Tag Archives: Glebe Villas

Oscar Berridge Shelswell

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Listed in the 1915 Kelly’s Directory as

Shelswell, Oscar Berridge M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P.Lond. surgeon & medical officer to the Holborn Union, Mitcham workshouse, Sibford, Lower Green west

which meant that he lived at Sibford, and was employed at the workhouse.

He was married in 1892.

From the British Newspaper Archive (subscription required) :
Banbury Guardian – Thursday 09 June 1892

MARRIAGE OF MISS A. E. L. WILKINSON AND MR. O. B. SHELSWELL.

The picturesque village of Stainton-in-Cleveland Yorkshire, was en fete on the 1st inst., the occasion being the marriage of Mr. Oscar Berridge Shelswell L.R.C.P. (Lond.), M.R.C.S. (England), of Mitcham, Surrey, to Miss Annie Elizabeth Lucy Wilkinson, second daughter of the Rev. T. H. Wilkinson, Vicar of the parish, and until recently Vicar of Ratley, Banbury. The ceremony was performed by the bride’s father, assisted by her brothers, the Rev H A Wilkinson, B.A., and the Rev. C. T. B. Wilkinson B.A.

The service was fully choral. The bride who was given away by her eldest brother, Mr. C. J. Wilkinson, M.R.C.S., of Bolton, was attired in a dress of rich ivory corded silk trimmed with lace and natural orange blossoms, coronet of the same, and long tulle veil secured by pearl pins. Her bouquet, the gift the bridegroom, was composed of white lilac and lilies of the valley.

She was attended by four bridesmaids Miss Agnes Wilkinson (sister of the bride), Miss Augusta Berridge (cousin of the bridegroom), Miss Emily Rayner, and Miss Mary Hobson, who wore costumes of maize crepon, with fichus of white chiffon, fancy Leg-horn hats trimmed with white chiffon and Marguerites. The bridegroom presented each with a dainty pearl and diamond spray brooch, and they carried bouquets of Marguerites and lillies of the valley.

Mr. Burton Luxmore, of London, acted as best man. The bride’s mother was attired in myrtle green silk trimmed with blue and silver brocade, handsome white China silk shawl, and lace bonnet to match.

The path by which the bridal procession returned to the vicarage was spanned by floral arches, and strewn with flowers by the school children, the return of the party being greeted with a feu de joie in the vicarage grounds.

Later in the afternoon the newly-wedded couple left en route for the Continent. The bride’s travelling dress was of fawn corduroy, trimmed with jewelled passementerie.

In the evening to celebrate the happy event, the school children, Sunday School teachers, and members of the Girl’s Friendly Society were entertained to tea in the vicarage garden, after which an adjournment was made to a field, kindly lent by Mr, John Jackson, where various sports and races were indulged in. Prizes were subsequently distributed by Mrs. Wilkinson, and the proceedings were brought to conclusion by dance in the village school-room. The wedding presents were numerous and valuable.

Ad from 6th November 1914:

GENERAL, able to do plain cooking, and HOUSEMAID. Early dinner. Good outings. Swiss not objected to. £18 — £20.
— Mrs. Shelswell, Sibford, Mitcham.

Ad from The Motorcycle 30th September 1920 via archive.org

SUN-VITESSE, October, 1919, 2-stroke, 2-speed
countershaft gear, used short runs only, tyres
good, fine running order; trial any day any time:
£48.- Shelswell, Cricket Green, Mitcham.
Terminus 88 ‘bus. Tel. : 822 Mitcham.

Mitcham Advertiser – Thursday 08 March 1934

DR. O. B. SHELSWELL

SUDDEN DEATH OF FORMER MITCHAM DOCTOR.

News reached Mitcham on Tuesday of the sudden death at Forest Green, near Holmbury St. Mary, Surrey, of Dr. O. B. Shelswell, father of Dr. A. H. Shelswell, Lower Green, who practised in Mitcham for a great many years, and was a friend and colleague of Dr. Love.

Dr. Shelswell retired about ten years ago to spend his eventide in the charming country place where he died. He was a few years younger than Dr. Love. He leaves a widow, two sons and one daughter.

Dr. Shelswell came to Mitcham as a young man and was medical officer to Holborn Schools and Institution for a time. He lived in Glebe Villas until he built Sibford, where his son now resides. He was the personification of kindness and the older residents of Mitcham retain very pleasant memories of his skill as a physician and his fine qualities as a man.

