HOWARD STREET SOUTH
previously,
BLIND MIDDLE STREET
Howard Street was so named after the Duke of Norfolk. South of Market Row, the Road was called Howard Street South but was
formerly "Blind Middle Street", because of its blind ending at row
90.
Brett’s
previously Arnolds.
In
the 1920's, Brett's had their furniture warehouse at no.1, then came the Crown
public house, and Herbert Freeston's Yeast manufacturers.
After
row 49, came the Vine public house, and then row 51. At 6a and 6b were George
White's Marine Stores, and Jeremiah Bensley the boot maker. No.7 was the
confectioners, and then was Hunts mineral
water makers, who had a flourishing business, making fizzy drinks that
were sold to pubs and shops all round
the town. There was a strong smell in the street of fruit juices.
There
were stables in the row opposite, where they kept their horses and delivery
carts. At no 9, Miss E. M. Beeching*3 (Ethel) had moved into the house of her
brother in law,
since her sister had died only three weeks after the
birth of her son. Miss Beeching
had already trained to be a masseuse (a physiotherapist of the day). She
continued her business here in due course. She was also a registered midwife. Thomas William Smith had a Bakers shop
here, which had been the business of his father before him. His grand-daughter,
later Mildred Bunting, resided here until the first world
war, when her parents moved to Havelock Road upon their marriage, and later her
grandparents moved to 25 Princes Road,
next to the Gordon Hotel.
Mildred
on the right, with her mother and Leonard.
Mildred's
Uncles and mother were all born above the shop. They had eight children there
in all. Mildred's mother was the
youngest, and the next eldest was some seven years older than her. Their
names were ‑ Tom, the eldest, who
had been drowned when away in North Wales on holiday; Nellie and Lilly married
two men who ran a business in Chester. Jack and Ernest were two of the three
sons.
William
Smith with the beard, Mildred front right. Charles Bailey, back left.
Mildred's
father was also one of eight children.
He went to France as a sapper in
the first war, and served at Ypres and Amiens.
Leonard and Mildred were the only two
children before the war, but a sister was born, when father returned. This was
Daphne. Grandmother died in 1917. There is a photo of the whole family when
living at the Howard Street shop. (Charles Bailey, Mildred's father was a
teacher, and taught all subjects at the
Nelson School in St.Peter's Road.)
Mr.T.W.
Smith the baker had two sons, one took over the
shop in Howard Street and the other son bought a business in Victoria
Road.
No.
9 had a big dining room beside the shop, with three bedrooms and a drawing room
above the shop, a three further bedrooms and a bathroom above the shop.
There
was the considerable luxury of running hot water here. The water was heated by
the bread oven below. Smiths was one of the first electric bakeries. When Smith
became blind in 1930, his son ran the
business, and he took a house at 4 Sandringham avenue.
After
Smiths ceased in the bakery business at no.9,Alfred Downing had a greengrocery
in the same premises, but later left, moving to Beaconsfield Road. Albert
Moore, who had been born in row 55, started work with Mr. Smith when aged 12,
and retired at the end of his career, from Downings, (having been kept on as a
young man, on the transfer of the business) thus remaining during his whole
working life, effectively in the same employ .*4
Thomas
Smith put his children through private school‑ at Sutherland House, which had then moved from the Marine Parade to
Camperdown.*5
Thomas
Smith's daughter Cecily, married Billy Barnes the grocer's son, of no.8 in the Market Place. This also was a
family business. (see "Market Place") The shop (at no.9 Howard Street South) was still standing after
the war, owned by the Smith family, and rented out, together with some property
in Middlegate. It was subsequently compulsorily purchased for a small sum and then demolished as "slum
clearance". The walls of the shop were extremely thick, and considerably
resisted the demolition workers. There were ancient stone archways discovered
in the brickwork (unrecorded until now), and the building evidently had been
originally at a lower level, like the friend's meeting house.
This
was evidently another part of some very ancient buildings‑ presumed to
have been monastic. It is my surmision that there may yet remain important
clues as to the origins of these buildings well below ground.
Large
archways had been present in the old
bakehouse. Demolition took place
between 1969 and 1970. The row here was called Smith the baker's row or
Palmer's row. There was a store house of Smith's in the row where they kept
their barrows, but also Freemans hung up their leathers in there.
Opposite,
(no. 72) was the "Great Eastern" public
house, kept in 1938 by Mrs. Maud A. Artis, and later by Bobby Pitts. This was
one of the buildings on this site belonging to Thomas Hurry, mariner, in 1761.
