery had been abolished in Britain and its colonies by 1833,[2] but a huge and lucrative market for African slaves continued in the United States, Brazil and Arabia. Palm oil provided an economic alternative to that slave trade and was actively encouraged by the British government. Slavery had become immensely unpopular in Britain and 'politically correct' products like Price's palm oil candles and non-slave-produced sugar were very popular. In 1847, when Edward Price and Co became Price's Patent Candle, the new joint stock company considered its ethical use of palm oil so significant that it became the basis for the company's seal which depicted Africans bringing calabashes of palm oil to a seated Britannia figure under a palm tree.

Labour

In 1840 the company employed 84 staff; by 1855, with two factories in London and one in Liverpool, this figure had risen to 2,300 of whom 1,200 were boys. To any Victorian factory owner child labour was logical and attractive: it was cheap, flexible and in some cases carried out intricate tasks that adults were incapable of. At Price's Patent Candle nightlights and candle packaging were "turned out by the deft fingers" of its child employees. But if there was a single issue that enraged the British public as much as slavery did, it was factory child labour. Unusually for an employer Price's shares these concerns.

The Wilsons were a deeply religious family. William had worked for the London Missionary Society in his youth and his son James was an earnest and evangelical Christian. James was so concerned for the well-being of his child employees that in 1849 he had set up a Christian society at the factory. Each boy was given his "own drawer with lock and key in which to keep his own testament, prayer book, hymn book, arithmetic book, slate and copy book". Boys were encouraged to attend a religious service in the factory in the morning and to go to the factory school in the evening; they were rewarded with games of cricket and outings in the summer. James's religious and education programme was radical for its time - it was most unusual for a factory owner to be treating his workers in such a way.

Other examples of this attitude were the free breakfasts and suppers for night shift workers and warm baths for the boys.

Price's benevolent attitude was an enduring one that continued beyond the Wilson family. The company sought to build good quality housing for its workers in London but could not buy any land. However, the Liverpool factory at Bromborough Pool — "our colony on the Mersey" — was a green field site. Here Price's eventually built a village of 147 houses with church, institute, shop and library for its workforce of "come downs" (the Battersea families who migrated to the new factory). This model village was an inspiration to other employers and was copied at Lever's Port Sunlight factory adjacent to Bromborough in the 1880s and by Cadbury's Bourneville village in the 1890s.

Other examples of the company's far-sighted approach to its employees included the introduction of a profit sharing scheme for all staff in 1869 and a contributory employees' pension in 1893 - the first scheme in the country to include floor workers.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price%27s_Candles]

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Earlsfield Road / Windmill Road / stops short at Battersea Rise railway bridge

Railways may solve many transport problems, but they create others - they cut through areas - interrupt roads - demand bridges and viaducts - many of which are very narrow - they create pinch points - up and make it harder for roads...

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Incidentally, the original intention was to continue the road right through to St John's Hill, roughly along the line that Strath? now takes.

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This is part of "Plough Green" - the site and cause of so much radical agitation in the 1860s.

Too much valuable building land was involved, and it never happened.

Which goes a long way towards explaining the awful muddle and congestion at the junction with the railway bridge.

This image is slightly earlier - date? - notice two stations - the absurdly named "Clapham Common" and "New Wandsworth"

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Actually, this is not "incidental".

One of the most loudly heard complaints during the Plough Green demonstrations was that the enclosures and barriers erected by [Forename?] Compton? Smith and [forename?] Costeker in this area impeded the access people had enjoyed "from time immemorial".

The railways lines- first the London Southampton, then the London-Crystal Palace / Brighton line had made access to this part of the Common for people of Battersea to cricket but also to the Black Sea was very difficult.

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The agitation of the 1860s culminated in the 1871 Act, which saved the Common [for ever].

But at a price. A steep price. Negotiating with Earl Spencer [or rather, his lawyers and estate manager] was tough. He demanded £500 a year for the loss of his "rights". This was beyond the means of local people to raise in rates at this time [even if they were prepared to pay such an amount].

