Strange Claremont Road deaths (1) - children

Our interrogation of the sophisticated search engine of the British Newspaper Library, referred to here and here has uncovered details of a number of strange deaths and the inquests following them of residents of Claremont Road in the first five decades of the street’s existence.

We will be featuring them over three posts, relating to suicides, accidents and this, the first article on unusual deaths of young people. There is a small amount of overlap between the categories, but duplication will be kept to a minimum.

1881 Constance Susan Hand: “Poisoned, while of unsound mind”, aged 16

Constance Susan Hand was born in Field Road, Forest Gate, in 1861, the daughter of John, a bricklayer, and Lucy.

In the early months of 1881, she took on a job as a nursemaid to the Berry family of 56 Claremont Road. The household comprised Charles Berry, a general shipping agent, his wife, sister-in-law, and one son. In addition to Constance, the family had another live-in domestic servant.

56 Claremont Road, today

Constance was dead, aged 16, by the end of March. Her story is a tragedy.

The inquest at the British Lion pub in West Ham Lane was extensively reported. On the day of her death, she went with a child she was caring for to see her mother, and asked to borrow 6d (2.5p).

By about 3 p.m., she went to Charles Dyer’s chemist shop on Odessa Road, bought a packet of Batter’s Vermin Powder with the money, and signed the Poisons’ Register. When asked, she told Dyer that it was to treat an infestation of rats at her employers’ home.

Chelmsford Chronicle 1 April 1881

 

According to Mrs Berry, when she arrived, “She went into the nursery. She then went up into her bedroom” and took the arsenic that killed her.

A little later: “Mrs Berry went into the nursery and observed that her eyes were very bright and swollen. A little later she found that (Constance) had been vomiting … she said that she had internal gathering and had been spitting blood … in a very short time the poor girl became convulsed and reportedly called for God to help her and asked to see the Rev R Ross, the clergyman of the Parish (Emanuel).”

Constance’s mother was called for, and “after being in great agony for an hour, the girl died at six o’clock”. A post-mortem was conducted by Dr Evans and samples of bodily fluids were collected and sent to the London Hospital in Whitechapel for examination.

Dr Charles Arnott Tidy, professor of chemistry at the hospital, analysed the samples and concluded: “I have no doubt that death was due to arsenic poisoning. There was enough arsenic in (the samples) to kill eight or ten people.”

The inquest attempted to understand the circumstances surrounding the death before pronouncing the cause of death.

Constance’s mother and Mrs Berry both testified that she seemed to be a cheerful girl. A friend and fellow domestic servant said that a boyfriend had called off an engagement about two weeks previously.

The friend said she didn’t think this was a factor, as Constance seemed quite cheered at the event: “She said that she was glad and it seemed to have no influence on her spirits”.

Mr Berry, her employer, made a very telling – in more ways than one – statement. He said he “... had never spoken an unkind word to the dead; in fact, he had never spoken scarcely half a dozen words to her. She had been in their employ only about two months, but believed she was suffering from religious mania.”

Mrs Berry returned to the witness box and perhaps inadvertently gave an explanation for the suicide: “Mrs Berry said the deceased knew she had missed some things and that she had said she might have to send the deceased away”.

Could this be that Contance knew the sack was looming, and couldn’t face the prospect?

Although it was clear that she had killed herself, at the conclusion of the inquest the coroner posed the jury with a dilemma: “If it was done by the hand of the deceased herself, it would have been their duty to return a verdict of felo de se, which would deprive the relatives of a Christian burial”. The Latin phrase was used to imply sanity at the time of suicide.

In the event, the jury “found that the deceased had poisoned herself while of unsound mind.” This verdict, that she was non compos mentis at the time of the suicide, would have enabled her to have a burial in a Christian graveyard.

Sources: Eastern Post 2 and 9 April, Chelmsford Chronicle 1 and 8 April 1881, Essex Newsman 2 and 9 April 1881. Find My Past

1885 Herbert Wilson Folkard: “Accidental death”, aged 11

Just four years later, another youngster from four doors down the road was killed in a railway accident.

In early May, Herbert Wilson Folkard, aged 11 from 48 Claremont Road was on his way home with his friend and near-neighbour Edward Frank Larter, after playing cricket in Victoria Park, when the accident happened. Herbert’s brother, Ernest William, a draper, was a witness at the inquest.

48 Claremont Road, today

The Folkard boys were brothers of Ellen Elizabeth Folkard, of the same address, who for some years was principal of the Claremont Ladies Academy (see here).