The house was sold to John Laycon, gentleman, and Robert Allen, ropemaker. In
with these deeds( also see row 57) I found a deed dated 1773, of Parson
Custance's house in the Market Place, also owned by Robert Allen, transacted by
John Bell, which had found its way into the wrong pile of deeds at some time,
likely around 1819. That house is now Norman's furniture store, and I have
already referred to the deed there. With regard to the "Carpenter's
Arms", this was so called in the transaction and will of Margaret
Allen,(nee Haw) wife of Robert and it therefore became a pub some time between
1761, and 1810, when the will was proved. I suggest that it may have been John
Laycon (Lacon) that caused it to be used as a pub. Samuel Bell appears to have
drawn up the will, or at least was a witness to it. The Allens evidently had
considerable property. The will includes a house in the Market Place in
occupation of Martha Smith, with a tenement or cottage behind. There was a
house beside it in occupation of Alexander Steward, with a cottage and stable.
There also was a quarter share of a farm at Worlingham, and a malt-house,
meadows and pastures, in possession of Robert Boyden. There was a property in
King Street in the occupation of Susanna Cubitt, and another that had been
passed to Joseph Eller. Eller was to exchange this, the gift of the late Robert
Allen, for the Carpenter's Arms. Eller was not yet 21 years old. Robert Allen's
will was dated 13/9/1794. Mrs. Allen left £50 to each of her nephews and
nieces. She had £200 of consolidated bank annuities. She also left one eighth
share in a ship, the "Hope of London".
The
"Carpenter's Arms" was passed to her sisters and later, in 1819, to
John Norman glazier and plumber. This must be the Norman of the furniture
store, and hence the inclusion of the deed of that store as previously
described. On the 26th. May 1820, the building passed into the hands of a
trustee for Samuel Paget. Another item of considerable interest arises
thereafter, since it is found that on 25th. Feb. 1831, the pub is sold to
Dawson Turner. I do not think it is generally known that Dawson Turner owned a
pub., and he was in partnership with Samuel Paget, as "Paget and Turner,
Beer brewers". It appears that by 1831, Paget may have been in some
difficulty, since he was transacting the building to Dawson Turner. The property
subsequently passed through the hands also, of John and Isaac Preston, and was
mortgaged in due course to
Sophia Brewer (1865), by the Great Yarmouth
Permanent Benefit Society, of whom the trustees were Sir E.H.K. Lacon, Sam
Nightingale, and William Foreman. The deeds which I was able to examine,
continue to to 1875. The pub was then still called the Carpenter's Arms, and
was worth £575 in 1870, having cost £204 in 1761.
Cecily Barnes relates "There was a real
character up the street, a character called Edwards, who sold shellfish at one
side of the shop, and sweets the other. Stanley Vauxhall had a barber's shop,
and put a board over the arms of the chair for the small boys to sit on. Beside the bottom of row 56, an
old lady called Dolly Harrison had a second-hand- goods shop. Selbourne House
was a Public House, come rough boarding house at the end of row 56. One morning
just after the end of the first world war, Dolly rushed into Smiths bakery and
put a bag under the counter- 'until the cops had gone!' "
On
Sundays the Frosdick family of Row 56 would go to the Selbourne for their lunch,
consisting of a bowl of soup, and spend the afternoon in the "snug"
there. The Selbourne House then was owned by the
Kellers. Frances Keller was their daughter, who was to become a professional
skater. She had an accident later, losing a leg, and eventually died young. On
her birthday a large party was held for the local children in the Selbourne
House.
Another
treat for the children in those days was to go to Palmers, and sit on a row of
chairs downstairs to watch the childrens hour T.V. programmes at a quarter to
five. This was when television was
something very new, and certainly the children living round about did not have
one at home.
In
the backyard at the Selbourne House was the store of beer barrels, but also Keller kept a pack of Alsatians there
which he had to have because of the nature of his business and the need to
prevent brawls in the tavern. Keller had rooms vacant upstairs with flickering
red lights, and there were a number of girls available at night, and
"everything went on".
There
was a system in those days, that the bookies shops employed runners from pub to
pub collecting bets which were written on a note around which was wrapped the
money, each tied up with string. The runner would go from pub to pub collecting
these, and then returning them to the shop. By the time that the runner had
returned, usually the first two races would have been run. There was for a long time a radio positioned in an upstairs
room at the Selbourne, on which a man
would listen for results. There was a system of signalling through the window to the Great Eastern, opposite, and a
bet would be slipped into the runner's
collection. This "sting" was in operation for a very long while
before it was eventually suspected. The "Great Eastern" also had a
reputation as a brothel, though the Selbourne was best known, and was like a
magnet for custom in this area, with a reputation countrywide, and in Scotland.
