Tag Archives: Hall Place

The Last Beadle

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William Hills, the last beadle of Mitcham, was the father of builder Mr G. Hills, according to this newspaper article in 1949.

Mitcham Advertiser – Thursday 20 January 1949

Golden wedding in Canada

MR. AND MRS. GEORGE EADY, of 41st Street, Long Branch, Toronto, Canada. who recently celebrated their golden wedding there, have very old and intimate associations with Mitcham. Mrs. Eady will be remembered by old residents as Miss Eva Hills, a daughter of Mr. G. Hills, a Mitcham builder, who lived in the Elizabethan house on the Lower Green, opposite The Hall Place, the seat of the Worsfold family. The house, of which a water colour painting by the late Mrs. Moberly hangs in the Town Hall, was demolished many years ago. Mr. Hills was the builder of Glebe Villas in the London Road., mentioned at the borough council’s last meeting.

He also built the church in London at which his daughter was married to Mr. Eady. In the picture painted by Mrs. Moberly, “Beadle Billy Hills,” is a conspicuous figure. He was the parish beadle of that day and the father of Mr. G. Hills the builder, who later lived on the Cricket Green. A Toronto paper, reporting the golden wedding, says a congratulatory message was received from the Hon. Dana Porter, provincial secretary. A hundred guests were at the dinner at the Eastwood Park Hotel. Among them were Mr. Rodney Adamson, M.P. Mr. and Mrs. Eady left Mitcham for Canada in 1902. In 1927 they established their home at Long Branch. They have 17 grandchildren. Last Spring they spent six weeks in England, including Mitcham. Miss M. Harwood, of 11, The Cricket Green, is Mrs, Eady’s cousin. She reminded “The Advertiser ” representative that “Hills’s Pond,” which used to be part of the village scene in front of what is now Preshaw Crescent, on the Lower Green, was named after the family that had lived by it for generations.

A photo of William Hills, the last beadle, us on Merton Memories of William Hills is dated c. 1875.

1866 OS map showing “Hill’s Pond”:

The social housing “Beadle Court” is named after the post of beadle, and “Vine Cottages” are named after Vine House, the ‘Elizabethan’ house referred to in the newspaper article.

1972 OS map

Since 1991, 28 Harwood Avenue, Flats 1 to 12 Beadle Court and 1, 2, 3A, 4 and 5 Vine Cottages, are owned by the Wandle Housing association.

Ordnance Survey maps are reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland, reuse CC-BY.

1945 : Memories of 40 years in signal boxes at Mitcham Junction

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From the Mitcham Advertiser, Thursday 11th October, 1945, page 1.

FIFTY YEARS ON RAILWAY

Golden Wedding Memories of Old Mitcham

Fifty years on the Southern Railway, and forty of them spent in signal boxes at and about Mitcham Junction, is the record of Mr. Arthur G. Funnell, of 32a, Mitcham Garden Village.

Yesterday (Wednesday) he and Mrs. Funnell celebrated their golden wedding.
Mr. Funnell reminded “The Advertiser” reporter that he signalled Queen Victoria’s funeral train through Mitcham Junction on its way from Gosport to Victoria. He also signalled the only royal train that ever was on the branch Croydon-Whnbledon line. It had on board the late King Edward (then Prince of Wales) and no less a person than the Kaiser of Germany. They had been to a review of troops on Wimbledon Common and were on their way to the Crystal Palace. The late Mr. W. Martin was stationmaster at Old Mitcham at that time.

“There was a big crowd of people all along the embankment of Mitcham Common when Queen Victoria’s train went through.” Mr. Funnell said, “and not a few to see Kaiser Bill go by.”

Mr. Funnell served under seven stationmasters at Mitcham Junction. “We had plenty of celebrated people round us in those days.” he sold. “The golf course on the Common, then in its prime, attracted everybody who was anybody in London. Including five Prime Ministers, Mr. Asquith, Mr. Balfour, Mr. Lloyd George, Mr. Ramsay Macdonald and Mr. Winston Churchill, who, however, came before he rose to that high rank. Sir Harry Mallaby-Deeley was as good a player as any of them, and better than most. It was said.”

All sorts of queer things happened at Mitcham Junction, or thereabouts, during Mr. Funnell’s reign as signalman. A big barrel of red powder belonging to a local paint firm rolled off the platform one day in front or a non-stop train, which smashed it literally to dust. The engine, the driver and fireman, most of the passengers, a good length of the train and half the station were painted red and for half an hour a red mist hung about over a wide area, like a sunset reluctant to come to an end.

Mr. Funnell’s initiative led to the capture of several wrongdoers. From his lighthouse early one morning he saw several men being chased across the railway and the Common. He promptly telephoned the station staff, who bagged one.

On another occasion, going off night duty, he saw two sacks partly hidden near the station. He informed the police. Officers dressed as porters got into the brake van when the first train rolled into the Junction, and were not surprised to see two men soon follow them with the sacks. But the men were surprised when the “porters” grabbed them.

Mr. and Mrs. Funnell’s own home in Love Lane was broken into. They lived in it for forty years, till they were bombed out. The garden there was one of the sights of the village, for Mr. Funnell is a good gardener, with a passion for flowers. He has cultivated an allotment on the railway embankment at Mitcham Junction for over fifty years. The housebreaker in Love Lane was captured by Mr. Funnell himself, after a chase into Western Road. He happened to reach home as the intruder was leaving, with two watches and other articles.

“I began my railway life on the old London, Brighton and South Coast Railway,” Mr. Funnell said. He was born at Littlehampton and is now 74. Mrs. Funnell. who is 75, is a native of Mitcham. She was born in Church Road, and remembers the village when it was mainly a vast garden, glowing in the Summertime with all the colours of the rainbow.

Like all good Mitchamers, the whole family are interested in cricket. Mr. Funnell played regularly in the railway men’s team. His younger son, Bombardier George Funnell, is an excellent bat in the Mitcham first eleven. Mrs. Funnell still helps with the teas in the pavilion.

Lance-Corporal Arthur Ernest Funnell, of the Military Police, is their other son, and a married daughter lives at Worthing.

After being bombed from Love Lane, Mr. and Mrs. Funnell were bombed from the Garden Village for a time. The Garden Villagers were naturally among the first to congratulate them on their golden wedding day.

“We were married at Mitcham Parish Church by the late Canon Wilson.” said Mrs. Funnell.“ on the same day that Tom Richardson, the great fast bowler, was married at Beddington. In fact, we used the same carriage.”

Mr. Funnell retired from the railway eleven years ago. He looks back on his past at the Junction as the most colourful patch in his history. They were happy and pleasant days to him. When “The Advertiser” reporter left the house Mrs Funnell was making the golden wedding cake.

“Sometimes I still fancy I can hear old George Sawyer calling out the names of the stations.” said Mr. Funnell. George had a voice like Stentor himself. The late Sir Cato Worsfold declared that at The Hall Place, a mile away, he could hear George calling so plainly that every word was distinct.