Mr Harry Frederick Winbow, who knew Mitcham Common when cows grazed on it, died last week the age of 89.

Mr Winbow, Commonside East, Mitcham, is the father of Mr Henry Winbow, chairman of Mitcham Common Preservation Society.

He came to Mitcham in 1900 and bought a house in the Gorringe Park estate , then being developed. In those days the house was surrounded by corn fields

Most of his life he was a maintenance engineer at the Bachelors’ Club in the West End.

Before he retired at the age of 70, he ran the Dorset Inn at Withyham, Sussex, for five years. During the First World War he served in the Royal Flying Corps.

Mr Henry Winbow said this week: “Many people knew him in Mitcham, especially the traders at Fair Green. He used to do the shopping for us.”

He leaves a widow, Agnes Louise (aged 92), two sons, Henry and Arthur, and a daughter, Maud.

Source: Mitcham News and Mercury, 13th January, 1961.

Harry Frederick Winbow in the 1911 England Census
Name: Harry Frederick Winbow
Age in 1911: 39
Estimated birth year: abt 1872
Relation to Head: Head
Gender: Male
Birth Place: Westminster, London, England
Civil Parish: Mitcham
County/Island: Surrey
Country: England
Street address: Kendrick, Commonside East, Mitcham, Surrey
Marital Status: Married
Occupation: Electrical Engineer In Club
Registration district: Croydon
Registration District Number: 39
Sub-registration district: Mitcham
ED, institution, or vessel: 14
Household schedule number: 33
Piece: 3434

Household Members:
Name Age
Harry Frederick Winbow 39
Agnes Louise Winbow 41
Henry Francis George Winbow 16
Constance Elizabeth Winbow 15
Maud Mary Louise Winbow 13
Arthur Stanley Buckler Winbow 3
William Holmes 84
Dorothy Beatrice Holmes 19

Source Citation
Class: RG14; Piece: 3434; Schedule Number: 33
Source Information
Ancestry.com. 1911 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Original data: Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA), 1911.