It was eventally agreed that local people would have to find be £250 a year in perpetuity.

I say in perpetuity - I still havent been able to find out whether the Earls Spencer continue to receive £250 a year or whether it was somehow paid off [which is what Wimbledon Common has done].

BUT the price was to return the Black Sea and nearby land one which Spencer could build a cherished project - "Spencer Park". [A vanity project?]

Here it is in the C19:

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And here in an aerial photograph from the last couple of years:

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Within a few years, the lake was filled in.

MOVE? DROP? The note on the back of the card says painted "around 1880"? Again, possibly. But if so, it was painted after the lake had been filled in - which (as we shall see) was some time between 1871, when the Wandsworth Common Act was passed, and the mid-1870s.

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Let's go back to the map / look at a roughly contemporary map This is a hand-coloured Stanford map of 18?? There were numerous editions from ? to ? Given the sightlines, with a clear view of the RVPA, and with what is likely to be an small island on out ?, we must be somewhere here...or here Notice there is no evidence of a railway line in between "us" - the artists or viewer - and the enormous orphan asylum. Whenever this image was painted, it represents the last days of the lake. By 1880, it was gone, and Spencer Park built in its place. [Map from 1880s? Aerial pic?]

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Now we have a problem. Did the railway line go through the Black Sea, or simply cut off its water supply? We know it did cut off the supply because.... hence court case? agreement for the railway company to provide a windpump and maintain the lake Are these maps accurate? Or at least accurate enough It certainly looks as though it went through...

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Here are some images of this windpump - always called the Windmill, of course... Thanks to the efforts of the Wandsworth Society, a large part of it is still there today - though oddly camouflaged by trees as if it's lurking behind them

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If so, the lake once spread into the grounds now occupied by Emanuel School. Now here's a little enigma. Until the 1930s [date?] there was strange wooded knoll "venerable elms" on what are now the school playing fields. Yes it got in the way, but it had its uses... ?picnics? ? military manoeuvres here are some photos from around But sport won , as it did more or less everywhere around. The knoll was removed etc Now what if this knoll was originally an island in the lake?

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https://www.historyofwandsworthcommon.org/people/wilsons-prices/wilsons-prices.html

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Ellen Barchard was born on East Hill, the daughter of Richard Wildman Barchard. Richard Wildman Barchard was the first named person that I know of to publically defend Wandsworth Common