Herbert’s friend, Edward, lived at number 49, son of Rous Larter, a schoolmaster, with his four siblings and two domestic servants.

At noon they were on the platform of Stratford station waiting for a train to Forest Gate. A train from Fenchurch Street rolled in and was about to depart when Folkard started to close some still-open carriage doors. As he did this, the train moved on, he slipped and fell between the train and the platform.

Essex Times, 9 May 1885

Although the train braked sharply, it was too late: one wheel had passed over his body and a second was resting upon it. “It was found the boy was quite dead”.

The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.

The Leytonstone Express and Independent also covered the story and accompanied it with a less than sympathetic editorial:

“There are few more common sights on the railway platform than the schoolboy who constitutes himself an amateur porter, and delegates the slamming of the door with even greater vigour than does his prototype, the bona fide one, to the annoyance of the public and at their own eminent peril.”

There was little sympathy for Folkard in their conclusion, but an urge for attention by the railway companies:

“This sad occurrence should surely teach the boys the folly of indulging in their dangerous practice, and should make the officials more energetic in putting a stop to it.”

Sources: Essex Times, 8 May and Leytonstone Express and Independent, 9 May.Find My Past

1889 Vincent Martin Young: “Death from accidental suffocation”, aged 8

In late August 1889, an inquest was held at the Rising Sun pub (still standing) into the death of eight-year-old Vincent Martin Young of 103 Claremont Road. He was the son of a mercantile clerk.

103 Claremont Road, today

Vincent had been playing with three friends on a Saturday earlier in the month in a “ballast hole” (a pit filled with water) on Romford Road. They were jumping into the hole.

It started raining and ten minutes later the friends heard the sand in the part of the hole Vincent was in begin to slide. They looked for him, couldn’t see him, but didn’t tell anyone of the event and left the scene.

Alfred Birnscomb, a clerk from Hampton Road, went to the Young household about eight o’clock that night and heard that Vincent had not been home since noon. He made enquiries, and finding that there had been a slip of earth at the ballast hole, went to the police station (round the corner) and—with some friends—borrowed spades.

Barking, East Ham and Ilford Advertiser 31 August 1889

 

A search was made, and after about an hour and a half, Vincent’s body was found. “He was quite dead”. There were about 18 inches of sand upon him. The jury returned a verdict of “Death by accidental suffocation”.

At the conclusion of the inquest, the Rev Cowan, father of one of Vincent’s friends, said that “Mr Corbet was the owner of the property: four deaths had occurred at that place, and he thought it was too bad that with Mr Corbet’s immense wealth, the property was not fenced in. Boys would naturally go to such a place, when nobody was there, to play.”

Archibald Cameron Corbett - developer of Woodgrange estate

A rider was added to the verdict requesting “the coroner to write to the property owner and ask him to fence around a certain portion of the property on the north side. “

It seems shocking that the hole had been unattended, despite it having caused three previous deaths. Such negligence would today result in a charge of manslaughter.

Despite the slight misspelling of his name, it seems highly probable that the person who owned “the ballast hole” was, in fact, Archibald Cameron Corbett, the developer of the Woodgrange estate. He could certainly have fitted the description of being of “immense wealth”. The hole probably existed due to construction work on the Romford Road part of the estate.

Sources: Essex News 31 Aug, Barking, East Ham Independent 31 Aug

 

1900 Frederick Ambrose Ball: “Accidental death”, aged 9

Nine-year-old Frederick Ambrose Ball, lived with his auctioneer father George, mother Louise and seven siblings at 44 Claremont Road in 1900. He was described as: “always of a cheerful disposition, but was perpetually in mischief”.

44 Claremont Road, today

On a Saturday morning, at the end of July he was “told to go up in the bathroom and wash his face”.

According to the West Ham and South Essex Mail (4 August):

"Nothing being heard from him for some time, his sister forced the door of the bathroom which had the catch up and was horrified to find her brother hanging from the side of the bath with a towel wound several times round his neck. Medical aid was at once summoned, but life was found to be extinct."

Dr Cannon, of 94 Woodgrange Road told the inquest that:

"He was called to see the deceased at about a quarter to one. And found him quite dead. … He was under the impression that the boy was playing with the towel and slipped. He must have become insensible and unable to help himself."

The jury reached a verdict of “accidental death”.

A few things emerging from the incident seem strange to the modern reader. Firstly, the police do not seem to have been called to a highly unusual, and seemingly implausible incident (the police station was just around the corner). Second, the only non-family member to be a witness was a doctor.

