Dear readers,
The news yesterday that Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman is defying Eric Pickles’ attempts to shut down local authority freesheets is good news for East End Life and its staff, though it hasn’t been universally welcomed … this is putting it mildly! A couple of declarations of self interest are in order here. Most of you won’t be aware, but the history pieces on this site run first in East End Life – who then kindly allow me to republish here and reap the enormous financial rewards they then generate from Google Adwords – this week I will be spending my earnings on a Twix or, if things go especially well, a bar of Fruit and Nut.
Thus I benefit financially from penning a weekly piece for East End Life, while this website is more of a labour of love (though one I don’t labour at as much as I should). But I’d like it to be more than just online reprints of what goes into the paper. We do a pretty good job on ‘the great man’ type of history – the big figures whose acts and reputations outlive them. Thus eastlondonhistory.com has loads of philanthropists, charitable souls, entrepreneurs, sports stars and the rest. We’re not so good on interviewing ‘ordinary’ people (I use the term cautiously, because there’s no such thing.
So come on, tell us YOUR story. We’ll change it as little as possible, though we do ask that you try not to libel people or settle personal scores! With that in mind, every story will come to us to be moderated first (as we become responsible for any libels that we publish).
We’ll also edit for sense, grammar, spelling etc – we’re journalists, so that’s what we do – and put a lovely headline on your story so Google can find it. We won’t limit stories to our little patch of Tower Hamlets – I’m interested in hearing from people in other parts of London too. ‘Ordinary’ people make history, so let’s hear your story.
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- St Patrick’s Day … London Irish historical connections
- 10 historic East End theatres
- Stepney by Samantha Bird
- Preview of Huguenots of Spitalfields Festival April 2013
- Escaped tigers and white elephants … the Tobacco Dock story
- East End Back Passages
- From Bow to Biennale – artists of the East London Group
- Tales from the Two Puddings
- 150 years of the Tube
- The People’s Palace in Mile End … born again
I notice that up to the present date you have had no feedback to your request of March 12th for any historical details about Whitechapel.
I once attended Queen Mary College nearby in Mile End Road.
Since last October I had joined one of the ancestry websites, and just a week ago, as a result of a chance access to a Steve Methven in Canada whose ancestors had once lived in Whitechapel I tried to assist him by researching them on our census returns.
He knew that they had originally come from Scotland. I found that John Methven had been a baker, and lived at 14 Mount Terrace, New Road, Whitechapel. He was born in Scotland in 1811.
His father was James Methvin (the spelling of the surname is variable) and he was also a baker. He lived at 2 Store Street, Bedford Square near the British Museum.
Steve is very interested in trying to trace what made them move down to London, which would have been before 1825, judging by the birthdate of another of the children, registered in Marylebone, that probably being the nearest register office for St Giles in the Fields which was the name by which the Store Street area was known, at that time.
Does anyone familiar with the Whitechapel area have any idea where Mount Terrace could have been, Google do not know, so it may have been demolished and redeveloped since the Methvens left the area.
Dear East London History,
Might your readers be interested in an exhibition about to start by Thames artist Terry Scales? The exhibition is called The Thames, our sleeping giant and will be held at The Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, 30/4/11 to 5/06/11. Terry was born in Bermondsey and comes from a family of dockers and lightermen and over a 50 year period he has painted the changing docklands and waterfront. Paintings in this exhibition include working life at; King George V Dock, Pipers Boatyard, Tower Bridge from Cherry Garden Pier, The John Mackay Cable Layer and HMS Invincible (with Massey Shaw in the foreground). About this exhibition Terry says;
I remember making my first river painting in 1946 at the age of 13. It was in John Minton’s class at Camberwell School of Art. Ever since then I have seen the Thames as a constant source of ideas and challenging subject matter.
Although my scenes are close to reality, I am not a topographical artist although this aspect is important. Rather my paintings are built from numerous closely observed drawings made on the spot and developed later in the peace of my studio.
Living for most of my life in the midst of my chosen motif has brought another element into play, the powerful influence of memory. Ships I painted years ago now lay on the ocean seabed. The earthy smells of the old working wharves, so pungent and evocative of strange places have been replaced with luxurious new flats. To sum up my paintings are a fusion of both past and present. In the end one can only paint ones life and in doing so offer a glimpse to others of something which touches you deeply. For me it is London’s greatest asset, the mighty Thames.
You can find out more at here; http://www.oldroyalnavalcollege.org/events/terry-scales-the-thames-our-sleeping-giant,520,EV.html and here; http://www.blueforce.demon.co.uk/terry.scales/. There are 2 meet the artist days 7th and 21st May 11 – 3pm. The exhibition is free. Hope you can make it!