[https://www.historyofwandsworthcommon.org/years/1827.html - there's this, but also a longer and more detailed article, with several refs to WC] CONTEMPLATED MEASURE FOR INCLOSING BATTERSEA, WANDSWORTH, AND CLAPHAM COMMONS, AND OTHER OPEN LANDS. Yesterday a very numerous meeting of the most affluent and respectable resident gentry of the neighbourhoods of Battersea, Wandsworth, and Clapham Commons, assembled at the Swan Tavern, at Stockwell, for the purpose of adopting measures to counteract a Bill which is about be introduced into Parliament for dividing, allotting, and enclosing the commons, open and common fields, meadows, pastures, and commonable lands and waste grounds, within the manor and parishes aforesaid. Several gentlemen, whose properly is not at all likely to be affected by a measure of the kind, attended from public feeling, which is now in very active operation against the tremendous system of which the projected Bill is considered a part. ________ Deacon, Esq. in the Chair. The CHAIRMAN briefly stated that the object of the Meeting was to oppose a Bill about be brought into Parliament by Lord Spencer - a bill calculated to do very extensive mischief. Mr. BARCHARD rose to state the circumstances under which they were called together. A rumour had been, he said afloat, that it was the intention his Lordship, and other persons who had interest as copyholders, bring in a bill for the above-mentioned purpose. The rumour increased, and he and about dozen other gentlemen, met at his house, to consider a subject of such importance to their interests. They determined to write a strong, but respectful letter, urging their objections to the proposition, and requesting a conference. His Lordship granted the conference to a deputation of the joint parishes on the 26th of November, and upon that occasion admitted the strength of some of the objections, if such objections had any foundation at all; but thought that they could be easily removed if they really did exist. In a correspondence between the deputation and Mr. Lefevre, upon the part of his Lordship, that gentleman submitted the following propositions by way of modifications. That that part of Clapham Common which was within the manor of Battersea, should remain in its present state - that the avenues on the East Side of Wandsworth, or Battersea Common, should remain in its present state - That the remainder of the commons and wastes Battersea and Wandsworth be inclosed, but that no buildings be erected thereupon, except dwelling-houses of the value of £1,000 each at least, buildings (not dwelling-houses) requisite for the cultivation of land, and buildings for parochial and charitable purposes; that the open fields be inclosed, but no dwelling-houses of less value than £200 be erected thereupon; the Lachmere [sic] Common (about 18 acres,) be appropriated to the benefit of the Battersea poor, in such manner as should appear most beneficial; and that an appropriation of similar extent be made for the Wandsworth poor. The Deputation replied to this communication, that the propositions did not appear to them to obviate the objections, and a public meeting of the inhabitants was called. Now, with respect to the alleged modifications, the offer of his Lordship not to inclose a certain part the Common was certainly no great favor, for it happened not to be possible to do so, as a writ had been issued on a former occasion to determine the boundary without effect; and it was but prudent in his Lordship to leave the avenue in same state, as any alteration there would certainly prejudice his Lordship's property. With respect to the proposal, that no building of less value should £1000 be erected on the Common, it was well known, that if the Common was inclosed, it would be soon cut into small slices - and what was to prevent a proprietor from building whatever sort of house he pleased upon his portion? - As for buildings requisite for the cultivation of land, a pig-stye or any sort of wretched cabin, was included under that head. He called upon the Meeting to reflect upon the consequence of the erection of small houses: all small portions of land were devoted to building the most profitable mode of disposing of them, an immense population of poor would become [?] that the parish rates would necessarily sustain an alarming increase - (Hear, hear). In Bromley an inclosure of common had some time ago been carried into effect, and the consequence was, that many who were induced to vote for it, had so much to regret the redundancy of a poor population, which the measure drew together, as to declare that they would give £1,000 each for a repeal of it. There was a similar case at Bexley, and in Chelsea, where but a very small portion of land was inclosed - the rates rose from 9d. to 14d. At Hornsey and Norwood, the annoyance and inconveniences were likewise intolerable from the same cause. Mr. Barchard then spoke of the advantages of the situation and extent of Common and its vicinity to the Metropolis, and argued, with considerable force, against any intention to destroy those public and private advantages. The poor inhabitants would sustain great injury if the measure was carried into effect. They laid claim for their cattle to the pasturage of the Common which they had enjoyed so long, that it was, if not an actual right, something very like a right; and their means in that respect would not only be quite destroyed, but would be driven into public houses, mere roads not being the most agreeable of walks. He instanced the case of some Gentlemen who had taken houses upon the impression that no inclosure would take place, but who were scarcely settled in their habitations when they were surrounded by miserable receptacles. The case of Botany Bay, in Wandsworth, was in point; that wretched spot had grown out of one of those measures, which were ever attended with public loss and inconvenience. Mr. Barchard then called upon the Meeting, with every respect for the character and conduct of Lord Spencer, to adopt such resolutions as would show the determination of the inhabitants to resist the Bill, and concluded by stating that his Lordship had expressed that he was ashamed to see the Common in such state it was, and yet had refused either to improve its condition himself, or allow others to do so. Resolutions, which were the echo of the speech, were then proposed. Alderman SCHOLEY seconded the Resolutions. He declared that he did so more from a feeling towards the public, than from a private feeling, although he was one of those that who would be affected by the projected measure. (Hear, hear.) Mr GUDE (of the Crown-office, we understood) asked whether Lord Spencer was apprised of this meeting? Alderman SCHOLEY said that Mr. Lefevre knew of the meeting, but declined attending from a point of delicacy. After some further discussion, the Resolutions were agreed to, and a Committee was appointed to superintend the opposition to the Bill. The alacrity of the Meeting in opposing the Bill, may be guessed from the fact, that the subscriptions in the room amounted, in five minutes, to between £1,100 and £1,200. BNA: Link BNA: Link Original article probably "Contemplated Measure For Enclosing Battersea, Wandsworth, And Clapham Commons And Other Open Lands." Times, 21 Dec. 1827, p. 2, here. Notes & queries [PB: Who was "Mr Barchard"? I notice there is a Barchard Street very close to the Town Hall. Several generations of Barchards are named on the Wandle.org website as Wandsworth dyers (particularly of scarlet dyes) here. George Fergusson Wilson (1822-1902), the pioneering MD of Price's Candle Works, married on 13 August 1862 Ellen, eldest daughter of [the late] R. W. Barchard, of East Hill, Wandsworth. Is it him? "WILSON BARCHARD. On the 13th. inst., at St. Anne's, Wandsworth, by the Rev. W. Howard, 51. A., rector of Great Witch- ! ingham, Norfolk, George Fergusson Wilson, F. R.S., son of the late William Wilson, Esq., of Wandsworth-common, to Ellen, eldest daughter of the late R. W. Barchard, Esq., of East-hill, Wandsworth." [Morning Post - Thursday 14 August 1862 / https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000174/18620814/044/0008] GOOGLE SEARCH: "R W BARCHARD" BNA SEARCH: "R W BARCHARD" - looks interesting. NB a man of his name is frequently cited along with Michael Faraday. Check? Numerous refs to the Horticultural Society. I assume all refs to RWB refer to the same man, and he is from Wandsworth? There are several refs to RWB in relation to coal, e.g. resolving at "A Meeting of the Coal Factors, Coal Merchants, and others interested in the Coal Trade of the Port of London, held at the Coal Market" 28 February 1844, to petition "Parliament against a proposed new Duty of Fivepence per Ton upon Coals imported London to defray the Expense of the contemplated Thames Embankment" [ Newcastle Journal - Saturday 09 March 1844] "RW" = "Robert Wildman". His daughter [Ellen?] married George Fergusson Wilson, of Price's Candle Works and the large estate that became "Spencer Park".

