Tag Archives: 1952

W. J. Emson – insurance broker

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Insurance agent W.J Emson & Co. had a shop in Mitcham for about 50 years, from around 1937 to 1987.

According to the 1921 census, William John Mulready EMSON, age 39, born in 1883, was a police sergeant at the Mitcham Police Station, and lived at the police quarters in Lower Green West (where Vine Cottages is now), with his wife Lilian Rose Emson, aged 38.

This and from 1932 shows him using all of his initials “W.J.M.” and the address as 21 Langdale Avenue, which was his home address as shown in the 1939 registry, with his wife Lillian R. Emson.

Mitcham Advertiser – Thursday 21 January 1932

By 1937, his business was from a shop on the corner of Langdale Avenue and London Road at no. 251, as can be seen in this ad. Note that the third initial has been dropped.

1937 ad from Mitcham Cricket Club yearbook

He was listed as a subscriber to the cricket club’s yearbook in 1937, from which it is assumed he was a member of the club. These ads ran up to 1968.

The 1952 Chamber of Commerce guide lists W. J. Emson & Co., at 177 London Road, Mitcham, near the corner with Downe Road.

He passed away in September 1961, and his address on the probate record on Ancestry was 4 Glebe Court, Mitcham.

This ad from 1968 is from the Mitcham Cricket Club yearbook.

1968 ad

The business was listed in the 1971 phone book at 177 London Road, Mitcham, 01-648 9351.

Merton Memories has a c.1987 photo which shows the business at 35 Monarch Parade.

Sherbourne Cottages

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A terrace of 5 houses that were on Tamworth Lane at the corner with Grove Road. Possibly built around 1870, they were demolished in the early 1980s.

This 1974 photo by Eric Montague shows the terrace as occupied.

Clip of photo taken by Eric Montague in 1974. Reproduced by kind permission of the Merton Historical Society. Image reference mhs-em-em-ph-l-12
The photo appears in Eric Montague’s book Mitcham Histories : 3 Pollards Hill Commonside East and Lonesome, on page 92.

On this 1952 OS map, four houses are seen with the numbers 2, 4, 6, 8, and number 10 may have been part of the terrace.

1952 OS map reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland

In the 1919 electoral register, the houses were numbered 1 to 5 Sherbourne Cottages:

1, (Sherbourne House), Nellie Antoinette and Lizzie Louisa ALLEN
2, Henry and Louisa WELLER
3, George Henry and Rose WOODS
4, Frank and Emily LINEKER; Alexander Moir THOMSON
5, Charles William and Emma BLACKBURN

The houses were possibly renumbered in the 1920s as 2 to 10 Tamworth Lane.

Sherborne House was larger than the rest, and on the Grove Road side had a bay window, as shown in this photo by Eric Montague, taken in 1980, prior to demolition.

Photo taken by Eric Montague in c.1980. Reproduced by kind permission of the Merton Historical Society.

Eric Montague said in his book Mitcham Histories : 3 Pollards Hill Commonside East and Lonesome, on pages 91 and 92, that these houses were blighted in the 1960s and 70s by the proposed M23 motorway extension. In the event, that extension didn’t happen but these houses had been listed under the Housing Acts in 1963 for demolition. After the tenants moved out, they were vandalised prior to demolition.

Photo taken by Eric Montague in c.1980. Reproduced by kind permission of the Merton Historical Society.