Barnes Railway Station
Just 200 years ago Putney was a village in Surrey. It was not part of London as it is today.The village was a place of recreation within easy reach of London by boat. It comprised of summer residences of the wealthy escaping the city, it's bowling green was popular with politicians. To the west of the village where we are now, you would have found market gardens and heathland.Our first abomination is the railway itself. When developers announced their plans to build a railway line from Southwark Bridge to Richmond in 1836 local landowners, farmers and clergy were horrified. One of their main arguments against building the railway was the view that it would "increase the desecration of the Lord's Day in this neighbourhood". The protestors also said there would be no benefits to the investors because "there is no manufacturing or commerce along the whole route". This first bid failed, however 10 years later a new line was built from Waterloo.While we may technically be in Barnes at this point, if you look at the railway station, you are in fact also looking at the very first Putney Station building. There were three of these structures built along the line. Putney station lasted no more than 20 years and was pulled down in 1856 to make way for more railway tracks.
The Death of Peter Rampsden
From the path you can see a re-wilded space next to the station. This used to be the railway sidings of Barnes Station. As you stand there you will see the express trains race through and the commuter trains stop at the platforms. It was on this line that the body of Peter Rampsden was spotted by the driver of the 0445 parcel train one September day in 1938. The sad case of eight-month old Peter has become a famous case of deduction by the Transport Police.The body was found wrapped in a blanket on the tracks heading into Putney and had been burned by the electric current in the rails. Every night the electricity was switched off on the tracks. A doctor then said the time of death was eight hours earlier. These two clues meant the police could identify three possible trains the previous night when the incident occurred.When staff one station down the line were interviewed they confirmed a woman had joined one of these trains at Barnes Bridge heading back into town.However, there were no witnesses to identify where the lady alighted, so the police made an appeal in the local newspapers for information. A Vauxhall boarding house landlady came forward and said a female client called Mrs Eastwood from Caterham had arrived with a child, which had since disappeared. Mrs Eastwood had said the child had been adopted, and the landlady did not believe the story.When the police interveiwed Mrs Eastwood they found out she was married to a Cold Stream Guard, who had had an illegitimate child with a prostitute. Her husband had refused to support the child. So when he was away on manoeuvres, she wrapped the baby up in blankets and set out to the Thames river at Barnes. Mrs Eastwood confessed that on her return journey she had tried to drop the baby out of the window twice and failed to go through with her actions, but on her third attempt the train jolted and the baby fell out of her grip.Mrs Eastwood was sentenced to death, but that was later commuted to life improisonment.
Marc Bolan Car Crash Site
When you get to the end of the path cross Queens Ride road and join the unmade path behind the bank of soil the runs parallel to and below the pavement. Very shortly you will come to the Marc Bolan memorial. The site looks very much like a Shinto shrine with ribbons tied in the trees and ceramic white swans at the base of the bust. This is possibly because Marc Bolan has many fans and is still revered in Japan.Marc Bolan was king of the kooks as a performer and defied many stereotypes, even for the world of rock and pop. He introduced us to both Glam Rock at the start of the 1970s and punk at the end of the decade.It was on this site on 16th September 1977 that Marc Bolan died in a car crash, when his purple Mini crashed into a sycamore tree. It was two weeks before his 30th birthday. The car was being driven by his girlfriend, American soul singer Gloria Jones, who recorded the original version of the song Tainted Love. The couple were returning from Rod Stewart's birthday party back to their nearby home at 142 Upper Richmond Road. Netiher were wearing seatbelts. David Bowie attended Marc's funeral. Their friendship went back to the days of pitching for work along Soho's Tin Pan Alley. They also shared the same producer - Toni Visconti. David Bowie paid for Gloria and Marc's son to be put through schiool. Gloria left the UK to set up the Marc Bolan Music School charity in Sierra Leone.
