Blog-log Day 4 - Hampstead Liberal in Tel Aviv

So just howdoes the main road along Tel Aviv coast end up being named Herbert Samuel Esplanade?

Herbert Samuel, later Lord Samuel, has largely dropped from public knowledge in the UK but in terms of several elements for me he's a crucial piece of a local jigsaw.

On a simple and political level Herbert Samuel was leader of the Liberal Party - not the most prestigious period from 1931-1935 - and is one of the Leaders during an almost 'dark ages' following the splits with Lloyd George and well before the Grimond Revival.

Further, Herbert was a school boy at UCS, University College School - then in Gower Street, now in Frognal, Hampstead. Thus making him an Old Gower (as frmer pupils of UCS are known).

And finally and crucially he was the first Governor (Commissioner) of Palestine under the British Mandate - making him the first Jewish ruler of what is now Israel since ancient times. It's for this third role that he generate the kudos to gain the main street in Tel Aviv being named after him... There's a short video on him here: www.youtube.co.uk/474towin

I just wonder how many other UCS boys have a main road in a city named after them?

Building and re-building programme

Back on the theme of plaques locally - here's a nice little one from South End Green, Hampstead.

It's on the railway bridge above the start of the Frognal tunnel.

"LONDON BOROUGH OF CAMDEN

SOUTH END ROAD BRIDGE

Reconstructed & widened in 1969 replacing

a 28ft wide cast iron bridge built in 1864

Borough Engineer & Surveyor

K.P Harman BSc (Eng) C. Eng., F.I.C.E., F.I. Mun. E.

Contractors

Leonard Fairclough Ltd"

I think as local government today is increasingly about the provision of services, it's often easy to forget the scale of change and owenership of a local authority in previous decades - this half co-incides with the shift from the Borough of Hampstead to Camden. All good stuff.

It this one of the best local buildings we have?

We're on Heath Street/Fitzjohn's Avenue and we have one of the most striking buildings in NW3 - now Munro House.

I've given some of the flavour of the early Victorian history of the buiolding, but would be keen to learn more from anyone out there who has an understanding of the more modern uses of the building... please post in the comment section or email me on ed.fordham@hampsteadandkilburn.org.uk

Here goes for some of the history...

The National Gazeteer for 1868 mentions the "Sailors' Orphan Home for girls, situated in Frognal"

Founded by a Major Powys the home provided domestic training for the orphans of sailors and also those childrens whose fathers were on active and foreign service. Part of the funding for the home came from the Regimental Scholarship Fund which sponsored children (girls) in the home.

In 1878 the following description is listed in 'Hampstead: Rosslyn Hill', Old and New London: Volume 5'

" at the corner of Greenhill Road and Church Lane, a large and handsome brick building, with slightly projecting wings, gables, and a cupola turret. This is the Sailors' Orphan Girls' School and Home, which was originally established in 1829, in Frognal House, on the west side of the parish church.

"The present building was erected in 1869, from the designs of Mr. Ellis. The objects of the institution are the "maintenance, clothing, and education of orphan daughters of sailors and marines, and the providing of a home for them after leaving, when out of situations."

"The number of inmates is about one hundred, and the children look healthy and cheerful. Its annual income averages about £2,000. This institution was opened by Prince Arthur, now Duke of Connaught, in whose honour the road between it and the Greenhill is named Prince Arthur's Road."

By 1881 the home had had over 800 children through of whome 146 were orphans and 465 were fatherless.

The papers for the home are stored at London Metropolitan Archives
http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Records_and_archives/

Reference:
A/FWA/C/D/122/001Sailors' Orphan Girls School and Home, later Royal Sailors Daughters School and Home (case 7313 or 4/1881):
correspondence and papers
Creation dates: 1881-1946
Scope and Content
116 Fitzjohns Avenue Hampstead

It's here already, can't you see it?

I'm using this month to draw together threads from having done this blog over a sustained period of time (a year) and really getting into the habit of seeing things and taking the pictures necessary.

However, it is clear to me that this has become more then just a photo insight into the local area. What I have tried to convey and distill into this webpage is a sense of the area.

It has been described as quirky, interesting, historical and indeed boring. I hope it covers all of those things - some of it is superficial in as far as it simply gets to what a photograph can capture - some becomes more of a historical contextual insight.

The coverage of Kilburn has been the most interesting for me - not the most historical place and yet in many ways the area of the constituency with the most to say:
http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/10/kilburn-guthrum-dane-and-878.html
http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/05/long-live-fresh-fishmongers-shop.html
http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/08/william-friese-greene-kilburn-as-home.html

But it is also the case that there is so much to draw out in, for example, Hampstead that it's fun to draw out the places that are less than obvious:
http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/05/another-underground-wwii-tube-bunker-on.html
http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/05/at-home-with-george-orwell.html
http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/02/hampstead-brewery-bring-it-back.html

More than anything else I have sought to give an insight into what I think is all around us and so totally affects our area. On Kilburn itself I have more aggressive in asserting that this is a much better and more interesting place than it is treated. Because other parts of town have a higher property value and a greater economic expectation, so Kilburn is often down-graded in the way it is treated. So too the boundary of the High Road has led to a division in the way it is considered. In fact the history, the vibrancy and the diversity all demand a greater level of attention - not least because the rewards for getting this right would be so high and visible.

With regards to Hampstead, Belsize and Frognal I have come to understand something else. I serve on the Hampstead Heath Management Committee (Corporation of London) and now know that for something such as the Heath to exist and thrive it has had to be managed. At the moment we are engaged on a process of naturalising some of the areas around Parliament Hill and making sure they have less of a feel of a park and more like a wilder, rustic heath. So it is with the architecture - Flask Walk, Englands Lane and indeed The Pavement (West Hampstead) need to be nourished, assisted and where appropriate nudged. For these areas to be special, look special and remain special they need a real understanding of the place.

It's an old carnard that someting with no past has no future - but increasingly as I look around me I find it to be a simple fact of life. Hopefully this blog, quirky, boring or interesting has developed the process of tapping into that notion and articulating it for all to see - residents, opinion formers and decision makers alike.

Ed Fordham