1891

Road off east side of Streatham Road, north of Lock’s Lane and south of Graham Avenue.

Built in the late 19th century on land previously occupied by The Willows, described by Eric Montague in his book Mitcham Histories : 2 North Mitcham, page 74, as having extensive stabling, farmery, meadows and gardens. The roads Graham Avenue, Elmfield Avenue and Fernlea Road were also built in this land. The address “Graham Road, Willows Estate” was used in this ad from 1900:

Mitcham (best part). – Pretty and conveniently arranged 6 – roomed houses; bath (h. and c.); good garden; within 10 minutes’ walk of Tooting Junction Station; good service of trains to Ludgate-hill and London-bridge; rent £24 per annum, or price (freehold) £350; £300 could remain on mortgage, repayable by easy instalments, which would amount to the same thing as paying rent.

Apply to Nott, Cartwright, and Etches, 13, The Parade, Tooting; 1, Bank Buildings, Balham; or to 39, Graham-road, Willows Estate, Mitcham.

1894 OS Map

1911 OS Map

In 1902, the road was made up, and charges to owners was based on the length of the frontage of their properties. This list is from the minutes of the Croydon Rural District Council:

Volume 8
1902 to 1903
Mitcham Parochial
19th June 1902
page 200

The ‘number on plan’ isn’t a house number. The plan referred to isn’t available.

No. on plan	Property	Owner	Frontage
1	House	Sydney Moses	18 ft.
2	Three houses	Charles Bell	54 ft.
3	Three houses	Nott, Cartwright & Etches	54 ft.
4	Two houses	Charles Bell	36 ft.
5	House	Arthur Mansfield	18 ft.
6	House	Charles Bell	18 ft.
7	House	Charles Wheeler	18 ft.
8	House	Alfred Edger	22 ft.
9	House	Miss Annie Fawcett	18 ft.
10	House	John Edwin Branch	18 ft.
11	Three houses	Charles Bell	54 ft.
12	House	Charles Remington	18 ft.
13	House	Edward Duncan	18 ft.
14	Two houses	Edward Charles	36 ft.
15	Eight houses	Edward Cheeseman	134 ft. 6 ins.
16	Seven houses	James Willers	121 ft. 6 ins.
17	House and land	T.L. Laver	34 ft.
18	Land	J. Mounter	24 ft.
19	Land	Trustees of Lansbury	296 ft.
20	House and land	F.L. Mizen	150 ft.
21	Land	H.A. Chappell	188 ft.

The contract for making up the road went to tender, as listed in the council minutes of 18th September 1902, page 394:

Graham Road Tenders

The Council opened and considered the undermentioned tenders received for the making up, forming, kerbing, and metalling of Graham Road, Mitcham:-

Stockwell & Co., Bromley ……… £812 14s.
Adams, T., Wood Green, London …. £621
Free & Sons, Maidenhead ………. £540
Iles, E., Mitcham ……………. £495
Wheeler, W.H., Southwark, S.E. … £441 13s.

Resolved, That the tender of Mr. E. Iles, of Mitcham, be accepted, and that the necessary bond be entered into in accordance of conduct.

From the minutes of the Croydon Rural District Council
Volume IX 1903 – 1904
7th May 1903
page 71

No. 2481, Bennington, J.A., 3 houses, Graham Road, Mitcham

Minutes of meetings held by the Croydon Rural District Council are available on request from the Merton Heritage and Local Studies Centre at Morden Library.

The street directories of 1891 and 1915 list the occupants in the order encountered when walking from Figgs Marsh to Fernlea Road. The house names are in brackets.

1915

SOUTH SIDE

from Figg’s marsh

2 William James Dickisson (Trent House)
William Frederick Laing, auctioneer & estate agent (Trezamble)
James Dalton (Rose Bank)
George R. Waters (Sydmouth)
Andrew George Jones (Jessima)
James Knight (1 Graham villas)
Philip Musk (Rothesay)
John Davey (3 Graham villas)
Alfred Charles Firth (Dulmeney)
Samuel Weldon Myles (The Cottage)
Arthur E. Cooper (Lyndhurst)
12 Rev. Sydney Jackson [chaplain to Holborn Union workhouse & schools] (White Heather)
James Glover (Selby lodge)
Rowland Macbeth (Homeleigh)
Charles Stratton (Mayfair)
James Alfred Bennington (Eversley)
Edward E. Kelly glove cleaner (Melrose)
Alfred Thomas Green (Brambletye)
Thomas Harper (Stalheim)
Harry Wilson (Merok)
Henry Keen (Sundial)
Thomas Brandon (Viva villa)

NORTH SIDE

Alex. Cordier (Rosenheath)
Charles Jordan (Linacre)
Mrs Bishop (Bellefontaine)
Alexander Notman (Essen)
George H. Day (Aldwark)
Jesse Ray (Kimberley)
James Arthur Martin (Ivydeane)
Arthur Lewis Peake (Belmont)
Herbert Geogre Littleton (Claremont)
Joseph Geaney (Inisfail)
Frederick V. Whicher (Sherwood)
John Howard Feesey (Elmwood villa)
Walter Hudson Douglas (Roselea)
John Lewis Rooke (Thorstone)
Mrs Scales (St. Arvans)
William Luker (The Glen)
26 Richard James Glyde (Glenmore)
27 William Vickers (Crohamhurst)
28 William Driver (The Nest)
Edward Gurr (Sunnymeade)
Arthur Edward Hayne (St. Cross)
Mitcham Conservative & Unionist Association (Arthur Edward Hayne sec.) (St. Cross)
Henry Ailes Chappell (Oxwycke)

…. here is Fernlea Road ….