The "9th worst Briton in the last 1,000 years"
Putney Park Lane is an unmade road popular with dog walkers, but a few hundred years ago this would have been the hunting grounds and farmland that supported the Archbishops of Canterbury, who had a palace nearby on the river in Mortlake.The Archbishops were extremely wealthy and held great power over the people and the kings of England. One of the Archbishops was Thomas Arundel, who was voted the worst Briton in the 15th century and the 9th worst Briton of the last 1,000 years by readers of the BBC History magazine.Thomas was just 20 years old, when the Pope made him a Bishop.The reason for this appointment was not talent, it was the fact Thomas' father (the Earl of Arundel) had a lot of financial leverage with the ageing King of England (Edward III). This was an era of great meddling by nobles in the affairs of the Kings, and it was about to get worse. Because Edward III died a year after his son, his grandson Richard became King aged 10. Young King Richard II was powerless at the start of his reign. The country was run by advisors.Arundel's brother was frustrated with Richard's advisors, and along with some very influential friends impeached the old advisors and took control by setting up a Commission that ran the country for a year. At this point Thomas Arundel was made both Chancellor and Archbishop of York. But then his brother launched a rebellion against the king. Richard regained control but bore a grudge against the group. Richard kept his enemies closer than his friends, and appointed Arundel as Chancellor for a second time. He was also made the Archbishop of Canterbury. A year later, not realising the size of the King's grudge Arundel exposed the whereabouts of his rebellious brother. His brother was beheaded and Arundel was stripped of his role as Archbishop and sent into exile to Florence.While in exile he made friends with one of his brother's cohorts, Henry Bollingbroke, a first cousin to Richard. As soon as Richard went on a military campaign in Ireland Arundel and Bollingbroke returned to London and took control. They confiscated the lands of any noble who opposed them. Henry became king in 1399 (the first English-speaking king in 300 years). Richard held out in Wales. Arundel lied on oath to Richard about his safety and lured him out of Conwy castle. Once captured Richard was imprisoned and died under suspiciious circumstances. It's thought he was starved to death.Arundel was re-instated as Archbishop of Canterbury until his death, and during that time the land we stand on would have fed him and his guests. He also became the Lord Chancellor - two more times.As Archbishop Arundel began a vicious campaign against a new movement called the Lollards. The Lollards wanted to reform the church and to have the Bible written in English. Arundel forced through an act that had several priests supporting the Lollards burned to death in public. It was for this reason historians voted him the worst Briton in the 15th century.So Arundel was implicit in the capture and death of the King and the death of many people who wanted to read the Bible in English. Nice work!P.S. Month Python's Terry Jones has written a treatise accusing Arundel for the death of The Pilgrim's Tales writer Geoffrey Chaucer.
Slag
Take the path from Putney Park Lane at The Pleasance leading to Woodborough Rd.From the path you emerge into the late 19th century villa development of the Putney Park Estate. This area was developed by builder Henry Scarth as a commuter belt as soon as the railway was opened.In order to attract Londoners out to Putney, the area was carefully planned with attractive architecture taking influences from the local Arts and Crafts movement. You will see the architectural traits of each street. Each street is different. Some have yellow brick houses on one side of the street and red brick houses opposite. Others alternate the brick down each side of the street. The garden walls feature a dented oblong pattern, typical of West Putney.The pavements are dressed with granite kerbs and the streets are framed with two rows of blue brick.This blue brick is called Scorria blocks (glazed engineering bricks). ‘Scoria' comes from the Greek word meaning 'excrement or dung'. It is a strange choice of name, because in reality the bricks are made of slag, a byproduct of iron production. Scoria apparently was used to make the brick sound more refined and scientific.At the time iron foundry manufacturers in the North East were drowning in slag. One ton of iron produced one ton of slag and other companies charged fourpence a ton to cart it away. In the 19th century the furnaces of Cleveland were producing 2.5 million tons of pig iron a year. So one furnace owner decided it was cheaper to build a second factory that would turn the slag into bricks. Scoria bricks were very hard to break, very durable, and waterproof. Their hey day was between 1872 and 1917 when car drivers wanted a smoother ride. So the streets of London may have been famous for being paved with gold, but in Putney they are lined with Middlesborough slag!