Eastern Counties Times, 4 Aug 1900

Third, perhaps the relationship between the boy and the family member who found him.

The boy Frederick was born in 1891, after the census in April, when the family lived in Ramsay Road, Wanstead. His “mother”, Louise Lee Ball would have been 38 at the time. His “sister” Louise Jane would have been 14/15.

By the 1901 census, Frederick had died, and the family had moved to Claremont Road. Seven siblings lived in the house; six of them were assigned occupations in the census, but Louise Jane, Frederick’s designated sister and the oldest, was not.

Could Louise Jane Ball have given birth to Frederick at age 14/15 and led the child and society to believe that his “mother” was, in fact, his grandmother, the 38-year-old Louise Lee Ball?

Louise Jane married Charles Arthur Thomson, a dock clerk, in 1908 and was living in Ilford by the 1911 census. Her parents and three siblings were still living at 44 Claremont Road.

Sources: Essex Newsman 4 August 1900, Eastern Counties’ Times 4 August 1900 and West Ham and South Essex Mail 4 August 1900. Find My Past

The off-licence at 16 Barwick Road

Regular contributor Peter Williams continues his history of unusual and interesting buildings in Forest Gate. Here he examines the history of an off-licence called Capel Arms, 16 Barwick Rd, which was not a pub despite its name. It is just around the corner from 10 Capel Road, which he considered in a previous article (here).

This slightly unusual building looks like this. The shop has been empty for many years.

June 2016 author photo

Early history

It seems that the developer of the new shop was Mr Deller. He had a few problems with the council, which refused him permission to build it and threatened to take action against him if he did. However, they must have reached a compromise, as it was eventually built.

West Ham and South Essex Mail - 30 May 1891

Then, there is this fascinating advert, a month later. It seems the builder of 16 had already built a house in Upton for £200 and needed to get rid of it quickly. We learn from this that in the Victorian period, owners tended not to sell the freeholds of their properties, but to let them on a long lease, for about 90 years. This enabled them to keep their investment properties. There were few freehold owner-occupied properties then, when typically the rent of a terraced house in Forest Gate would have been around £100 p.a.

West Ham and South Essex Mail - 30 May 1891

Deller was probably short of money to develop 16 Barwick and needed to get rid of the house in Upton quickly (“must be sold at once”) to raise some cash. Many small terraces were developed in Forest Gate at this period on a shoestring by small business folk with virtually no capital.

If you ever need to research the history of licensed premises, the website pubwiki is incredibly useful in this part of East London. In 1890, the licence holder was shown as William Deller, who was a "beer retailer."

Below is the advert he placed to accompany his application for a licence:

Stratford Express - 10 August 1892

His wife took over the licence by 1896. Subsequent occupants of the property were Joseph Spurgeon (beer seller) and his wife Margaret, along with Thomas and Sydney Carter, who would appear to have been Margaret's children via a previous marriage, and Florence Johns, a servant (1901 census).

By 1906, the licensee was Walter Charles Melsom, and by the 1911 census, it was Charles Hodgson. Other occupants of the property at the time were husband and wife John and Frances Crawford (Source: census). 

Hodgson was replaced in 1914, as licensee by Nellie Ivory.

East End News and London Shipping Chronicle - 29 September 1914

Who, in turn, was replaced by Robert Curtie, the following year

East End News and London Shipping Chronicle - 20 July 1915

One notable feature gleaned from these cuttings is how many pubs in Forest Gate have disappeared!

Some families publish whole family trees on the internet, which are a rich source of research information. Below is a relevant example. The extract suggests that Edgar Sydney Durham was the tenant of the off-licence between 1936 and 1952 and a member of the Durham family, which ran a number of licensed premises in London in the first half of the twentieth century. 

source here

1939 register

At the time of the 1939 Official Register, although the pub was licensed to Edgar Jacobs, the residents of 16 Barwick Street was Edgar Durham.

Source: Ancestry

Edgar Durham c 1919 - source: family history

Edgar Sydney Durham’s 2 children (source: family history)

The caption on the 1949 photo, on the family history site, says: "Opposite the off-licence, Barwick Road, Forest Gate, Essex". Edgar Sydney’s son says: “the house was opposite the off-licence, which had recently lost all its shop windows, in a blast from a nearby landmine, whilst not far away a bus finished up with its nose in a bomb crater.”

From the Durham family history site

Freeholders

So far, we have considered the licensees and leaseholders of 16 Barwick Road. What of the freeholders?

