West Middlesex Family History Society

23/03/2026

📜 On This Day in West Middlesex 📜
23rd March 1904 - Devonshire House in Isleworth goes up for auction.

The Middlesex Chronicle reports that the 13 room detached house, with stable and coach house, flower garden and heated vinery was going up for sale by auction.

Built during the 1850’s the area known as Woodlands benefited from an expansion which included the ‘erection of genteel houses’ as well as St John’s Church. This was financed by the FARNELL family, who owned Isleworth Brewery. William Thomas FARNELL, was the first to occupy Devonshire House until his death in 1870 - it was reported that when he died he had great wealth, worth nearly a million pounds.

The house was auctioned and Walter DAVIS was the next to move in with his young family in 1871. Walter was a wealthy provision merchant and here he raised his family. His daughter Annie had married Frank CLIFFORD, a wine merchant in 1881, but sadly the marriage was short lived and he passed away age 34 in 1883. Annie and Frank had one daughter, Grace, born in 1882. After Frank’s death, Annie moved back to Devonshire House to live with her parents. So when Walter died in 1895, the house remained within the Davis family and Annie continued at Devonshire House with her daughter Grace.

This brings us to this day in 1904. Annie had decided to sell the property, perhaps it was because young Grace was getting married and moving away and she wanted to be near to her daughter and new son in law. Grace married Theodore Evelyn Johnstone BIGG in 1906 shortly after moving out from Devonshire House and they all moved to Shepherdswell in Kent, where Annie lived close to Grace until her death in 1921.

The next occupant was Henry Thomas HOWARD, an Ironmonger of ‘Howards & Sons’ in Brentford. Founded by his father in 1860, Henry had partnered with his brother Charles in 1903. The firm was doing well, and Henry and his family of 7 children moved to Devonshire House. Henry would commute between his business on Brentford High Street and Devonshire House. It was on his commute to work that sadly in 1920, he was knocked down and killed in a tram accident.

After this, the house went to auction again in 1921, and later appeared once more for sale in 1938, described as “property for development.” After that point, the trail becomes harder to follow and the later fate of Devonshire House is unclear.
Perhaps an eagle eye follower might know what eventually became of it?

18/03/2026

Join us tomorrow night, Thursday 19th March for our AGM. This will be at St John's Community Centre, Isleworth.

The meeting will start earlier than usual at 7:30 pm. This will be followed with a talk by Andrew Redfern titled 'Beyond the Basics of AI in Family History'. Andrew will be speaking from Zoom.

We look forward to welcoming you tomorrow evening ☕🤗

16/03/2026

📜 On This Day in West Middlesex 📜
16th March 1935 - Kensington man first to take a driving test

On this day, Mr Ronald BEERE is the first person to take a driving test in Kensington.

Up until this point in time, there was no requirement for drivers to demonstrate any competence before getting behind the wheel. Licences had become mandatory in 1904, however there was no need for any level of proficiency and skill. By the 1920’s cars became cheaper and faster, leading to a devastatingly high casualty rate on the roads.
By 1934, there were just 1.5 million cars in use, but over 7,000 people were killed on the country’s roads. The transport minister at the time, Leslie Hoare-Belisha had likened the situation on the roads to ‘mass murder’ after narrowly missing being run over himself. The Road Traffic Act 1934 was introduced, ensuring that a driving test was compulsory for anyone applying for a driving licence.

Mr Beere took the test voluntarily, as compulsory testing did not begin until 1st June 1935. His test cost 7s 6d which was the equivalent of 37.5p and on passing, he was issued the very first licence number 00001.
Within a year of the introduction of the test, the number of deaths had fallen by 1,000.

In 2015, The One Show on BBC1 featured a piece regarding the driving test celebrating it's 80th anniversary, where they tracked down the son of Ronald Beere, who fondly remembered his father.

Who has memories of driving in and around West Middlesex? Perhaps your ancestors were also quick off the mark to pass their test in 1935!

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

09/03/2026

📜 On This Day in West Middlesex 📜
9th March 1914 - Mr Lowe opens his new dental practice

Born in Otago, New Zealand, in 1883, Frank Augustus LOWE was educated at Wellington College before coming to England and studying at Manor House School, Clapham, followed by Guy’s Hospital as a dental student, where he qualified as a dental surgeon in 1910. The 1911 census records Frank living at Hartham House on London Road in Isleworth. Soon after, he set up his new practice across the road at The Grove. Naming the practice ‘Khandallah’ was a nod to his New Zealand roots.

I love the descriptive touch of the advertisement, ‘Near Pears Fountain’. The fountain was located at the corner of Spring Grove Road and London Road and was given to the people of Heston and Isleworth by Andrew Pears in 1899.