Corruption in Football
Number // is the former home of Sir Henry Norris a working class boy from Kennington who became a builder, auctioneer and Conservative MP for Fulham. He built many of the streets in Fulham. His daughter Mary was born in this house in 1902. The following year Norris attended a meeting that officially created Fulham Football and Athletic Club Co. Ltd, and made him the football club's first chairman.He also had an indirect role in the foundation of Chelsea Football Club. As Fulham chairman he was offered Stamford Bridge as a potential stadium venue, but Norris baulked at the idea of the £1,500 annual rent for the grounds, so his business partner creaated his own team - Chelsea - to occupy the ground. Norris' life was riddled with controversy. In 1906 Fulham club's Secretary killed himself (suicide was a crime). In 1910 Norris bent the rules and became the chairman of two football clubs at the same time (Fulham and Arsenal where he was the majority shareholder). When Arsenal's low attendance led to poor finances, Norris tried to merge the two fottball clubs. The Football League blocked the move. His next move was to move Arsenal to a new stadium in Highbury, north London, on the recreation ground of the Cambridge University's St John's College of Divinity. Many eyebrows were raised because of Norris' close relationship to the then Archbishop of Canterbury. Suspicions were futher heightened when Arsenal were promoted from the Second Division to the First in 1919. They were promoted despite coming fifth in the previous season. Worse, this was at the expense of their London rivals Totenham Hotspur. There were allegations that Norris had bribed the voting members of the Football League. In 1927 revelations in the Daily Mail were Norris' downfall. The newspaper alleged Norris had made under the counter payments to a Sunderland player to persuade him to join Arsenal. At the time financial incentives to players were strictly outlawed. The reports were followed by an investigation by the Football Association.Look to the left of the house and you will see the white building which housed Norris' cars and housed his driver. The Football Association investigation uncovered that Norris had used Arsenal's expense account to pay for his private chauffeur. They also found Norris had pocketed £125 from the sale of the team bus.Norris sued the Daily mail and the FA for libel, but the Lord Chief Justice found in favour of the FA.He was subsequently banned for life from football.
House of the Vanities
Joyce Amina Hanafy was a well-known character in this part of West Putney. She was known for wearing only purple clothes and knocking on people’s doors alarmingly late at night collecting money for animal charities. Her house here at // Larpent Avenue was dilapidated and covered in ivy.But Joyce hid a number of secrets of which many of her neighbours were unaware. When she died in 2006 the Care Home where she was staying had great difficulty in finding any relatives. This was because she had told the staff a number of fibs. Firstly, she said she had been a professional ballet dancer and secondly, the Care Home records said her year of birth was 1952, when in fact it was 30 years earlier in 1922!Joyce had no traceable family members to claim her £1 million estate from the sale of this house. Therefore, a company specializing in hunting long lost heirs was engaged to uncover Joyce’s lost family and hidden story. It made such a fascinating tale that it was turned into a half hour TV documentary on the BBC series Heir Hunters.Joyce was the daughter of Mohammad Zaky Hanafy, an Egyptian-born surgeon from a privileged background who worked at the King George Military Hospital on London's South Bank during WWI. He was made an OBE for his services to surgery in 1920, an astonishing accolade for a man who was only 33, and not British-born.The heir hunters recovered photographs from Joyce's home that showed Joyce was a dancer, model and hostess working in the nightclubs of Swinging Sixties Soho. They also found that in 1944 Joyce, then training to be a teacher at Durham University, was approached to become a spy. Joyce was approached by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) - essentially the wartime equivalent of Britain's [foreign intelligence unit] MI6 and her file is still held the National Archives in Kew. These interview notes describes Joyce as intelligent but also "spoilt, affected, greedy for admiration and vain and superficial". Her spying career was also stopped when SOE found she had a fine for a minor offence under the 1939 National Registration Act. Joyce for some reason gave a false name and address when asked to produce her papers. The heir hunters tracked down the closest relatives to Joyce in Cairo, who were shocked to receive the profits from the sale of this attractive London home.
