Tag Archives: Jack Fitch

Laburnum Road Estate

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Council housing estate built 1954+ on land south and west of the level crossing at Tamworth Lane.

The architects were Collcutt & Hamp, J. Liversedge & Co. were the consulting construction engineers, Mr. H.A. Sandford, M.A. was the consulting electrical engineer and E.C. Harris and Partners the quantity surveyors. Source: Borough Engineer’s Report, 8th September, 1952, as publsihed in Mitcham Borough Council minutes, page 223, volume 19.

Merton Memories Photos

c. 1954 Being built – as seen from railway line
c.1956 Block being built – roof section carried by crane
A completed block seen from railway line
A completed block front view
Two completed blocks
Old peoples’ cottages and a completed block

The land was bought by Mitcham Borough Council using a compulsory purchase order. These council minutes describe the land plots bought, and from whom.

From the minutes of the
Housing Committee
Thursday 2nd July 1953

Laburnum Road Site: Acquisition of Land

The Town Clerk submitted the District Valuer’s reports of the terms of compensation provisionally agreed, subject to the approval of the Council and the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, for the acquisition, under the terms of the Mitcham (Laburnum Road) Compulsory Purchase Order, 1952, of the freehold interest in the undermentioned land required for the development for housing purposes of the Laburnum Road site.

Land owned by Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd.

5.030 acres approx. of land at Laburnum Road, together with the house known as “Nursery Cottage” and the derelict house adjoining, and also 0.105 acre of land at Laburnum Road, including the building and timber yard known as “The Garage.”

Land Owned by The Misses L.L. and N.A. Allen, as Executors and Trustees of Rebecca Allen, deceased.

0.084 acre approx. of land at Laburnum Road, including the four cottages known as 1,2,3 and 4, Railway Cottages.

Land Owned by Mizen Bros.

0.138 acre approx. of land at the rear of No.s 1-4, Railway Cottages, Laburnum Road, with a frontage to Eastfields Road.

Resolved, That the terms of compensation provisionally agreed be approved by the Council; that authority be given for the acquisition of the land in accordance with these terms; and that the Common Seal of the Corporation be affixed to any necessary documents.

Railway Cottages and Nursery Cottage can be seen on the 1952 OS Map:

The largest plot, roughly triangular, and owned by the Co-Op, had Nissen Huts on it at the time of the purchase. They can be seen in this aerial photo from 1952

Railway Cottages and Nursery Cottage can be seen top left of this photo

1952

1952

The names of the blocks of flats, and old peoples’ cottages, were suggested in January 1954.

From the minutes of the
Housing Committee
7th January 1954

Laburnum Road Estate

The following is a suggested name for the four blocks of flats on the Laburnum Road Estate: –

Laburnum Court
Hardcastle Court
Penfold Court
Guyatt Court

Addition, names are required for the four blocks of aged persons’ dwellings and it is recommended the following names be given to them: –

Lea Cottages
Ryves Cottages
Campbell Cottages
Overhill Cottages

Source: Proceedings of the Council and committees, Mitcham Borough Council, Volume 20 1953-54, page 535.

Resolved:

(i) That the following names be given to the four blocks of flats in the Laburnum Road Estate:

Laburnum Court
Penfold Court
Fitch Court
Beaumont Court

(ii) That the names recommended for the four blocks of aged persons’ dwellings be approved.

Source: Proceedings of the Council and committees, Mitcham Borough Council, Volume 20 1953-54, pages 538.

From Mitcham and Tooting Advertiser
8th July 1954

HOMES OF THEIR OWN AT LAST
First tenants move into town’s newest estate

166 NEW HOMES BY MARCH

THE first tenants moved to Mitcham’s newest estate — Laburnum Road — over the week-end. About a dozen families went into the top-floor flats and maisonnettes of Laburnum Court which is the first block to be completed.

Many had spent years in one and two-room flatlets. Then, after three years or more on the waiting list, they were told by Mitcham Council: ” We have a home for you.” Over the week-end they moved into their bright new flats and maisonnettes, where there are built-in cupboards, large rooms, water heaters, and other amenities they have not known during their married lives.

Eventually the estate, due to be completed by March, will consist of 54 three-bedroom, 84 two-bedroom, and 12 one bedroom flats and maisonnettes, as well as 18 two-storey cottages for old people.

This week the lifts operating from the yellow-tiled entrances to the block were not operating, but the new tenants did not mind climbing four flights of stairs to their homes.

One was Mrs M. L. Gaterall who, with her husband and three children aged from six years to 18 months, had been living in a two-room flat in Kennington, three storeys up. Their chance to move into a decent home came after three years on Mitcham Council’s housing list.

THREE YEAR WAIT

On Monday. Mr R. W. Hayward, a printer’s assistant, moved into one of the maisonnettes with his wife and baby. They had been living in one room in Colliers Wood and they too had been on the waiting list for three years.

