1900s Archives - Brockley SE4

Featured local business - Clubtek

Forest

SE23

Hill

I was already a regular visitor to Clubtek’s DJ shop when it was in Penge, but now they're even handier in Stanstead Road, just a few doors down from Shannon’s Garden Centre - another old favourite. It’s by no means just for DJs and bands...

Russian Revolutionaries in New Cross/Deptford, 1907

Feb

2022

In 1907 the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was held at the Brotherhood Church in Hackney. The 338 delegates represented the various factions of the party, chiefly its Bolshevik and Menshevik wings, and included Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Rosa Luxemburg and, Maxim Gorki. The Radical History of Hackney blog has written about ...

More New Cross Faces from 1860s to 1900s

Oct

2018

As mentioned before, I periodically look on Ebay and similar sites for interesting local photos (the ones here are all currently on sale, click links for futher details). I am particularly fascinated by the products of photographers' studios, of which there were a number on the New Cross Road in the Victorian/Edwardian era.The first photo ...

Death of an Italian Deptford Anarchist (1907)

Dec

2016

'ANARCHIST DISCIPLE’S DEATHThe body man of a man found shot through the head, at Lambeth Meadow, Plumstead on Wednesday morning, was on Thursday identified as that of Leone Povinelli, Italian ice-cream vendor, residing at 25, Brookmill Road, Deptford. Emilio Nella, a companion of the deceased, who lives at the same address, saw the body during ...

Death by Dancing: New Cross (1940) and Bermondsey (1903)

Dec

2015

A couple of tragic tales of death by dancing, hopefully those going out on New Year's Eve can avoid such dangers. The first relates to the New Cross Palais de Danse - still going today as the Venue in New Cross Road - the second occured at a Christmas party in Bermondsey.'Witness 'jitterbugs' at inquest ...

Hilly Fields 1907: ‘Socialists in hot water: eight arrests follow a riot’

Aug

2015

Once upon a time Hilly Fields in Ladywell was the scene of intense political dispute, with thousands arguing and sometimes fighting at public meetings in the park:'An enormous crowd charged a Socialist procession as it was leaving Hilly Fields, Brockley, yesterday afternoon, and, in the free fight that ensued the S.D.F. [Social Democratic Federation] red ...

A school trip to Lewisham Arcadia (1905)

Jan

2015

Just over a hundred years ago, children from the 'dingy streets' of Southwark went on country outings to 'the Londoner's idea of Arcadia' - Lewisham!. This report from Gloucester Citizen - (Saturday 8 July 1905) describes a trip from Lant Street County Council School, Borough (now Charles Dickens Primary School) to meet their counterparts at ...

‘Partisanship’ & ‘Unsportsmanlike action’ – Dulwich Hamlet supporters, 1903

Nov

2014

With their stickers, radical fan contingent and even Transpontine banner, Dulwich Hamlet's supporters have been getting quite a reputation - featured recently in the Independent as the Rabble vanguard of the rise in non-league football support: 'Far, far away from the £2,000 season tickets, the officious stewarding, and the airline-stadium sponsorship of the Premier League, ...

Frederick Wiedhofft – New Cross Photographer

Apr

2014

I recently stumbled across a fine photograph Graeme Brooker posted on twitter with the caption '1920. New Cross. George & Nelly Rumble. My great-great aunt & uncle'. The photo was in a frame bearing the name 'F.Wiedhofft, 338 New Cross Road', and a quick search across family history and photography sites will locate many pictures attributed ...