Nuclear secrets and Muslim Heresy
Mohammad Abdus Salam first Pakistani and the first Muslim to receive a Nobel Prize in Science and the second from an Islamic country to receive any Nobel Prize. He was the founder of Pakistan’s space programme and contributed to the theory on neutron stars and black holes. He moved here to 14 Campion Road in 1974.But Salam also played an influential role in Pakistan's development of nuclear weapons. The development of Pakistan’s nuclear deterrence was shrouded in intrigue, with the West accusing Pakistan of engaging Chinese, Russian and North Korean technology in the midst of the Cold War.In the 1960s he helped Pakistan sign nuclear energy co-operation deals with Canada and the USA. But after a trip in 1971 to USA he returned to Pakistan with scientific literature about the USA’s Manhattan Project in WWII for developing nuclear weapons and calculations for atomic bombs. A year later the Pakistani Government learned about development of first Indian atomic bomb, and Salam headed Pakistan’s deterrence programme. Pakistan continued to develop the atom bomb and tested its first bomb in 1988. So why would Salam come here in 1974 at peak of career? The reason is faith. Salam considered himself to be both a Muslim and a member of the Ahmadiyya Islamic Movement. Adherents to this movement believed that its leader had been Christ’s second coming, and that he been sent to earth to re-direct Islam away from Jihad towards peace.In 1974 the Parliament declared members of the Ahmadiyya Movement to be “non-Muslim”. They have been persecuted across the Muslim world ever since. Salam moved in protest to Putney to be close to the Fazl mosque the current world headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Community. Contrary to mainstream Islamic belief, Ahmadi Muslims believe that Jesus survived on the cross and died in Kashmir of old age seeking the Lost Tribes of Israel.Ahmadi Muslims say Islam will spread through literature, not Jihad and they believe the best response to hate is love. This is somewhat at odds with Pakistan’s approach to nuclear deterrence.
Housing for women
12 Campion Road was part of a radical experiment between the wars to help single working women find accommodation in London.WWI was a catalyst for women entering the workforce, but far from liberating them many women were expected to stop war once the soldiers returned home. Salaries for women were much lower than for men and trade unions at the time actively encouraged lower wages for women.Low pay and a ban on single women being given social housing by some councils meant hundreds of thousands of female teachers and civil servants found it very difficult to find a home.In response a group of Anglo-Irish feminists established Women’s Pioneer Housing in 1920. The organisation continues to run over 100 years later. This house was purchased for WPH in 1934. At the time big houses were cheap. In the interwar years no-one wanted to go into domestic labour, and middle class home owners did not want to clean their own homes. This house was therefore turned into eight flats that the new occupants could decorate to their own taste.The women often found the rents high and used friendship networks to find other single women to share their homes with. Bonds were close. One former WPH resident left all of her estate to her flatmate upon her death.
Anti-Semitism and the Bloomsbury Set's Sexual Fluidity
Leonard Woolf lived at 9 Colinette Road from the age of 11 until he went to Cambridge. Leonard and his wife author Virginia Woolf became influential in the Bloomsbury Group and established the Hogarth Press publishing house. Despite her reputation as an Edwardian modern thinker, Virginia also referred to Leonard as “my penniless Jew”. Looking at this house one struggles to understand how he was penniless. Given the militant atheistic beliefs of the Bloomsbury group it’s also hard to understand why she needed to refer to him as a Jew.In 1930 she wrote, “How I hated marrying a Jew – how I hated their nasal voices and their oriental jewelry, and their noses and their wattles – what a snob I was: for they have immense vitality, and I think that I like that quality best of all.” Virginia somewhat recovers herself in the second half of her sentence, but it sounds patronising today.These views were echoed by other members of the Bloomsbury Group, and Leonard was frequently the target.This discrimination was common at the start of the last century. It was driven by the influx of 150,000 Jews to the UK who had been persecuted in eastern Europe. The arrival of skilled European workers was whipped up by the British press into a threat. The press accused the Jews of being a threat to the employment of British labour, they accused them of not integrating, and even of being a potential terrorist threat. Sadly, all of these narratives continue in relation to migrant groups today in the UK. Leonard and Virginia’s sexual relationships were unconventional for the Edwardian era. Leonard and the closeted author of the gay novel Maurice, EM Forster, were childhood friends. Leonard taught Forster to ride on Putney Common, and at university they both joined the secretive Cambridge Apostles along with other famous gay intellectuals including economist John Maynard Keynes and biographer Lytton Strachey. Lytton first proposed to Virginia and offered her to Leonard when he was snubbed. Lytton later lived in a menage a trois comprising a platonic relationship with a woman and a man. Leonard and Virginia also had a platonic marriage. After their honeymoon in Venice Virginia wrote to Lytton that their sex had been frequently interrupted by mosquitos, so they had discussed literature instead. In the 1920s Virginia famously had an affair with lesbian garden designer Vita Sackville West, of which Leonard was fully aware.
