Does anyone know of the contractor who built the substantial row of villas along Lawrie Park Road? From old maps I think the original development stretched from 9 (present day access road to Bays Close) to just past St Christphers Hospice.
Used to live in one of these houses up until last year, once found a floor board with the pencil mark '1887' on it.
One of them (near the junction of Lawrie Park Gardens) used to be the residence of the German ambassador.
My old landlord once said Lewisham proposed to knock the lot down and do a 'Wells Park' style council estate back in the late 70's. The final plan, after a heated debate was to compulsory purchase the lower half of the back gardens and build Bays and Copeman Close - is this true?
Around 1970 there was a plan to knock down and redevelop these villas together with others in Peak Hill and Trewsbury Road.
Local residents in all three roads formed protest groups against the plans. Having learned of each others existence they got together to campaign and the proposals were dropped. Following this successful campaign the Sydenham Society came into being in November1972.
We should all be grateful to those early campaigners who saved this magnificent housing stock and we appreciate the character and grace of these roads today. What would have replaced these houses does not bear thinkiing about.
The land on east side of Lawrie Park Road, (odd numbers) on which these houses were built was originally part of grounds of the Old Cedars. Development of the estate began in the late 1880s (from your floorboard I would suppose 1887, and much of it had been completed by 1889).
In 1889 Joseph Fogerty, a local architect who did much work on the house that is now Sydenham High School, moved from Lawrie Park Gardens to 7 Lawrie Park Road (W G Grace's house from 1899-1910) where he lived for the next 6 years. This suggests strongly that he was the architect behind these houses, and chose one to live in. Edward van Vliet, the developer, began advertising these houses for rent in the Times from September 1889, one of them described as a "superior detached house... eight bed, bath, three reception rooms; tennis lawn, kitchen garden."
And I'm sure Local Studies will have more information. By the way, Illuminance, do you know which house the German Ambassador lived in? If it could be proved that a German Ambassador lived in Sydenham it might dispel the stories of a German Embassy here.
Whilst searching for Joseph Fogerty and Edward van Vliet I stumbled across the British Library website and have found a goldmine of information for the whole area.
Although not strictly on the topic of this thread, I found this newspaper article about the German Gymnastic Team performing at the Palace.
Further to Steve Grindlay's info. on Joseph Fogerty, he actually died in 1899 at his residence in Sydenham. (Obit at I.C.E.) Fogerty was a Civil Engineer as well as an architect. It seems then that W G Grace bought his house in 1899.
My interest in Fogerty and Sydenham is that the Irish singer Catherine Hayes died there in 1861. She was a friend of Fogerty's and he later wrote a novel called 'Caterina' based loosely on her life. Her will was a forgery and Fogerty was the first to say so in print. CH died in a house called 'Roccles' opp. Crystal Palace owned by Henry Lee and he was one of the conspirators who forged her will.
I'm currently completing a new book on her life which will conclusively prove that issue.
I was interested to learn that Madame Catherine Hayes was a friend of Joseph Fogerty. Fogerty had lived in Sydenham from about 1865. When Catherine Hayes died here four years earlier, in 1861, Joseph Fogerty was an unmarried civil engineer living in Shropshire so presumably their friendship developed before Fogerty moved to Sydenham.
Fogerty moved from 7 Lawrie Park Road in about 1895 to 30 Westwood Hill (on the corner of Jews Walk, demolished in the 1960s) where he died (as you say) in 1899. When Grace moved into St Andrews it had been occupied by Andrew Manley Archibald for at least two of the intervening years.
Incidentally, Fogerty's daughter Elsie, who was born in Sydenham in 1865, is probably better known than him as she was founder of the Central School of Speech and Drama, and has an entry in the DNB.
I know nothing about Catherine Hayes' forged will and look forward to learning more about it and, perhaps, the circumstances surrounding her death, which appears rather sudden.
Thanks to Steve Grindlay for the extra information on Joseph Fogerty. I didn't know he was married and had a talented daughter. Strange that it was not mentioned in the ICE obit.
Fogerty and Catherine Hayes were from Limerick and his father once owned the theatre. I don't know when or where they first met as Fogerty was only a child when Catherine left for Dublin.
Catherine's death was certainly sudden and unexpected. Fogerty claimed she'd told him what she intended to do with her estate and printed a list of the bequests they talked about. If that was true, they appeared to have a close friendship at some stage although he was much younger.
I know a lot more about the Will forgery but I'm keeping it for my book.
Fogerty was a good engineer who helped design the circular railway in Vienna. He was also correct about the expansion joints needed to prevent tarmac breaking up. At that time, others disagreed with him.
Does anyone know when Henry and Maria Lee left 'Roccles' . It seems this was next to 'Rockhills' and the Brick field.
Further to my previous post, do you know Fogerty's wife's name?
I found a marriage of a Joseph Foggerty to an Elizabeth Robins in Stockton March 1864. This could be the one. In 1861, he wrote that he was living in Coalbrookdale with a 19 year old girl called Marianne Robbins. Whether Elizabeth and Marianne were the same or sisters etc. your guess is as good as mine. There are many variations of names in the records as I think you are well aware.
Incidentally, he describes an affair that Catherine had in Vienna with a gentleman who always collected her from the stage door. This could not be himself because he was only 15 when C. was in Vienna. However, he may have been told about such a romance when he was working there.
Hello again.
I've actually picked up J. Fogerty's census records now from 71 to 91 and his wife is listed as Hannah C. (nee Cochrane) from Limerick.
We now have a puzzle though as the Fogerty/Elizabeth couple who married in 1864 in Stockton have disappeared from the records and there is no marriage for Fogerty and Hannah. They might have married in Ireland which is difficult or impossible to check.
I sense a scandal here with Fogerty marrying Miss Robbins from Staffs. (whom he admitted living with in Coalbrookdale) in Stockton and then abandoning her for Miss Cochrane. Referring again to his obit at ICE, he is NOT listed as married.
For some reason Elsie Fogerty was registered as Anna E. at birth and seems to have dropped the Anna by the age of 15.
Maybe Fogerty's life is worth a book in itself......
This is all looking very curious, Hipro. Unfortunately I'm away from home until the end of next week, so don't have access to my records. When we get back I will see I can shed any light on what you have already discovered.
Incidentally, Henry and Maria Lee were living at Roccles from about 1860 to 1869.
Thanks a lot Steve. I've ordered Fogerty's marrage cert to see if it confirms his id. His father was also Joseph and a builder of note in Limerick where he also owned the Theatre Royal in which Catherine Hayes performed.
I can't find the Lees on the 1871 census but my provider has not yet completed the Kent area. They might have been away in France anyway.
Further to my last post, the Jos. Foggerty who married in Stockton was not our man Just a coincidence and a pit for amateurs to fall into. My guess is that he married the 17 year old Hannah Cochrane in Limerick and at least they stayed together.
It seems that Fogerty wrote 9 books altogether and not just the 3 which are generally mentioned. Unfortunately, they are not held in Dublin NLI and I'll have to go to to the BL at some stage.