*3
The Beeching family had a ship-building business on the Quay.
*4
as reported in the "Mercury" of Friday, 29th. Jan. 1988.
*5
Sutherland House has for a while been empty, the "Regency Flats",
being converted to permanent
residential use, Nov.'93.(Marine Parade)
The
Occupants, Howard Street South, 1938
(from
33 Howard Street North to Row 90)
East
side
1.
Brett, F. & Son Ltd., house
furnishers
2.&
3. Crown Public House, Ernest Frederick William Cornell
4.
Freeston, Herbert, Ltd.,
...Row
49....
5.
Vine P.H., William Osborne Saunders
....Row
51....
6a.
White, George, Marine Store Dealer
6b.
Bensley, Jeremiah, bootmaker
6.
White, George, lodging house
7.
King, Owen McCabe, confectioner
8.
Hunt and Son, (1920) Ltd., mineral water manufacturers
9.
Downing, Richard, Bakers
....Row
54....
10.
Howard, S., hairdresser
11.
Farrow, William
12.
Harrison, Mrs.Rose, boarding house (Selbourne House)
...Row
56....
13.
Bradbury, Harry George, wardrobe dealer
...Row
58....
15.
Wright, James, fried fish shop
15a.
Pitchers, Miss O., wardrobe dealer
16.
Foxhall, Stanley,hairdresser
....Row
60....
Friends
Meeting House
....Row
63....
17.
Post Office Engineering Dept.
....Row
631/2....
18.
Spanton, John
19.
Bernstein, Joseph, tailor
20a.
Watson, Ernest H., hairdresser
20.
Bird, Harry, newsagent
....Row
66....
Regent
Street
....Row
70....
....Row
73....
....Row
78....
28.
Taylor, Mrs.Ruth, shopkeeper
....Row
79....
29.
& 30. Cossey, James A., beer retailer
....Row
80....
32.
Leeder, George
....Row
82....
33.
Harvey, Mrs.
....Row
85....
34.
Kelf, Joseph
35.
Hodgson, Harry
....Row
87....
36.
Peppit, Mrs.
37.
Wells, William Harry
38.
Mitchell, James
39.
Nichols, Harry
40.
Teasden, Edward Thomas
....Row
89....
41.
& 42. Willsea, Mrs.Olive, shopkeeper
42.
Kemp, James
West Side
43.
West, William Robert, fried fish shop
44.
Crosswell, Albert George
....Row
88....
45.
Mayhew, Joseph
46.
Shuckford, Cyril
47.
& 48. Hewett, Sidney Edward, baker
49.
Palmer, Walter Arthur
....Row
84....
Lecture
Hall
Congregational Church
50.
Wild, James William
51.
Hacon, Charles
52.
Burgess, Thomas
53.
Brady, Mrs.
54.
Edwards, Joseph
55.
Collins, Arthur
56.
Moxey, Arthur Edward
....Row
77........Row 75....
59.
Last, Miss
60.
Fuller, Albert
....Row
72....
61.
Oldman, William
62.
Paul, B.
....Row
71....
Regent
Street
....Row
62....
66.
Howes, Richard, hairdresser
67.
Delf, J.F., bulb merchant
68.
Smith, Edwin
....Row
61....
69.
Mariners Tavern, George Frank Norris Gates
70.
Peacock, George William, shopkeeper
....Row
59....
72.
Great Eastern Hotel, Mrs. Maud A.Artis
....Row
57....
73.
Dodson, Samuel Daniel, pork butcher
74.
Norton Brothers, wholesale and retail tobacconists
75.
Raw, Henry, watchmaker
....Row
55....
76.
Freeman, T.G., & Son Ltd., leather merchants
77.
Arnolds Ltd., bedding factory
....Row
63....
78.
Exchange Vaults P.H., J.Guy Talbot
Corn Hall
79.
Edwards, George, fishmonger
80.
Kelf's, house furnishers
....Row
52....
81.
Hubbard, James W., grocer
82.
Pagano, Ernest, hairdresser
....Row
50....
84.
Bradley's(Chester) Ltd., clothiers
....Broad
Row....
Map
of howard street south