Books

The Mitcham Histories by E.N. Montague can be bought from the Merton Historical Society.

Finding books about Mitcham can be a problem when searching on Amazon as a general search will return the many works of author Carl Mitcham. I’ve gone through all the results I found just for Mitcham and have listed them below. Click on the image to be taken to the Amazon web page.

Scroll down or jump to these categories:

Old photographs
General History
Ecology
Crime
Mysteries
Sport – Cricket
Sport – Football
War

Books with old photographs

Old Mitcham

A collection of 180 photographs by Tom Francis is available with descriptions in this book, edited by Eric Montague. More of his collection can be found on Merton Memories.

Pocket Images

Mitcham – a Pictorial History

Mitcham Archive Photos

General History

Mitcham Common : A Short History

Mitcham Common by Eric Montague

The Snuff Mill Story : Local History of Morden, Mitcham and Merton

The Story of Lavender

This book includes the growing of lavender in Mitcham and Wallington.

Andersons of Islington

Timber business that started in 1863 in Islington, North London, established a wood yard in Mitcham in 1948. This book has two photos of the yard.

Ecology

Mitcham Common Ecology Trail

All Change on Mitcham Common

Crime

Fitted Up: The Mitcham Co-op Murder and the Fight to Prove my Innocence

by George Thatcher

Mysteries

Strange Mitcham

by James Clark

Sport

Cricket

300 Years of Mitcham Cricket by Tom Higgs

The booklet by Tom Higgs on the history of cricket at Mitcham was originally published in 1985. By kind permission from the family of the late author, a paperback is now available on Amazon, priced £9.99p It is also available for the Kindle.

After Amazon takes its sales commission, the remainder will be donated to the Mitcham Cricket Club. Please click the image below to go to the Amazon.co.uk website to order your copy and help support the playing of cricket on the world’s oldest continuously in use cricket ground.

James Southerton

by Adrian Gault OBE (Author), David Smith (Foreword)

James Southerton played for England in the first two Test matches ever played. He holds records that will never be broken – the first Test cricketer to die; and records that could yet be broken, but have stood so far since 1877 – the oldest man to make his Test debut (49 years and 119 days). Born in Petworth, in 1827, his family moved to Mitcham, Surrey when he was a child. He grew up playing cricket on the famous Mitcham Cricket Green, the nursery of Surrey cricket.

Sale proceeds go to the Mitcham Cricket Club.

Football

The Tooting Terrors In The 70s

A History of Tooting & Mitcham United FC during the 1970s,
including FA Cup successes – set to a background of social events of the time

By Jeff Brooks

It’s in A4 format, with 152 pages, and contains lots of photographs and memories from old players. Not just football, but some local and national social history.

Cover Price £15.

For orders in the UK, the price is £19.70, which includes £4.70 for second class postage and packing in a padded envelope.

Please contact the author at brooksjeff18@aol.com

Reviews:

The latest volume in Jeff’s trilogy is a valuable addition to Merton’s sporting heritage. A great read for football fans, local history enthusiasts and nostalgia lovers alike, it captures the spirit of the 1970s, as well as giving a comprehensive account of Tooting & Mitcham’s FA Cup runs. The use of contemporary newspaper coverage offers a fascinating insight into the people and players driving the club, as well as the challenges faced by local football during this turbulent period.

Sarah Gould, Service Manager,
Merton Heritage & Local Studies Centre,
2nd Floor, Morden Library, Merton Civic Centre, London Road, Morden, Surrey SM4 5DX

War

Lambeth to Lamsdorf : Doug Hawkins’ War

This is the story of an ordinary young man, unworldly, untried and patriotic, who enlisted at 18 in 1942 and became an infantryman specialising as a machine gunner with the Middlesex Regiment and later with the Cheshire Regiment. His early years were spent in Lambeth and Mitcham, Surrey.