Road on the Eastfields Housing Estate, built in 1972 on land formerly occupied by Pain’s fireworks factory. The name should have been Milholland after the then current director of Pain’s, but the council got the spelling wrong.

From the Mitcham News & Mercury
29th December, 1972

Council boob and a tribute back-fires

When Merton Housing Committee named a road on the new Eastfields Estate, Mitcham, after a local businessman they meant it as a compliment.

But the compliment back-fired when someone in the housing department got the name wrong.

And the man in the middle of the mess is annoyed that his name has been taken in vain now for over five months.

The road should have been Milholland-close – after Mr Philip Milholland, director of Pain’s Wessex Fireworks Ltd who had a factory on the site for 100 years.

But when the sign went up it read ‘Mulholland’ – and went un-noticed for several months.

Mr Milholland said this week : “I am annoyed. They should have got it right and I hope they are going to put it right. I have written to the housing department pointing out the mistake.

I didn’t even realise they had named this close after me until an old works manager of mine who lives in the area saw the sign and told me they had got it wrong.”

At first the housing committee decided that as local residents had been used to living in Mulholland-close for several months it would be wrong to change the name.

Housing Manager Mr A. A. Brown said: “I think it was because they thought people had possibly got used to it and even had notepaper printed with the address. Now however the matter has been referred back to the committee.:

Explaining the mistake he said: “It was a mistake of someone in the department and I think it happened because Mulholland is such a usual name and Milholland isn’t. We are very sorry.”