Mathematics from God
The plaque on the door is a testament to one of the world’s greatest mathematical geniuses, Srinvasa Ramanjuan, who lived here just over 100 years ago. Srinvasa made substantial contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series and continued fractions. Some of his solutions to mathematical problems are still considered to be unsolvable. He became one of the youngest Fellows of the Royal Society and only the second Indian member, and the first Indian to be elected a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. And yet, Srinvasa had no formal training. Even more controversially, Srinvasa said a goddess told him what to say.Born in India in 1913 Srinavasa began corresponding with Professor Hardy at the University of Cambridge, who invited him to the UK.Many of Srinavasa’s equations were original and highly unconventional. His results have opened entire new areas of work and inspired a vast amount of further research. Nearly all his claims have now been proven correct. This includes results named after him such as the Ramanjuan prime, the Ramanjuan theta function. Srinavasa was a deeply religious Hindu and said that his mathematical knowledge was revealed to him by his family godess. "An equation for me has no meaning," he once said, "unless it expresses a thought of God.” The number 1729 is known as the Hardy–Ramanujan number after a famous visit by Professor Hardy to see Ramanujan. In Hardy's words:I remember once going to see him when he was ill at Putney. I had ridden in taxicab number 1729 and remarked that the number seemed to me rather a dull one, and that I hoped it was not an unfavorable omen. "No", he replied, "it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways."The two different ways are1729 = 13 + 123 = 93 + 103.Generalizations of this idea are now referred to as taxicab numbers. Only six taxi cab numbers have been discovered so far, and computers are now searching for more.In 1919 ill health compelled Ramanujan's return to India, where he died aged 32.
Heroic recalcitrance
Laurence Oates British Antarctic explorer is most famous for his final words during Captain Scott’s doomed expedition to the South pole: "I am just going outside and may be some time”.However, we have no proof that he said this. The words were recorded by Captain Scott in his diary. For many this is sufficient evidence. However, the two men despised each other. Do we know the full truth?Oates was born into a wealthy Putney family in 1880 and lived in a house on this site from age of five to 11.As a young soldier he was recommended for the Victoria Cross for his acts of military stubbornness. He saw active service during the Second Boer War in South Africa and refused to surrender twice, saying "We came to fight, not to surrender." His actions brought him public notoriety. Having continued his military career in Ireland, Egypt, and India, in 1910, he applied to join Robert Falcon Scott’s expedition to the South Pole. He was accepted on the strength of his experience with horses and his ability to make a financial contribution of £1,000. Based on a 2018 approximation this would have equalled £110,000.Oates’ role was to look after 19 ponies that Scott intended to use for sledge hauling during the initial food depot-laying stage and the first half of the trip to the South Pole. Scott eventually selected him as one of the five-man party who would travel the final distance to the Pole.Oates disagreed with Scott many times on management of the expedition. 'Their natures jarred on one another,' a fellow expedition member recalled. When he first saw the ponies that Scott had brought on the expedition, Oates was horrified at the £5 animals, which he said were too old for the job and 'a wretched load of crocks. He later said: 'Scott's ignorance about marching with animals is colossal.' He also wrote in his diary "Myself, I dislike Scott intensely and would chuck the whole thing if it were not that we are a British expedition.”79 days after starting their journey, Scott’s five-man party finally reached the Pole only to discover a tent that Norwegian explorer Roald Admunsen had left behind 35 days before.Scott's party faced extremely difficult conditions on the return journey, mainly due to the exceptionally adverse weather, poor food supply, injuries sustained from falls, and the effects of scurvy and frostbite.Oates' feet had become severely frostbitten and his slower progress was causing the party to fall behind schedule. On 17th March 1912 Oates walked out of the tent into a 40 °C blizzard to his death. Scott wrote in his diary: "We knew that poor Oates was walking to his death, but though we tried to dissuade him, we knew it was the act of a brave man and an English gentleman."[ According to Scott's diary, as Oates left the tent he said, "I am just going outside and may be some time”.The remaining three men continued for a further 20 miles towards the food depot that could save them but they were halted by a fierce blizzard. Trapped in their tent they died nine days later, eleven miles short of their objective. Their frozen bodies were discovered by a search party on 12 November 1912. Oates' body was never found. So was his death an act of self-sacrifice, or was Scott covering his tracks?