Their new home has a living room, modern kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms. From their back windows they can look out across the roofs of houses in Lammas Avenue and Barnard Road to Commonside East and the common.

Mrs. Hayward had one objection to her new home — in the maisonnettes there are no balconies on which children can be left to play in the open air. They will have to be taken by their mothers down to the lawns which will be laid between the blocks of flats when the estate is finished.

Her husband was pleased with the kitchen. “With all the built-in cupboards, there has been no need to buy any furniture for that room, at least,” he commented.

HAD TO MOVE

Another family who have moved into one of the three-bedroom flats are Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Came and their son and daughter. Another son is still in the Army. They lived in Fortescue Road, but the owner wanted the house. After a year on the waiting list they have been able to move. “It costs us a little more, but it is worth it,” declared Mrs. Came. “The rooms are much larger so that we can lay them out properly and make them look nice. And,” she added, “there is a bathroom.”

In the blue and cream kitchen there is a built-in dresser, larder, broom cupboard, airing cupboard, and an electric immersion heater. In the hall is a gas-heated drying cupboard.

All the new flats and malsonnettes have composition tiled floors width can be polished.

At present, about 180 men are working on the estate, building the remaining blocks of flats, maisonnettes, and old people’s cottages. Their work has not been easy.

While digging the drains, workmen found pieces of old cars, tins, bed-steads and dustbins deep below the surface. At one spot they had to cut a trench through a large area of broken glass. In another place they found a 15-ft. wide stretch of sleepers lying across the path of a deep trench, three feet below the surface. They had to saw, hack and tear their way through the tough wood.

From Mitcham and Tooting Advertiser
4th February 1954

Their names will not be forgotten

Names noted in national and local affairs are honoured by Mitcham Council in the names given to the new blocks of flats on the Laburnum Road Estate and the Baron House Estate in London Road, Lower Mitcham.

The late Mr. Sydney Gedge, of Mitcham Hall, a one-time Member of Parliament and constructor of Mitcham Park, is remembered in Gedge Court on the Baron House Estate opposite his old home. Mitcham’s first Mayor, then Ald. Jack Fitch, and Mr. J. R. Beaumont, also a former Mayor and alderman, are commemorated in Fitch and Beaumont Courts on the Laburnum Road Estate.

The other blocks of flats are named Laburnum Court and Penfold Court (on the Laburnum Estate), Fenning Court and Baron Court (on the Baron House Estate).

The Housing Committee and council also approved the names recommended for the four blocks of dwellings for old people on the Laburnum Road Estate. They will be called Lea Cottages, Ryves Cottages, Campbell Cottages and Overhill Cottages.

Minutes of meetings held by the Mitcham Borough Council are available on request from the Merton Heritage and Local Studies Centre at Morden Library.

Jack Fitch

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Alderman and first mayor of Mitcham (RM Chart was the Charter Mayor). His name is remembered as the name of one of the blocks of flats on the Laburnum Road Estate.

From the Mitcham News & Mercury, 27th April 1933

Mitcham Council’s New Chairman

Councillor Jack Fitch Unanimously Elected

Coun. Jack Fitch was elected Chairman of the Mitcham Council for the coming year at a meeting of the Council on Tuesday.

Several matters came before the Council, including an intimation from the Southern Railway Co. that they hope to arrive at an early decision on the question of the establishment of a halt or station in the vicinity of Sandy-lane.

Reference was also made to boxing at the baths hall and the Streatham-road bridge.

Coun. Jack Fitch was unanimously elected Chairman of the Mitcham District Council for the coming year at the general meeting on Tuesday night.

Coun. H. F. Cusden moved, and Coun. J. S. Abraham seconded, that Coun. Fitch should be the chairman, and it was carried.

In taking the chair, Coun. Fitch thanked the members for their confidence. “It may be a hard position, or it may be otherwise,” he said, “it all depends upon the Council. The vote, I think, shows the fair-mindedness of the Council, and that they should elect a chairman who does the work for all the Councilors, that I do believe I am the only member of the Council who is not a representative of a Ratepayers’ Association. I repeat it shows the fair-mindedness of the Council as a whole… and I thank you all very much indeed.” (Cheers.)

For the post of Vice-Chairman, Couns. Harry Cusden and G. W. Cole were both nominated.

A ballot took place, and Mr. Cusden was elected by 13 votes to 10.

Mr. Cusden thanked the Council, though, he said, he would for several reasons have preferred Mr. Cole had won. Anyhow he had offered to “toss for the seat,” “It will be a pleasure to act as Lieutenant to my Colonel, Mr. Jack Fitch,” he added.

Mr. George Osborne, of Upper Mitcham, was heartily thanked for his service during the year.

Coun. W. Dalton and S. W. Duckett were appointed two representatives on the Mitcham Common Conservators.

After the transaction of the annual business the Council passed on to the ordinary business.