In 1841 RWB contributed a detailed letter on [evaporation in greenhouses] to the Gardeners Chronicle.[copy in hand]

Ellen was unmarried at 36 [1861 Census] - relatively late in Victorian times. Living with her long-widowed other, Charlotte. There were visitors in the house. A coachman, footman, cook, housemaid, and a ladies maid.

She married George Fergusson Wilson the following year - 1862

Ellen was an accomplished botanical illustrator.

Here is one of her pictures.

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And this lily is named after her.

Their children - Scott, Herman and Alice- were all born in Wandsworth, almost certainly at Black Sea House.

Scott Barchard Wilson was baptised at All Saints Wandsworth 27 June 1864.

I'd like to tell you more about the great naturalist and explorer Scott Barchard Wilson, but now is not quite the time.

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What's all this got to do with the Black Sea? - the Wilsons incorporated it, and enlarged, beautified and planted it.

- they rowed on it - nb the boat house

- how big? GFF calls it "5 acres" in his 1863 letter. Is it ever described as any larger?

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The Elodea story

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2 October 1863

George Fergusson Wilson (of Price's Candle Works) on how he dealt with the invasion of "American Water-Weed" in the Black Sea, which lay outside his house on the Common.

Several years ago the weed made its appearance in a five-acre pond on Wandsworth Common. We were told that an aquarium owner, living more than half a mile off, had put a small plant in a pond near his house, for the sake of getting a good tank specimen. With us it spread very rapidly, soon overpowering all the old weeds, and destroying all pleasure in rowing.

[Source: Chronicles October 2021

Wilson's American Water-Weed, Anacharis is more usually called "Canadian Pondweed", Elodea canadensis.

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Westmorland Gazette - Saturday 03 October 1863

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The American Water-weed.