I would have loved the tale to have ended there, but this promising career had a sad ending.

Frank had been in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve for a number of years. At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, he immediately offered his services, despite having opened his new dental practice just five months earlier.

He was posted to the medical staff on HMS Macedonia and was present at the Battle of the Falkland Islands, before being appointed to the Royal Naval Division, where he was a Sub-Lieutenant and Commanding Officer of ‘D’ Company of the Collingwood Division. He headed to the Front at Gallipoli where, on 4th June 1915, he was killed whilst leading his men in a charge on a Turkish trench.

He was buried at Krithia, Gallipoli Peninsula.

An unexpected end to what should have been an exciting new business venture, and a reminder of how many local stories of enterprise and ambition were cut short by war.

02/03/2026

📜 On This Day in West Middlesex 📜

2nd March 1919 🧈 Margarine for Everyone! 🧈

On this day, the requirement to register for margarine was finally abolished.

During the First World War, food shortages and disrupted imports meant that rationing became a necessity across the country. Customers were required to register with a local shopkeeper to secure their weekly supply of essential goods — a measure designed to prevent hoarding and ensure fairness.

Panic buying had already driven prices up sharply. Sugar was rationed in 1917, followed by butter and margarine in 1918, as the strain on imported goods intensified. Everyday staples became tightly controlled, and families in West Middlesex — like the rest of Britain — had to adapt to smaller portions and careful planning.

The end of registration marked a small but welcome return to normality which can be seen in this advertisement by International Stores.

23/02/2026

📜 On This Day in West Middlesex 📜

On this day in 1940, whilst stationed at Hounslow, 20-year-old Fusilier George Douglas GIFFEN went AWOL.

Two months later, on 18th April, he appeared before the court martial at Brentford Police Court. He was charged with the crime of “Absence” under Section 15 of the Army Act of 1881. Offences under this section included absenting oneself without leave, failing to appear at the appointed place of parade, leaving without permission, or being found beyond fixed limits or in a prohibited place. The charge was categorised under “Loss of Public Property, Equipment, etc.”

George pleaded Not Guilty, but was sentenced to 28 days’ detention — later commuted to 14 days.

The circumstances surrounding his alleged desertion are not known. What we do know, however, is that this was far from the end of his military service. From 1941, George served as a Sergeant in the newly formed Reconnaissance Corps (RECCE), which later became part of the Royal Armoured Corps. He served in Burma and was awarded the Burma Star, along with the Defence and War Medals.

The year before the charge, in 1939, George had married Bessie Ritchie. Together they raised four children and made their home on Uverdale Road, Chelsea.

Military service ran in the family. George had two brothers who also served during the Second World War: Ernest, who fought at Dunkirk, and John, who tragically lost his life aboard the HMS Hood in 1941.

18/02/2026

Our next meeting is tomorrow evening, Thursday 19th February. The focus of the meeting will be a talk by Nick Barratt titled 'The future of family history in the digital age'. Nick will be speaking from Zoom. Members may be on Zoom or at St. John's.
Join us from 7:30pm, register on our website if you want to join on Zoom. See you there!

16/02/2026

📜 On This Day in West Middlesex 📜
16th February 1923 - Tutankhamun's burial chamber is unsealed by Howard Carter

One of the most significant archaeological moments of the 20th century unfolded when Howard Carter finally opened the sealed burial chamber of Tutankhamun.

Howard Carter was born in Kensington in 1874 to artist Samuel John Carter and Martha Joyce Carter (née Sands). The family lived at 10 Rich Terrace (now Earl’s Court Square) until 1891.

In 1893 at just 17, Carter travelled to Egypt under the guidance of Flinders Petrie, to pursue a career in archeology. In 1907 he joined forces with Lord Carnarvon, and for the next 15 years they painstakingly searched the Valley of the Kings for undiscovered tombs. As the years passed without success, Carnarvon announced he could only fund one final season.

That last chance was all they needed.

In November 1922, Carter’s team uncovered a step leading to a sealed doorway — the entrance to Tutankhamun’s tomb. Inside the antechamber were chariots, beds, jewels, and extraordinary treasures, followed by another sealed doorway believed to lead to the burial chamber itself.

On 16 February 1923, Carter opened it and confirmed the discovery of Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus — astonishingly intact and perfectly preserved.

In the years that followed, Carter spent his winters in Luxor meticulously cataloguing the thousands of artefacts from the tomb. In the summers
he would return to his pied-à-terre at 19 Collingham Gardens, South Kensington, now marked by an blue plaque.

Plagued by health problems later in life, Howard Carter died of lymphoma in 1939 at his home, 49 Albert Court, Kensington. He was laid to rest just over the border in East Surrey, in Putney Vale Cemetery.

