Tag Archives: Poplar 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.

Private Roy Coates

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From the Mitcham News & Mercury, 1st September, 1944, page 1:

Lost Hand in saving his friend

Mitcham Man’s Gallantry

Immediate award of M.M.

Pte. Roy Coates, of the Rifle Brigade, eldest son of Mr and Mrs S. Coates, of Poplar Avenue, Mitcham, was fighting on an Italian battlefield when his friend fell near him wounded in both legs.

Instead of seeking safety Pte. Coates advanced through heavy fire, picked up his injured comrade and carried him back to our own lines.

His gallant action cost him his left hand. It’s also resulted in his being recommended for the immediate award of the military medal.

In a letter to his parents, Pte. Coates, who is in a military hospital in Scotland, says that his real reward is that his friend is recovering. “He is very grateful to me for what I did. You know my ideas on glory; the sooner it is forgotten, the better,” he writes.

Pte. Coates is 21 and a six footer. He was educated at Western-road School, Mitcham, and afterwards worked at Wimbledon Co-operative Stores and at Mitcham Works.

From Recommendations for military honours and awards 1935-1990. The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England. Series WO 373.

Name: Roy Coates
Publication Date: 7 Dec 1944
Rank: Rifleman
Service Number: 6924070
Regiment or Unit: 7 Battalion The Rifle Brigade
Theatre of Combat or Operation: Italy
Award: Military Medal
Date of Action or Award: 1944