Coun. J. S. Abraham said he was not entirely in agreement with the minutes. He moved that the minute relating to boxing at the new baths hall should be referred back to the Baths Committee.

The Clerk: You cannot do that.

Coun. Abraham: Why?

The Chairman: You can challenge the accuracy of the minutes, that is all.

Coun. Abraham: That is what I infer.
The Clerk: You can only amend or delete anything that is wrong. Outside that you can do nothing.

Coun. Abraham: Thank you.

The Southern Railway Company wrote that they hoped to arrive at an early decision on the question of the establishment of a halt or station in the vicinity of Sandy-lane, adding that before agreeing to the proposal they would require to be assured of a reasonable return for the outlay.

Coun. W. Duckett moved that the Clerk should reply stating that in the opinion of the Council the Railway Company might expect to get a reasonable return.

This was seconded and carried nem. con.

Streatham Road Bridge

Dr. Love raised the question of Streatham-road bridge, and said it was a possible source of danger. If there was some sort of division to divide the up and down traffic, he thought, it would probably save many an accident.

Coun. W. Dalton pointed out that the original plan had a central pier, but it was turned down by the Ministry of Transport. Hence the Council had no option in the matter.

Boxing at Baths Hall

Regarding boxing at the baths hall the people who hired the hall last year were objecting to the increased terms, but they had not stated definitely yet whether they would withdraw their application for next winter.

“I may say that we have had a fair number of applications for the use of the hall for boxing,” he added, “and in my opinion we shall have no difficulty in letting the hall for that purpose.

The Council decided to forward to the Ministry of Health for acceptance, on the Surveyor’s recommendation, the lowest tender for the provision of an incinerator and vans for the collection of house refuse. The tender is approximately £3,000.

During March 95 births and 32 deaths were registered.

Coun. S. W. Duckett called attention to the progress that was being made with the South Lodge estate, and the Clerk was instructed to draw the attention of the Surrey County Council to the need for ensuring that educational facilities are available as soon as the houses on the estate are occupied, and to press the County Council to take immediate steps to secure this end.

Mr. Jack Fitch, 16 Mount-road, Mitcham, the new chairman of the Mitcham Urban District Council, has been all his working life been identified with the General Post Office, and at the present time is a letter sorter. During the Great War he served as a stoker on H.M.S. Renown, and came unscathed through an exciting experience.

For nine years he has sat on the Mitcham Council, and is now starting on his fourth term of three years. Throughout his career on the Council he has always been associated with the Public Health and Open Spaces Committee, and was chairman of the Health Committee for three years. Before he went on the Council he served on the Pensions Committee, his connection with that body dating back over 12 years. He has also represented Mitcham Council on the Board of Mitcham Common Conservators for three years.

Mr. Fitch has the honour of representing his colleagues on the Union of Post Office Workers, and is their present chairman.

Since the resuscitation of the Mitcham Labour Party in 1920, Mr. Fitch has sat on the Executive Committee until last year, when he resigned.

A popular member of the Council, Mr Fitch has the confidence of his colleagues, and in his keeping the Council chairmanship will not lose any prestige.

He opened the Mitcham Fair in 1935, as shown in this Pathe Neewsreel:

From the Mitcham News & Mercury, 3rd February 1950:

ALD. JACK FITCH, the oldest member of Mitcham Council in years of service, has retired on grounds of health and has gone to live in Brighton. His retirement, announced at last week’s Council meeting, will almost certainly mean a by-election.

Aid. Fitch who had held a seat as a Labour member for 26 years, was chairman of the old Urban District Council and was Mitcham’s first Mayor when Mitcham became a Borough. He had been a magistrate for a number of years.

In a letter announcing his resignation. Aid. Fitch said that winter attacks of bronchial asthma had compelled him to give up Council work. It had been his great interest.

Tributes were paid by the Mayor (Ald. Mrs. J. C. Ericson), Coun.
T. Ruff, Ald. T. A. East and Coun. J H. S Bradley.

Coun. Ruff, because of a 30-year friendship with Mr Fitch, claimed the privilege of moving the Council’s appreciation of his long
service. He had brought a solid honest integrity to the service of Mitcham. His characteristic of conscious responsibility and application to duty had made him feel uneasy during the last two winters when ill-health compelled him to exhibit an apparent neglect of duty.

From the Worthing Herald – Friday 29 November 1957, via the British Newspaper Archive

He died, aged 73, in November 1957, at his home in Worthing. He was instrumental in founding the Labour Party in Mitcham. He moved to Worthing in 1946 with his second wife, Lily. Between 1901 and 1943 he was a Post Office sorting clerk, and on his retirement he was awarded the Imperial Service Medal.

Worthing Herald – Friday 29 November 1957, page 21

Merton Memories Photos

Mitcham Fair

1933
1935

Mayor

1934 to 1935