Tag Archives: Lavender Avenue

Poplar Avenue

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A cul-de-sac road off of the west side of London Road, opposite Figges Marsh, built around 1919/1920.

1953 OS map

The houses are numbered sequentially, clockwise, from number 1 on the south side to number 20 on the north side. They all have the postcode CR4 3LH.

According to Tom Francis, it was named after the Poplars School that was situated there, facing the Figges Marsh. This school was demolished after the outbreak of fever.

Occupants from the 1925 street directory

South Side

1, Stanley BACON
2, James R HUNT
3, Thomas HUMPHRIES
4, Arthur McGAHEY
5, Joseph Walter THOMPSON
6, Benjamin YEOMANS
7, Chester James CAPON
8, Alfred HEALY

West Side

9, Charles GALE
10, Joseph BAMFORD
11, Godfrey STONE
12, Charles Thomas UTTON

North Side

13, Mrs M. UTTON
14, Percy John LAMB
15, Frederick John CHARD
16, John James MEPHAM
17, Thomas PARKER
18, Albert Henry HOOPER
19, Samuel HART
20, Leonard George DREWETT

News Articles

Gloucester Citizen – Saturday 25 June 1927

DOUBLE MOTOR FATALITY

Mr John J. Mepham, Poplar-avenue, Mitcham, died on Friday from injuries received in a motor crash at Godstone, which his wife was killed.

1st September, 1944
Mitcham Man’s Gallantry – Awarded the M.M.

The name of the road was suggested in a Housing Committee meeting of the Mitcham Urban District Council, dated 7th September 1920, volume V, page 202. It was part of the post-WW1 housing scheme on London Road, which included Lavender Avenue, Rose Avenue, Camomile Avenue and Biggin Avenue.

Maps are reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.

R.A. Stephen & Co., Ltd.

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120/126 Lavender Avenue

Instrument Makers
Light Engineers

As listed in the 1963 Borough of Mitcham List of Factories.
Available at Merton Heritage and Local Studies Centre at Morden Library.
Reference L2 (670) MIT

The company made the Goscut tool, which was used for cutting laminates such as formica, as well as sheet metal.

Wolverhampton Express and Star – Saturday 02 November 1968

A NEW product on the do-it-yourself (and trade) market is the Goscut shear. Pictured above, the shear is shown with the blade in the cutting position for sheet metal, aluminium struts, etc.; centre is the general purpose blade which will make short work of one-sixteenth inch plastic laminated sheeting and is equally effective on hardboard, vynil, thermoplastic floor tiles, rigid p.v.c. sheet and many other tough materials; on the right is the shaping blade for circles and bends. ” The Goscut is made by R. A. Stephen and Co., Ltd., Miles-road, Mitcham, Surrey, and retails at 37s. 6d. complete with the three blades.

Belfast News-Letter – Friday 17 April 1970

 

Goscut deal

James Neill Holdings has agreed to acquire R. A. Stephen and Co. of Morden, Surrey. for approximately £400,000. Terms will be the equivalent of 5s 8d for each ordinary of Stephen, whose board recommends the offer. Morgan Grenfell and Co. owns over 82 per cent. of Stephen and will accept. Stephen manufacturers the Goscut tool used in the cutting of laminated plastic, metal and other building products, and also produces dosimeters and radiation measuring devices.

In the Daily Mirror, Saturday 07 October 1972, the Goscut tool is advertised as a James Neill product:

GOSCUT 2001 The clean-cutting tool that’s as simple as scissors. On a fully illustrated, instructive display card. Only £1.70* at all good hardware stores. A JAMES NEILL PRODUCT From Europe’s leading hand tool manufacturers *Rec. Retail Price

Ad from 1973 gives address as Miles Road:

WOMEN REQUIRED
FOR
MACHINE & ASSEMBLY WORK
40 hr. week. Starting at £17.30, plus time keeping bonus.
Long service pay. Canteen facilities. Sick pay.
R. A. STEPHEN & CO. LTD., Miles Road, Mitcham, Surrey.
Telephone: 01-648-1668.