An examination of these explains the "Charrington's" name plate that adorned the premises for much of the off-licence's existence. Business premises can be quite easy to research on the internet, as there are many specialised resources available.

The original building owner/leaseholder of 16 Barwick was Savill Brothers of Maryland Road, Stratford. This company was founded 1856 and registered as a limited company in December 1893. It ran the Stratford brewery and was acquired by Charrington and Sons in 1925.

Savill’s ran 14 pubs in the Newham area, including the Capel Arms, Burnell Arms and Blakesley Arms, both in Manor Park, the Browning Arms, Earl of Wakefield and Black Lion, all of East Ham, as well as the nearby Woodhouse Tavern, on Harrow Road. (source: here).

Note empty site to the left, probably bomb damage. Wanstead Flats to the left.Source: their family history site .

 

 

The view into Barwick Rd about 1900

There is a shop on the corner lost to bombing presumably as the 1940s photos above show an empty site here. 

It was later built on – see below

 

The same corner a few years ago

The same corner a few years ago. The derelict off licence is behind.

 

 Modern history of the off-licence

Prior to the current owners, the shop was operated by a family called Gregg. This was in the 50s and 60s.

A Sikh family took it on and it operated till early 2000s when it closed for good. The shop remains in the same semi derelict condition.

 

Strange footnote

There is evidence above that the current 16 Barwick Road was only constructed in 1891. Yet we see below that somebody died at that address in 1889!

This leads to an intriguing tale concerning 25 Capel Road, which Peter has previously considered on this blog (see here), as Forest Gate’s oldest continuously inhabited house. He will explore the intrigue in a later article!

Source: Probate records, via Ancestry

 

Educational enterprise on Claremont Road in late Victorian London

The first houses in the under-construction Woodgrange estate, on Claremont Road, were occupied in the late 1870s/ early 1880s. They were large and offered more than simply residential possibilities.

The period coincided with the introduction of the 1880 Education Act, which effectively made full-time education for children under ten years old compulsory in England for the first time. This Act resulted in many middle-class parents seeking private education, away from the working-class "riff-raff" in the newly established Elementary schools.

Private education, however, was not new to the area. The Victoria County History of Essex notes that a directory of 1839 listed 27 private schools in the parish of West Ham, of which 12 took boarders. A West Ham School Board report of 1871 revealed the existence of 121 private schools, with an average of 14 pupils. Most of these, the report noted, were “Dame schools” or nurseries, providing little education for very young children.

The majority disappeared with the establishment of the first Board Elementary schools, following the 1871 Education Act. By 1886, only 38 private schools survived in the area, but they were likely to have been more educationally focused than the glorified child-minder service provided by Dame schools.

This article tells the story of four such schools/colleges that were established in Claremont Road at this time, based on a sophisticated newspaper trawl of over 90 million pages from almost 2,500 publications (courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive). As we have previously noted (see here), unfortunately, we have not been able to access most of the records of the area’s principal local newspaper (The Stratford Express) for most of the period. What follows may therefore be an underestimate of educational provision on Claremont Road in the late nineteenth century.

Woodgrange Academy for Young Ladies – 48 Claremont

The earliest-established and longest-running of the institutions was the Woodgrange Academy for Young Ladies, which was located at 48 Claremont Road for most of its life.

Although the school claimed to have been founded in 1876 (see advert below), we can find no press trace of it before the late 1880s.

The 1881 census shows Mrs Elizabeth Folkard, a school mistress, as the head of house at number 48. She lived there with five children and a domestic servant. Ellen Elizabeth was the oldest of her children, described then as a 23-year-old, single, assistant school mistress. It is she who later emerged as the principal of the ”Academy.”

The school had various names. It was called the Woodgrange Academy for Young Ladies in the earliest accessed advert (1887)  By the early 1890s it was the Woodgrange Academy for Girls and by the late 1890s, the Woodgrange Academy – Select School for Girls.

The principal was Miss Folkard, just 29 years old at the time of the first advertisement. She offered “Thorough English Education, individual teaching, pianoforte practice one hour daily Prepared for Oxford and Cambridge Local Examinations.” These national examinations had existed since the early 1870s and were a form of national accreditation of standards achieved. They should not be confused with the university entrance exams which later became much more prevalent. 

Essex Times Oct 1887

Press articles soon after this suggest the school was thriving. In early January 1890 both the Leytonstone Express and the Essex Times reported on a significant event testifying to the size and success of the academy. 1,000 people attended an awards ceremony at Stratford Town Hall, as reported by the first extract. The second suggests the academy had 100 pupils. Quite where they were all accommodated is a mystery; perhaps the advert from 1893, below, gives a clue.