Dishonour
Known by colleagues as G.K. was a Japanese martial arts master who introduced judo to the UK and came to be known as the 'Father of British Judo. He was the founder of the Budokwai, a pioneering Japanese martial arts society in England. Koizumi helped establish the British Judo Association, and founded the European Judo Union. Koizumi was born in 1885 in a village now part of metropolitan Tokyo, the son of a tenant farmer. He began training aged 12 in the art of kendo at school, as well as learning English from a neighbour who had been to America. Two years later he left home to seek his fortune in Tokyo, where he started practising jujitsu. Koizumi wanted to study electricity and decided that the best place to do so was in the USA. To get there he worked and travelled through Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Liverpool and London. He set off for New York, arriving in 1907. After a few years, dissatisfied with life in the USA, he returned to EnglandIn 1912, he set up a lacquer ware studio in Ebury Street, London. By 1922, Koizumi, an expert in Oriental lacquerware, was appointed as a consultant to the Victoria and Albert Museum—and later catalogued the museum's entire lacquerware collectionIn 1918, at his own expense, Koizumi established the Budokwai (Way of Knighthood Society) which offered tuition in jujutsu, kendo, and other Japanese arts, which ran along the back wall of Buckingham Palace. Koizumi's death shocked the worldwide judo community and caused much controversy. The night before Koizumi died aged 79, he was asked what he would most like to happen, he replied, "To see people think for themselves and not be led like sheep." On 15 April 1965, Koizumi apparently committed suicide. He was found wearing his best suit, seated in his favourite chair, beside the gas stove in his home, and reportedly with a plastic bag over his head. Some considered his suicide dishonourable, while others argued that his death mirrored those of honourable samurai. A Cherry tree is dedicated to the memory of Koizumu on Chelsea Embankment.
Deceived by Britain, Hitler and Stalin
When you include Hitler and Stalin as your friends maybe you can expect to be stabbed in the back a few times, even by the British government.Edvard Beneš was the President of Czechoslovakia three years before and three years after the second world war. A politician through and through, Beneš was also the first and longest-serving Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia. His international stature was such that he held the post through 10 successive governments, one of which that he headed himself. In 1938 Nazi Germany claimed the German-speaking part of his country and Beneš opposed these moves. But in October that year, Italy, France and the United Kingdom signed the Munich Agreement, which allowed for the military occupation of parts of Czechoslovakia by Germany. The British Prime Minister who convinced Benes to agree to the deal at the time was driven by the misconception that “Both Hitler and Göring said separately and emphatically that they had no desire or intention of making war and I think we may take this as correct.”Czechoslovakia was not consulted about the annexation of their own country. Beneš agreed to the annexation, despite opposition from within his country. Shortly after Beneš was forced to resign under German pressure and in October 1938 Beneš went into exile here in Putney. A year later he organised the Czechoslovak National Liberation Committee and was President of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile. Some of the government-in-exile’s first meetings were said to be held in this house in Gwendolyn Avenue. Although not a Communist, Beneš was also on friendly terms with Stalin. Believing that Czechoslovakia had more to gain from an alliance with the Soviet Union than one with Poland, he signed an agreement with the Soviets for his country’s post-war arrangements. So after the end of World War II, Beneš returned home and resumed his former position as President.A Communist-dominated organization won the country’s first elections after the war and approved a new constitution, which was too close to the Soviet Constitution for Beneš to sign. He resigned as President in June 1948 and died of natural causes later that year
Faith or Medicine?
