23 Hampton Road – one-time host to a factory and a synagogue

Regular contributor, Peter Williams, examines some of the fascinating history of 23 Hampton Road, on the Woodgrange estate, as part of his irregular series examining the backgrounds of some of Forest Gate’s more unusual houses.

23 Hampton Road, today

Architects working on the house prior to its sale in 2018, described it thus: “The unusually large rear wings were originally used as a surgical belt factory and later also used as a garment factory”. (here).

As we have previously reported, construction of the Woodgrange estate began in the 1870s. 23 Hampton Road is an odd shape compared with the rest of the street, as the old map below shows, indicating where the factory would have been located. 

23 Hampton - fifth house from the left 

Modern Ordnance Survey mapping shows the strange shape more clearly still:

23 Hampton - fifth house from left

Estate agent’s photographs accompanying the 2018 sale of the property show the scale of the extended wings.

Zoopla

The Woodgrange estate was tightly managed through leases by the original developers, the Corbett family, so it is surprising that this property looks so different.

The very orderly residential Hampton Road in the early 1900s. On the far right of the photos is the estate office, from which the Corbett family kept a close eye to ensure that high residential standards were maintained, which makes it strange that an industrial premises was permitted at number 23.

The first purchaser of the house, according to its lease was George Wheeler, "an anatomical belt maker". The 1881 census showed him to be the 49-year old head of household, employing “6 girls and one boy”, probably in the enlarged wings of the house.

A clue as to why the house had extended wings is to be found in the original 1880 lease for the property. Wheeler's address, as purchaser of number 23, was given as 18 Hampton Road, suggesting that as 23 was being constructed, he commissioned a bespoke design of the house, to accommodate his factory, from his then residence, almost opposite.

A decade later, Wheeler was still the head of household and now described as a widower. The only other occupants of the house were two domestic servants. Wheeler’s occupation was now described as a “Surgical instrument maker,” consistent with the description provided by the architects in 2018.

Evidence of the property accommodating the small factory can be found in a 1894 Kelly's Directory (below), describing it as "Leopold House":

Kelly's Directory 1894

"Leopold House", Hampton Road,  was the address given in an advert seeking  sewing machinists for the factory there:

London Daily Chronicle 20 Dec 1883

By the time of the 1901 census, the Dawes family were living in the property: Elijah Seale Dawes, his wife, Emily, two daughters, and a domestic servant. Elijah was born in Stoke Newington in 1858 and was an ironmonger. There is no evidence of a factory on the premises at this time. The Dawes family were still there a decade later. By 1921, Elijah was retired and living in Wanstead.

The house was inhabited by Philip Wolfers and his family in 1921. 62-year-old Philip was born in Spitalfields and was described as retired in the census returns. He had been a teacher and a Rabbi in South Wales, later serving the Walthamstow and Leyton Synagogue (see press extract). His 61-year-old wife, Louisa, was born in Amsterdam, and their 29-year-old son, Abraham, a self-employed shopkeeper, born in South Africa. Lionel was the youngest member of the family, having been born in South Wales, presumably when Philip was a Rabbi there, in 1900.

Wathamstow and Leyton Guardian 17 Mar 1915

Although described as retired, Philip appears to have used 23 Hampton as a small synagogue, probably located within the enlarged wings, during his time there, as indicated by an announcement of its closure as a synagogue in 1931.

The London Gazette 22 Sept 1931

Within a year of the house’s closure as a synagogue, it was occupied, at least in part, by wholesale poultry salesmen, who formed part of what was emerging as a House in Multiple Occupation, a familiar fate of many houses on the Woodgrange estate during the inter-war period.

By the time of the 1939 National Register, twelve people lived at number 23: four members of the Toomey family, retired naval pensioner George Raffin and his wife, George Kingsworth, Henry Bone and four members of the afore-mentioned Barnett family.

The head of the Barnett family was Nathan, a 63-year-old Russian Jew who emigrated to England in 1898. He had run-ins with the police and was imprisoned in 1943 for breaking World War 2 food and rationing restrictions. 

Chelmsford Chronicle 29 Jan 1943

Nathan's son, Louis, also had problems with the police. He was part of a conspiracy involving false medical evidence presented during World War 2, to avoid being called up for military service, for which he received a two-year prison sentence.

South Essex Mail 5 July 1940

Woodgrange estate – WW2 bomb damage

World War 2 reshaped the Woodgrange estate like no other period in its 150 year history. Records of bomb damage in London indicate that the area was hit on ten separate nights during the Blitz (1940-41) and on three occasions during the V1 and V2 bombing raids in 1944 (Fn 1).

The bombs transformed the estate's appearance, particularly at its western end, as a casual glance today will show.

For all of the bombing raids and the scale of the destruction, surprisingly few civilian deaths were recorded, according to West Ham's WW2 register.