 

 

Essex Times 1 Jan 1890

 

The Essex Times article was particularly fulsome in its praise for Ellen Folkard and the appreciation the parents showed for her.

By the time of the 1891 census – a little over a year later - five people lived at number 48, which was still hosting the large academy, headed by the still single Ellen Elizabeth Folkard - described as “Principal of a Ladies School”. 

Rumours soon spread that Ellen Folkard intended giving up the school in 1892, probably because it was known that she was about to marry. She felt moved to write to the local press to deny these rumours:

 

West Ham and South Essex Mail 17 September 1892

Ellen married Thomas Charles Moore – a 34-year old clerk later that year. He had been a “visitor” to the house during the previous year’s census.

Lack of space at number 48 became an issue, and during the 1890s, consequently, the academy rented out additional accommodation, as shown below.

West Ham and South Essex Mail... - 29 October 1893

The now Mrs Moore mothered three children from 1893-1896. She and her husband moved their home to 90 Claremont Road while keeping the school open at 48.

She continued as principal and made virtue of her well-qualified staff, as she sought to recruit pupils, see below from February 1895

 

Essex Times Apr 1895

Motherhood and managing the academy must have become too burdensome. The advert below was the last we could find for the school.

 

Walthamstow Express - 25 February 1899

At the time of the 1901 census, a little more than two years later, number 48 had no occupants, and the Moore family was still living at number 90. Ellen Elizabeth had no occupation, and her husband, Thomas, was described as a Commercial Traveller (silk goods). The family was still there a decade later, with Ellen still without occupation, living with her husband (head of household), three children, and an adult sister. 

48 Claremont Road, today

 

There is no indication of what happened to the academy. There is no trace of it in subsequent press reports.

The Temple school – 84, Claremont Road

Three other houses on Claremont Road provided locations for different schools/colleges in the last two decades of the nineteenth century, and three more houses on the street offered other educational services.

“Temple School” moved to number 84 in 1886. As the advert below shows, the all-boys school moved there that year “in consequence of greatly increased and increasing numbers”. It had relocated to the Claremont address from 29 Hampton Road, where it seems to have been established the previous year.

Leytonstone Express... - 07 August 1886

Principal Henry Rice described himself as ”of Malborough College”. Adverts for the Hampton Road establishment said the school appealed to “Gentlemen’s sons” and offered education for “Commercial pursuits or learned professions”. “The house is well adapted for its purpose and the school room is large and airy”.

The reference to appealing to “Gentlemen’s sons”, perhaps, addresses the desire of middle-class people not to have their children in the same school class as the newly recruited working-class children attending Board schools.

Rice offered tuition in “Classics, French, Mathematics, Arithmetic, Geography, History, English Grammar and Analysis and Book-keeping.” In language that would not be appropriate today, he promised “particular attention to delicate or backward boys.” There was no school on Saturdays.

The school's advert after it had moved to Claremont Road states that “the Junior Department for little Boys, between the ages of 5 and 8, was under his wife’s “superintendence. “

Fees for “Day boys” under 10 were 21/- per quarter, or £4.4s a year (approx. £500 p.a. in today's terms), approx. £600 p.a. for boys between 10 and 12 and £660 p.a. for boys over 12. School lunches were provided at additional cost, and the establishment offered a facility for boarders.

The school seemed to be short-lived. There is no newspaper trace of it before 1886 or after 1887, although the 1891 census shows Rice aged 63 and described as a schoolmaster, living at the address with his 62-year-old wife, who had no stated occupation. They were the only two occupants of the house, so perhaps some form of schooling may have continued to be undertaken within it then.

A decade later, number 84 had seven occupants, including three schoolmistress step-daughters (Margaret Davies (aged 24), and her sisters Katherine (20) and Charlotte (19). There is no indication that any school/college or academy-related activities took place at the residence. 

Curiously, it became the home of yet another private school principal (Martha Ingold – see below)-  a decade later.

84 Claremont Road, today

 

Forest Gate Commercial and Civil Service College for Boys – 26 Claremont Road

The next, short-lived Claremont Road Educational establishment was “The Forest Gate Commercial and Civil Service College for Boys”, which operated from 26 Claremont Road for a few years in the early 1890s.