The converted appartments at // Dryborough Rd used to be Putney’s Christian Science Reading Rooms. Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices developed in 19th-century New England that argues that sickness is an illusion that can be corrected by prayer alone. In 1953 the Putney Reading rooms supported just nine residents. Naval officer Charles Lightroller who was the most senior officer to survive the sinking of the Titanic, and who lived at number 60 Upper Richmond Road was a follower and may have come here.Christian Science believes that disease is a mental error rather than physical disorder, and that the sick should be treated not by medicine, but by a form of prayer. The church does not require that Christian Scientists avoid all medical care—adherents use dentists, opticians, obstetricians, physicians for broken bones, and vaccination when required by law—but maintains that Christian-Science prayer is most effective when not combined with medicine.It became the fastest growing religion in the US and by 1910 there were 58 churches in the UK. The building here was one of their 2,000 reading rooms. This was a place where one could study and contemplate the Bible.
ISIS and the Jacobites
Three hundred years ago there was a rebellious movement called Jacobinism in the UK that wanted to reintroduce a pro-French Scottish, Catholic King to the throne of England, Ireland and Scotland, who Jacobinists believed had the Divine Right from God to rule the country. It is likely that barrister Robert Wood whose grave you see, was probably a Jacobite, because in 1750 he had to escape London quickly. He ran away to the Middle East with two wealthy young Oxford scholars who had come under suspicion and surveillance by the authorities for their support of the rebellion.Travelling into Syria, they took careful measurements and drawings of the ancient Roman ruins of Palmyra and Baalbek. The results were published in 1753 and 1757 and were among the first systematic publications of ancient buildings. The books are considered by many to be the birth of archeology. The publications also greatly influenced the development of neoclassical architecture in Britain, Continental Europe and America. In August 2015 another group of militants (many of them British) belonging to Islamic State escaped the UK and blew up Palmyra’s first-century Temple of Baalshamin and the Temple of Bel with explosives. Satellite imagery of the site taken shortly after showed almost nothing remained. Islamic State sought to establish itself as a caliphate, an Islamic state led by a group of religious authorities under a supreme leader – the caliph – who was believed to be the successor to Prophet Muhammad. The destruction of many ancient sites was undertaken in order to fund IS terrorist activities. Wood redeemed himself over time. Following the publication’s success Wood was the travelling companion of the richest peer in England, the Duke of Bridgewater for three years. Upon his return Wood was immediately appointed Under Secretary to the Secretary of State with a responsibility for “The South”.In an odd twist of fate Wood the Catholic King Rebel became Wood the Defender of the Protestant King. In 1764 Under Secretary Wood issued a warrant to seize the papers of MP and Hellfire Club member John Wilkes. Wilkes’ crime was to criticise (Protestant) King George II’s stance on a peace agreement with (Catholic) France and Spain. But Wood’s past caught up with him. At one point, Wood was in line to be appointed Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, but his new potential boss objected to Wood's "public and private character" as well as his "mean birth", and the appointment was never made.He died in 1771, in this white marble sarcophagus engraved with an epitaph written by art historian Horace Walpole, who built the gothic revival Strawberry Hill House.
Love Conquers
When Stratford Canning announced he wanted to marry Dublin-born Mehetabel Patrick, his father disinherited him and threw him out of the family home in Londonderry penniless. The father considered the marriage to be “imprudent”. The father was said to be extremely strict and had disinherited Stratford’s elder brother also. Despite his ill fortune Stratford became a merchant in the City of London, where the couple mixed with Whig politicians, including anti-slavery campaigner Charles Fox, the “founder” of modern conservatism Edmund Burke and playwright of A School for Scandal, and The Rivals, R B Sheridan. They had a daughter and four sons, three of whom found success as diplomats. One child Charles Fox Canning became Assistant to the Duke of Wellington, but died at the Battle of Waterloo. Stratford was also the uncle of MP George Canning, who notoriously fought a duel with Lord Castlereagh in 1809 (both survived). George Canning’s other claim to fame is that he had the shortest-ever term as Prime Minister, dying just four months into his term.
