Tag Archives: 1916

Amelia Elizabeth Hewitt, draper

Amelia Elizabeth Hewitt had a draper shop on Upper Green east.

1902 - clip from Merton Memories photo 49655, copyright London Borough of Merton

1902 – clip from Merton Memories photo 49655, copyright London Borough of Merton

1910 OS Map showing AE Hewitt shop in red, left of the Post Office

1910 OS Map showing AE Hewitt shop in red, left of the Post Office

News Articles

REFUSED TO REGISTER.
WOMAN SMARTLY FINED FOR TREATING MATTER AS JOKE.

At Croydon Police Court, to-day, Amelia Elizabeth Hewitt, draper, of Upper Mitcham. was summoned for refusing fill up her National Registration Form, and for refusing to attend before the local registration authorities. The defendant did not appear, and it was stated that she told the enumerator that the lost her form, but she would not register.

When warned of the penalty for failing to register, she made a flippant reply, when the summonses were served she put them in the letter box, and said:— “I should think my face would tell you how old I am.”

She was fined £2 on the first summons and £1 on the second summons, with £1 12s. 6d. costs, or the alternative of 21 days.

Source: Yorkshire Evening Post – Thursday 09 September 1915 from the British Newspaper Archive (subscription required)

WOMAN TURNS OUT POLICE

Order for Arrest of Draper Who Refused to Lower Lights. The Croydon magistrate yesterday ordered the arrest Amelia Hewitt, draper, of Upton Green, Mitcham, for failing to answer a summons for the excessive lighting of her shop. She declined to touch the lights complained of, and ordered the police officers out of her shop.

Source: Sunday Mirror – Sunday 02 April 1916 from the British Newspaper Archive (subscription required) NB: Upper Green incorrectly written as Upton Green in this article.

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

Robin Ltd., Incandescent Gas Mantle Makers, Lonesome

1910 OS Map

1910 OS Map

The company experienced a boom in its business of making and selling incandescent gas mantles during World War 1. Gas mantles, the part of a gas lamp that glows, were made from Thorium, which was extracted from sands mined in Brazil. Before the war, Germany was the only country that produced Thorium from these sands, as pointed out in a letter to the Daily Express. With the war, imports from Germany ceased, and Thorium had to be bought from the US.

Robin Ltd. stated in a military service tribunal of 11th August 1916 that:

owing to the import of German mantles being stopped since the war their business had increased enormously, and they now employed 500 hands.

The factory was bought by Beck & Co. Ltd. of Southwark in 1939. They used part of the factory for production of water meters, petrol pumps and steam valves. Source: Mitcham Borough Council minutes, page 476, volume 5.

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