Tag Archives: 1913

C.E. Spence

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Newsagent and stationer who had a shop from around 1914 at number 5 the Broadway,
which was later renumbered as 323 London Road, as shown in this ad from the 1934 Official Guide to Mitcham:

Text of ad:

The Mitcham Circulating Library
Also SUBSCRIPTION LIBRARY

in connection with
MESSRS. W. H. SMITH & SON
2d. Volume – – No Deposit.

C. E. SPENCE

ARTISTIC PRINTER :: STATIONER
BOOKSELLER AND NEWSAGENT
BOOKBINDER :: PICTURE FRAMER
FANCY NEEDLEWORK :: TOYS

(Agent for Pullar’s Dye Works).

323 London Road, LOWER MITCHAM

In the 1913 directory, the newsagent is listed as John James KENYON. In the 1915 directory it is C.E. SPENCE.

From Ancestry:

In the 1939 register, Charles Edward SPENCE, stationer newsagent, born 1872, lived at 323 London Road with his wife Fanny E.M.B. SPENCE.

He died in 1941 and left £590 4s. to his widow Fanny Emma Mary Broadridge SPENCE.

From Norwood News – Friday 24 January 1941

NEWSAGENT FOR MANY YEARS

Mr. Charles Spence

THE death of Mr. Charles Edward Spence, well-known bookseller and newsagent, 323 London-road, Mitcham, has come as a great shock to his many friends and acquaintances.

Mr. Spence, who was 68 years of age, originally came to Mitcham from Cheam, where he had been associated with the Mitcham and Cheam Brewery.

For 26 years he was a prominent tradesman in Mitcham, and around him made a very large circle of friends and customers. He was a member of the Mitcham Chamber of Commerce, Mrs. Spence being on the Social Cornmittee.

Mr. Spence has been in the choir at St. Dunstan’s Church, Cheam, since boyhood, and it was in the graveyard of this church that the funeral took place.

Numerous floral tributes included one from the Tooting and Mitcham Newsagents’ Federation, of which he was an active member, testifying to the esteem in which he was held.

The funeral arrangements were carried out by Mr. Donald S. Drewett, Upper Green, Mitcham.

From a user on the Mitcham History Group on Facebook:

Gladys AYLING worked in C.E. Spence around 1929. She earned 5 shillings a week, started early and finished late. If she was let go early one day, she had to deliver the sample books to the customers on her way home – riding her bike with the books resting over the handlebars!

Her husband, Wilfred AYLING, worked in the old manor house gardens a few doors along from this shop.

St Barnabas church

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Church between Gorringe Park Avenue and St Barnabas Road, built in 1918. Designed by Henry Philip Burke Downing (1865 – 1947).

from the Academy Architecture and Architectural Review, volume 41, 1912, page 12. This shows the north aisle (on the left in this view) that wasn’t built.

Foundation stone was laid on Saturday, 17th May, 1913, according to article in the Church Times, 23rd May, 1913, page 23 :

City of London School Mission.

On Saturday last the Lord Mayor, accompanied by the Sheriffs, drove down in state to Mitcham in order to lay the foundation-stone of the new Church of St Barnabas, which will be used in connexion with the City of London; School Mission. The service was conducted by the Bishop of Southwark, the Rev. E. J. Baker, the Mission priest, reading the Lesson. The Mission, which is conducted largely by the old boys of the City of London School, has been in existence for six years, and has done excellent work in this rapidly growing artisan area.

The new church, which will occupy a site in Gorringe Park, will have seating accommodation for 830 persons. The cost will be about £10,000, and £3,000 are still wanted, towards which £7,000 have already been contributed by public grants, funds raised by the School Mission Committee, and by the South London Church Fund. The raising of the remaining £3,000 is a matter of some concern to the Building Committee, The Bishop of Southwark expressed thanks for the generous sympathy, encouragement, and support of all connected with the City of London School. The Lord Mayor said that when the school decided to have a mission of its own it chose Mitcham, recognising that so many of the workers in the City resided there. Dr. Chilton, head master of the school, expressed thanks to the Lord Mayor, who has consented to receive at the Mansion House further contributions to the fund. The school Cadet Corps formed a guard of honour during the proceedings.

Probably delayed due to WW1, the church wasn’t built until probably 1918.

1934 OS map

For more, see the church’s website.

Maps are reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.