West Ham and South Essex Mail.. - 02 February 1895

Its principal/proprietor was almost as interesting as the institution. H(orace) Leonard Humphreys was born in Wimbledon in 1866 and by 1891 was an assistant schoolmaster in Guernsey. Within three years (December 1893), aged only 27, he had set up his college in Claremont Road, from his new home there.

He soon advertised for a “gentlemanly youth,”  “disciplinarian” student teacher support at £15 per year (£1,650 pa, today), and a “visiting French Master”—see below.

 

West Ham and South Essex Mail.. - 17 August 1895

West Ham and South Essex Mail.. - 18 April 1896

Humphreys was ambitious and in a hurry. By January 1896, he had moved the college to presumably larger premises on Woodgrange Road, next to the railway station. It was still an all-boys institution. Three years later, he announced the extension of its scope to include a girls’ department.

26 Claremont Road, today

 

Meanwhile, he moved his residence to 101 Windsor Road. He established the renamed “Forest Gate High Schools and Commercial and Civil Service College”, which he relocated to Earlham Grove as a mixed-sex institution. He once again relocated his home to the new college premises and described himself as a “school principal/proprietor.”

Humphreys switched career tracks fairly rapidly. In 1905, he became the first paid secretary of the recently established West Ham Distress Committee and registered himself as a “secretary” in the 1911 census. We have found no further newspaper reports or adverts relating to his former educational institution—whether it collapsed, merged or was sold on is not clear.

After, by his standards, a lengthy period as secretary of the Distress Committee, he changed his career path fairly dramatically, and as a 48-year-old, took up a more lucrative position with the Canadian Pacific Railways and emigrated.

Claremont Ladies School – 73 Claremont Road

The first newspaper trace of this school is dated December 1889, in the West Ham and South Essex Mail when the school seemed to be based at 69 Claremont Road – see below.

 

West Ham and Essex Mail 28 Dec 1889

By the time of the 1891 census, “the Misses Ingold”, described above as the principals, lived two doors down at 73 Claremont. The older, Martha Ingold, aged 34, was described as a schoolmistress. Their brother and sister-in-law were also living in the house, both Salvation Army captains. 

They would appear to have constructed an iron classroom in the back garden of the house, in order to accommodate all of their pupils, and an early version of planning enforcement officers stepped in to object, as indicated by this report from the Leytonstone Express and Independent.:

Leytonstone Express and Independent - 29 November 1890

They duly complied with the order to stop using the iron shed as a classroom, and put it up for sale:

West Ham and South Essex Mail 25 March 1893

 

Within a couple of years, the school was rebranded as Claremont Ladies School and Kindergarten and would appear to have additionally occupied 111 Hampton Road, to compensate for the lack of the iron classroom. The fees were from £2.40 per year (£270 at today’s prices).

 

West Ham and South Essex Mail 5 Jan 1895

A couple of years later, “The Misses Ingold” took larger display adverts for their school, as shown below. According to press reports, they also appeared to be prominent in local Temperance and Methodist church activities.

 

West Ham and South Essex Mail... - 14 August 1897

Presumably, the school was thriving, as within three years, it was advertising for a governess.

West Ham and South Essex Mail- 29 December 1900

At the census, the following year, the only two occupants of the dwelling were Martha and Catherine Ingold, aged 44 and 31 respectively. They were both single and described as private school mistresses.

73 Claremont Road, today

Adverts for the school seem to have dried up, but by the 1911 census, Martha Ingold had moved to 84 Claremont Road, where, aged 54, she was the sole occupant and described herself as “Principal—Ladies School and Head of a scholastic institution.” 

Number 84 had been the location of Henry Rice’s Temple School, two decades earlier – see above.

Newspaper notices from Augusts 1916 and 1917 suggested that she was at least offering music lessons from the house, which she had renamed Claremont College: 

Leytonstone Express and Independent - 18 August 1917

 

Martha was the sole occupant of number 84, aged 68 at the time of the 1921 census, when she was described as "Head of a scholastic institution (school) Principal."

We have been unable to find any other press references to Claremont College on Claremont Road, although the Victoria County History of Essex, referred to above, states that the college was still in existence in 1926.

Ester died aged 84, unmarried, in East Ham in 1938.

Other educational ventures on the road

The occupants of three other houses on Claremont Road also offered more limited educational services in the 1890s – see below. The street ceased to host educational provision from the turn of the century, if newspaper adverts are to record the story. There is no obvious reason why.

West Ham and South Essex Mail - 12 Mar 1892

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

West Ham and South Essex Mail - 23 Oct 1897

 

West Ham and South Essex Mail - 13 May 1899