NORTH SIDE

Miss Wilson (Montrose)
E. Hitchings (Trezamble)
H.S. Coldicott (The Cottage)
William Baker (Lyndhurst)
W.H. Wood (Oakleigh)
V. Roberts (Selby lodge)
Philip Marshal (Homeleigh)
John Forge (Brambletye)

SOUTH SIDE

50 Joseph Harbord
Dr. W.V. Kemshead (Avondale)
26 Hamilton Lawrence

First World War combatants 2nd Lt. Arthur Gordon Jackson, and his brother Lt Henry Stewart Jackson lived at White Heather, in Graham Road.

Minutes of meetings held by the Croydon Rural District Council are available on request from the Merton Heritage and Local Studies Centre at Morden Library.

Built c. 1722 and demolished 1971/2.

Eric Montague, in his book Mitcham Histories : 7 The Upper or Fair Green, Mitcham, chapter 7 says that the building was used by the Conservative Club from 1890 up to its demolition.

1970 Image courtesy of Collage – The London Picture Library – http://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk

Two concrete block buildings were built on the site. Currently (2016) the Iceland supermarket occupies the site of the original Durham House next to Fair Green Court, and a second concrete block, next to Raleigh Gardens, is occupied by the Mitcham Conservative Club. In 2018, the bar and function room were refurbished as the General Giles Social Club.

2009 photo.

undated photo of the Fair Green shows Durham House on the left

1921 aerial photo shows Durham House bottom left

An advertisement to let of 1872 describes the house as a:

capital FAMILY RESIDENCE, in substantial and good decorative repair … containing six bed-rooms, two dressing-rooms, dining and drawing rooms ; water and gas laid on; large garden, walled in, perfectly private

News Articles

1891 funeral of William Garraway tells of when his father bought Durham House.

MITCHAM.

Funeral of Mr. William Garraway.

— On Monday last the funeral of Mr. William Garraway, of Kennington, Surrey, who died, as announced in our obituary column of last week, on the 11th inst. from bronchitis, in his 80th year, took place at Mitcham. The deceased gentleman was interred in the old part of the churchyard between the grave of his brother, Mr. George Garraway, and that of his father and mother. The coffin was of polished oak with brass furniture, and the plate bore the following inscription in capitals : William Garraway, second son of Abel and Amelia Garraway, of Mitcham, Surrey, and grandson of Daniel and Elizabeth Garraway, of Croydon, Surrey. Born Reigate, August 6th, 1811 ; died at Kennington, March 11th, 1891.”

The burial service was read by the Vicar (the Rev. D. F. Wilson), and a muffled peal was rung both before and after the service. The mourners were Mr. R. Garraway Rice, F.B.A, barrister-at-law, Mr. John Forsey, Mr. John Rogers, end Mr. J. D. Bartlett. Mr. William Garraway in early life studied for the medical profession at St. Thomas’s Hospital, but relinquished it without qualifying.

His father, Mr. Abel Garraway, who was for many years resident owner of Durham-house, Upper Mitcham, now the Conservative Club House (which his father, Mr. Daniel Garraway, had purchased of Lieut.-General Giles Hibbert about the year 1808), will be well remembered by the older inhabitants as a gentleman of literary tastes, who took considerable interest in parochial matters. Mr. Abel Garraway was quite one of the old school, always wearing a frilled shirt front and dress coat, and he usually carried silver knobbed cane. He left Hackney to reside at Durham-house, Mitcham, in the year 1841, but died at Glebe Lands in the latter parish in his 79th year on the 11th of January, 1860, having removed there some few years previously.

Source: Croydon Advertiser and East Surrey Reporter – Saturday 21 March 1891 from the British Newspaper Archive (subscription required)

Note that Montague says the surname was Stibbart, not Hibbart.

Harriet Slater worked as a servant to Abel Garraway when he lived at Glebelands House.

Merton Memories
c. 1850 engraving
undated drawing

clip from Merton Memories photo 30928 copyright London Borough of Merton

A stone with the inscription A.G. 1809 is now on display behind the bar at the General Giles Club. It had been in the Conservative Club office.

photo taken 8th October 2018

The initials are likely to be Abel Garraway, whose father Daniel bought the house from General Giles Hibbert in 1808, as referred to above in the news item on the 1891 funeral of Abel’s son William.

Mitcham History Notes

Some notes about history of Mitcham, Surrey

Tag Archives: 1891

Graham Road

1915

1891

Durham House