Illegitimacy in Victorian England
The last Baronet of St Aubyn in Cornwall, Sir John St Aubyn, had 15 illegitimate children by three different women.This is the grave of the 13th child, Reverend Richard John St Aubyn, who lived in Putney.Richard’s mother was called Juliana Vinicombe, whom Sir John finally married.The mother of one of the first two children was ‘an Italian woman’. The St Aubyns were a prominent Cornish dynasty with two family estates near Crowan and St Michael’s Mount.
Contested wills, exhumation and missing bodies
When we started the walk we mentioned that one of the property developers benefiting from the arrival of the railway was Henry Scarth. This is the headstone of his father James Scarth. Henry was a solicitor who turned to property development in the 1840s and amassed a huge portfolio of land and property by building Parkfields, Coalecroft & Charlwood roads in Putney, and Scarth & Station roads in Barnes. When Henry died there were several challenges to the disposition of Henry’s estate after his death. One disposition involved the attempted exhumation of his father’s James coffin here in 1872. The coffins of James’ wife and daughter were found, but bizarrely James’s coffin was never located.
The world's gayest church
Welcome to London’s smallest Cathedral. This is the pro-Cathedral of the Liberal Catholic Church. A Pro-cathedral is a parish church that is temporarily acting as a cathedral. The Liberal Catholics were established by founded by J. I Wedgewood - a member of the famous porcelain manufacturing family. Wedgewood brought the church to Putney after they opened their first church in Caledonian Road in 1920.Wedgewood was a former Anglican priest who left the Anglican church on becoming an occultist in 1904 and joined the Old Catholic Church because they did not believe in the authority of the Pope.Wedgwood became the first presiding Bishop of the LLC because he learned that a bishop of the Old Catholic Church, had become enmeshed in a homosexuality scandal and as a result had been suspended by the Archbishop who had ordained Wedgewood. Wedgewood was gay. He also learned that the same Archbishop wanted all the clergy of the church to renounce occultism. Shortly afterwards the Archbishop published a letter in The Times announcing his intention to return to the Roman Catholic Church.Liberal Catholicism finds any form of Christian worship valid as long as it is earnest and true. But it also holds that Christ also appointed certain Eastern Orthodox rites as special channels of power and blessing. Many in the church accept the concept of purgatory, and in the Mass the priest prays for the dead. The church is open to reincarnation.The LCC permits the ordination of non-celibate gays and lesbians. Three of its first four presiding bishops, Wiloughby, Wedgewood, Leadbeater were caught up in homosexual scandals. The LLC is led by Archbishop Elizabeth Stuart, a Professor of Christian theology at Winchester University and an authority on lesbian and gay theology.
A Horror Tale
Mary’s suicidal mother died a month after she was born, leaving her father (a political philosopher) to provide informal but liberal home education. When Mary was four, her father married a neighbour with whom Mary had a troubled relationship.Aged 17 Mary began a romance with one of her father's political followers, a poet who was already married. That year Mary and her poet boyfriend left for France and travelled through Europe. When they returned to England, Mary was pregnant. Over the next two years, she and Percy faced ostracism, constant debt and the death of their prematurely born daughter. They married after the suicide in the Serpentine of the poet’s first wife who was pregnant (with his child?).Aged 19 the couple and Mary’s step sister spent a summer with the literary enfant terrible of the day near Switzerland where both sisters had an affair with their host. It was here Mary had a brilliant creative idea that all of us know. The couple left Britain again for Italy, where their second and third children died before Mary gave birth to her last and only surviving child, four years later her husband drowned when his sailing boat sank during a storm. Mary was 25 years old.The idea was the novel was Frankenstein, Mary was Mary Shelley, her husband was Percy Bysse Shelley and her affair was with Lord Byron. Aged 26 Mary Shelley returned to England and from then on devoted herself to the upbringing of her son and a career as a professional author. In 1839 she moved for a year to Layton House in Putney which stood on land just behind the Putney Hotel. Here she prepared texts and biographical notes for a collection of Shelley’s work. She said Layton House was “hideous on the outside but comfortable and perfectly habitable”. We will meet Mary’s even more radical mother in Walk 2 of Walks on the Wild Side. But for now head toward the Putney train station and conclude your walk.