In answer to your leading article (see p. 889), inviting communications on the Anacharis, I beg to give you our experience.

Several years ago the weed made its appearance in a five-acre pond on Wandsworth Common. We were told that an aquarium owner, living more than half a mile off, had put a small plant in a pond near his house, for the sake of getting a good tank specimen. With us it spread very rapidly, soon overpowering all the old weeds, and destroying all pleasure in rowing.

My brother, who had lately returned from India, suggested dragging it by means of a boat oar pushed to the bottom and then twisted round and round; this brought a huge bunch of weeds, with their roots and some mud adhering to them.

We found this by no means a bad gymnastic evening exercise, and two of us, one at each end of a punt, in little more than an hour had pulled up as great a load as it was pleasant to punt with. Finding a greater impression had been made on the enemy than we at first anticipated would be the case, a man was employed to work constantly, and in about three weeks an immense pile on the bank was the result; this in a few months settled down into a solid black mass, cutting like cheese, which being used as manure for the garden has given such Peas and Cabbages as we never had before.

Next year the weed came up again in about the same strength.

Our friend the late Professor Henslow gave us some hopes that the great strength of growth was partly due to its having found, to it, a virgin soil. Next year came up equally strong again, and was converted into another great heap of good manure.

This year the growth has been stronger than ever. This is probably due not to the fine summer alone, but also to the fact that our windmill used keep up the water supply has been out of order, and that consequently the pond popularly known as the "Black Sea" has been much shallower than for some years past. It took about five weeks to clear weed enough to make rowing pleasant, and now we have a still greater heap of the manure than usual.

We calculated that for our thin soil over gravel the value of this soil-like manure about paid for the man's wages employed. In the country, where there are young men with leisure time and a boat, amateur extraction will be found by no means unpleasant muscular exercise.

G. F. Wilson, Wandsworth Common.

Gardeners' Chronicle.

[BNA: Link]

[Anacharis - today more usually called Elodea or "Canadian Pondweed" Elodea canadensis. To follow, up, visit e.g. Gardeners' Chronicle, 1863 - in the Biodiversity heritage Library, which has a superb search function.]

[Biodiversity Library: Link]

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Ley's look at the islands in the lake. (And the family that lived next door.) Often stated there were 13 - one for each of William wilson's chilsdren Here's ?, the LCC ... Shirley Passmore, whose work on the history of Wandsworth Common continues to inspire and inform me, pooh poohs this. She points out the islands are already there in Cruchley's maps.

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Collect and review all maps

Shirley Passmore bits

Refs in newspapers etc

Photos e.g. by

Geoffrey Bevington - probably took several photos of the Black Sea and Black Sea House - get better versions?

Peter Le Neve Foster - I have a photo of the BS by him - but try to find the photo of his children boating there - said to be "his most charming photo"

There's a painting in the Wandsworth Heritage Centre/Borough Photos

Do I recall refs to watercolours e.g. possibly by [Ellen?] Barchard?

Eels

Jack Black

Suicides e.g. the two Amelias

Infanticide

Deaths on the ice

"Botany Bay"?

The trap laid for the foreign seducer

Other plants, insects etc in the lake

The Elodea canadensis invasion

George Fergusson Wilson models Wisley/future RHS on Wandsworth Common

GEORGE FERGUSSON WILSON AND WISLEY

The Windmill

Stories about the Frying Pan

Collect every photo and reference

Buckmaster et al's complaints about how they used to be able to walk all round.

Afterwards, how the rest of the ponds were filled in. How the lake was created and enlarged.

Collect info about how polluted, evil-smelling it had become

Find story about how it was blamed for deaths in the RVPA for Girls - then detail how the sewers worked, with human excrement spread on the grounds (and on Neal's bit of the Common? - the death of Dr Anstie blamed on the sewer gases (but was actually septicaemia briught in by a prick during dissection)

How the lake was filled in. And Spencer Park was built on the site. Who built the houses? Who lived there?

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