Photos © Griffith Institute, University of Oxford (colourised by Dynamichrome)

11/02/2026

Celebrate the publication of Findmypast's 100 millionth newspaper page by exploring real stories from the decades the British public calls ‘the good old days.'

09/02/2026

📜 On This Day in West Middlesex 📜
9th February 1909 - Headmistress extends her headship

The Middlesex Chronicle reported that Mrs Mary Deborah STANNARD, Headteacher of Hanworth Infant School, had been granted a one-year extension to her teaching certificate.
Under the Elementary Teachers (Superannuation) Act of 1898, teachers’ certificates expired at the age of 65 unless they successfully applied for an extension. In Mary’s case, this was approved due to her “special fitness” — though only for a single year.

Hanworth School itself had been built in Park Road in 1848, and Mary and her husband Charles Stannard took up the joint headship in 1874 following the retirement of the original headmaster, Mr MINDENHALL. After Charles’s death in 1891, the school was divided into seniors and infants, with Mary taking charge of the Infants’ School until her retirement in 1910.

When Mary first began, there were just 70 children at the school, and 10 of whom were under her care. By 1907, the registers recorded between 500 and 600 pupils.
Both Charles and Mary were pillars of the Hanworth community. Charles founded the Hanworth Young Men’s Friendly Society, which provided support and mutual aid to working men, while Mary was an integral part of the Hanworth Flower Show. They had five children: William, Edwin (known affectionately as Teddy), Gertrude, Maud, and Harold. Maud later became Matron at Gladstone's School in Redhill, while Teddy worked at the school and organised village sports activities. Sadly, Teddy died from illness in 1915.

Even after retiring, Mary remained remarkably active. In 1918 she became registrar for Hanworth under the Middlesex Women’s War Agriculture Committee, which organised women to work on farms during the First World War. Local female teachers spent their summer holidays fruit-picking and working the land while the men were away at the front.

Mary died in 1935 and is buried alongside Charles and Teddy at St George’s Church in Hanworth.



Pic 1: Hanworth School, Middlesex Chronicle
Pic 2: West Middlesex Family History Society

02/02/2026

📜 On This Day in West Middlesex 📜
2nd February 1904

On this day in 1904, a small incident on the streets of West Middlesex made the local paper. John FOUNTAIN was caught driving a horse and cart along Uxbridge Road in EALING without a light. He was later summoned to court, where he was ordered to pay a fine of 2 shillings and 6 pence. The offence was noticed by PC JOHNSTON, who stopped him.

John’s address was given as 25 Wood Street, Chiswick. It is not entirely clear whether the report referred to John Senior or his son, John Junior, but what we do know is that the Fountain family lived at this address for over forty years.

During that time, the house was home to a large blended family. John lived there with his wife Anne (formerly SMITH), who was stepmother to his only son John, alongside her children, Robert, Eliza, Selina and Mary Anne. The next generation also grew up under the same roof, with grandchildren Annie and George part of the household too.

A forgotten court report about an unlit cart gives us a fleeting glimpse of everyday life, and reminds us there is always a bigger local family story behind it. 🐴✨

26/01/2026

📜 On This Day in West Middlesex 📜

On the evening of Saturday 26th January 1918, a small but curious crime was reported in STANWELL. Nine fowl were stolen from the garden of Stanwell Lodge, leading the owners to place a notice in the Middlesex Chronicle offering a reward of two pounds for any information that would lead to the prosecution of those responsible.

Stanwell Lodge was home to George and Mary HORBURY. Their property was an impressive 16-room residence set in 1½ acres, complete with a kitchen garden, croquet and tennis lawns, and a stable block for two horses.
Originally from Birkenhead and Liverpool, the couple had lived much of their earlier life in India. George worked as a civil engineer, and all four of their children were born in Bombay during his service there. Sadly, their first child, Annie Beryl, died in 1883 at just 13 months old. By the time George purchased Stanwell Lodge around 1909, their three remaining children were grown.

The Horbury's were known locally for their kindness. In 1914, the local paper reported how they invited village children to their house at Christmas, giving gifts of toys and money.

But the years that followed brought great sorrow. In 1916, they lost their only son, George Squire Horbury, who was serving with the King’s Liverpool Regiment and was killed in action during the First World War. Tragedy struck again in 1921 with the death of their daughter Dorothy. The census from this year shows that their remaining child, Gladys, had come to live with them, along with Dorothy’s young son, four-year-old Daryl HUTCHINSON. Perhaps it was these shared losses that brought the remaining family back together under one roof.

It is not known whether anyone was ever caught for the theft from Stanwell Lodge, but this brief notice in the paper shows how a small local incident can open up a much richer story about one family and their place in the community.