 Bomb damage to Woodgrange estate during the Blitz

1940 

Sept 8 – Hampton; 9 – Osborne; 23 – Hampton; 28– Windsor; 

Oct 4  – Hampton; 

Dec 3 – Claremont

 

1941 

Jan 21 – Osborne; 

Mar 8/9 – 3 x Claremont; 19 – Hampton; 

Apr 17 – Woodgrange Methodist church and Claremont and Osborne.

 

Woodgrange estate bomb hits during V1 and V2 raids 

1944 

Jan 30 – Claremont; 

Feb 24 – Windsor; 

Jul 5 – Osborne.

Deaths were recorded on only two of the nights of bombing during the Blitz and on none during the V1 and V2 raids towards the end of the war.

The estate’s first civilian war deaths occurred on the night of 4 October 1940, when Hilda Humphries and Joyce Humphreys, both aged 23, were killed at 73 Hampton Road. We know little more about the sisters, as they did not appear to be living at the address on the night of the National Register, recorded just a year earlier in September 1939.

73 Hampton Road today - constructed after 4 October 1940 bomb

The bomb clearly destroyed the building, as the house there today is a replacement and of post-war construction. It stands out in contrast to the area's late Victorian dwellings.

The most devastating night of bombing for the estate was on 17 April the following year, when bombs destroyed the Methodist church on Woodgrange Road and hit the adjacent Claremont and Osborne Roads. A considerable bomb site was created, the uses to which it was put are considered below. It was the last night of the Blitz to hit the estate.

Woodgrange Methodist church after bomb damage of 17 April 1941

Five of the estate’s civilians were killed on the night of 17 April. Other people with home addresses outside of the estate may well have been killed, too.

The Register of Civilian Deaths records that Rosetta and Ruth Cohen of 3 Claremont Road, Lucy and William Bruce, next door at number 5, and Myer Cash, opposite at number 6, were all killed that night.

West Ham's Book of Civilian Dead - courtesy of Newham Archives

The 1939 National Register records that number 3 was occupied by six members of the Cohen family, all in the rag trade. Sisters Rose (aged 33) and Ruth (aged 17) were both single and a hand embroiderer and dress machinist, respectively.

Neither the Bruce family nor Myer Cash were shown to be living at their 1941 address at 5 and 6 Claremont on the night of the Register.

We have no details of which houses were bombed on each street during the bombing raids, but some of the hits were clearly serious, as indicated by some post war infill buildings on both Windsor and Claremont Roads.

Deaths were recorded on only two of the nights of bombing during the Blitz and on none during the V1 and V2 raids towards the end of the war.

A block of post WW2 bomb damage replacement flats on Claremont Road

Temporary Fire station on Claremont Road

Following the bombs of 17 April, a considerable bomb site was created. Originally, a plan was made to replace the damage with allotments, as part of the Dig for Victory campaign. This was later revised, and a temporary fire station was erected in preparation for any future raids on the immediate area (Fn 2). It was constructed between the bombed-out Methodist church and number 23 Claremont, which survives, as the first on Claremont Road.

Diagram showing layout and dimensions of temporary fire station on Claremont Road

The diagram above shows a fire engine room, a dormitory, an office/store, and a watch room, where phone calls about incidents were received and firefighters were ready to respond.

The buildings were temporary and likely constructed of corrugated iron.

Location of temporary fire station today - between the post war flats and 23 Claremont

The devastation created by the bombs at the western end of Claremont, Windsor and Osborne roads remained for almost a decade and a half, as a chilling reminder of the Blitz, as the photographs below, dated March 1955, show. 

The height of the trees that grew after the bombing, as shown in many of the photographs below, indicates just how long the site had lain derelict.

1955 Across Claremont, to Windsor

1955 From opposite 21 Windsor, looking west

1955 Looking across Claremont to Osborne

1955 Looking across Claremont

1955 Looking along Windsor

1955 Looking along Windsor

1955 Looking along Woodgrange, Osborne to the left

1955 Looking from junction of Osborne and Woodgrange

1955 Windsor Road - then bomb damage

The photographs were taken by West Ham’s planners as they prepared for post-war reconstruction of the area. The photographs are in Newham’s archives, for whom we are most grateful for the right to reproduce them.

Meanwhile, West Ham’s architects were working on plans to build on the site. The diagram below is their 1954 redevelopment plan.

West Ham architects' plans for bomb site along Woodgrange Road

Not all buildings are completed. What is now Donald Hunter House (Fn 3), originally Telephone House, was built in 1958.

Donald Hunter House, constructed 1958 on site of bomb damaged Windsor/Woodgrange Roads

The Methodist church was similarly at work to replace its bombed-out premises.

Modern Methodist church on Woodgrange Road, while still functioning

 

Footnotes

1.    1.  Bomb Census survey 1940-1945 - The National Archives

2.   2. E7 Now & Then: Claremont Road temporary WW2 fire station

3.   3. E7 Now & Then: Woodgrange Road developments