During the war Dr. Shelswell rendered great service as a medical officer at the military hospital set up in old Holborn Workhouse, and he was given the O.B.E. He took no part in public affairs. His garden was his chief hobby. Gardening was a passion with Dr. Shelswell. So was chess, which he played with exceptional skill. Another favourite recreation was croquet, which he played from time to time with the late Mr. G. Farewell Jones.

A few years ago Dr. Shelswell met with an accident in Mitcham which shook him badly. He was knocked down by a motor car near the Three Kings Pond and his injuries necessitated hospital treatment. The seizure which ended his life was the second since his retirement.

The funeral of Dr. Shelswell, who laboured for forty years in Mitcham, will probably take place at Forest Green on Saturday afternoon. He was seventy-six.

1952 : Village Relics Are Fast Disappearing

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From the Mitcham and Tooting Advertiser of 16th October, 1952

VILLAGE RELICS ARE FAST DISAPPEARING

New building is changing the face of Mitcham

NEW FLATS TO REPLACE GLEBE VILLAS

GRADUALLY the few remaining relics of the Village of Mitcham are disappearing before the advance of the town-makers and other developers. The revolution, begun well within the memory of the oldest inhabitants, and quiescent during the war years, is now very active again. Not the least among those responsible for the changes are the borough council, whose ranges of fiats tower into the sky from Pollards Hill to Figges Marsh, and from the Fair Green to the Cricket Green.

In place of the long line of Glebe Villas in London Road which are being razed to the ground will rise a continuation of the huge block of Glebe estate flats, which will then be completed.

Glebe Villas, a row of three-storey, roomy and dignified semi-detached houses of the Victorian type, with bay windows, were built by George Hill, who was born in the Elizabethan house that once stood opposite the Hall Place, now itself no more.

George Hills was the father of the last of the beadles of the parish and Parish Church. A tradition remains that the bricks used in Glebe Villas were made in Mitcham.

Some of the best-known families in the village occupied the houses fifty years ago. They were in that part of central Mitcham and the London Road known and named as Whitford Lane, and Whitford Gardens opposite keeps that name green in the memory.

It was inevitable that sooner or later, Glebe Villas would go the way of the estates that once stood opposite, and the way of London Road, Lower Mitcham, from the Cricket Green to old Mitcham station and the River Wandle.

CHANGES
In living memory

Virtually all the changes have taken place within living memory. They include the disappearance of Holborn Schools and the erection of Monarch Parade at the Figges Marsh end of the road, the wiping out of Mizen Brothers’ extensive nurseries and the building of Elm Court flats and the development of the market garden land on which the central library, the adjoining shops and the baths now stand.

In its turn the Fair Green has been developed, though it still retains much of its old village appearance and character.

The latest change is taking place at the corner of Cranmer Road, opposite The Canons, where the last section of the old causeway and the last of the old timbered collages that once decorated that corner of the Cricket Green are doomed to disappear. The inevitable change there began in strength when Carlton’s market gardens became the site of Bramcote Avenue and Denham Crescent. A half-century earlier, Mitcham Park displaced the fields and lovers’ walks which the oldest inhabitants remember and whose passing they regret.

Beyond the Cranmer corner another great change in the aspect of Central Mitcham began with the razing of Cranmer House, the erection of Wilson Hospital and Mitcham County School for Girls, and the development of the Cesars Walk estate.

In that upheaval disappeared one of the finest of Mitcham’s ancient monuments — the centuries old tithe barn.

On the site now owned and occupied by Cranmer Motors Limited, formerly stood Piccadilly, now almost forgotten except by natives approaching their century. Piccadilly was nought but a couple or so of little wooden cottages in an alleyway leading to fields. The wood-framed Cramner Restaurant, which faces the obelisk in The Cannons marks the entrance to the Piccadilly that was.

It is all destined to disappear in the reconstruction and modernisation of Cranmer Corner, now proceeding. Quite recently a new sewer has been laid under the premises, including part of the Catholic Church to prevent the flooding of basements of the houses and business premises nearby, a nuisance endured for years.

Several derelict premises, one-time shops, cottages and a printing works, are being swept away, and on their site will be built, the enlargement of the Cranmer Motor Works and service station.

“I think the public generally will agree that the new Cramner Corner will be an improvement on the old Cranmer Corner.” said Mr. V. Cole, a son of a former Mayor and Mayoress of Mitcham, and the proprietor of Cranmer Motors Ltd.