Becoming rapidly forgotten

This weekend marks the centenary of the outbreak of World War 1, and events of remembrance are being held, nationwide.  These usually are occasions heavily imprinted with the message Lest we forget.

About twenty varied war memorials were erected, after World War 1, in the Forest Gate area.  As far as is possible to tell, about half of them have subsequently been lost or destroyed, as the following makes clear. The passage of time and changing religious affiliations account for most of the local losses.

West Ham borough suffered  2,035 civilian and military deaths during the World War 1, the exact number of the Forest Gate death toll is not known.
 
The local memorials were originally located in:

Local churches/synagogue

All Saints Church, Romford/Hampton Road junction. The church, has hosted two tablets, set on either side of main entrance. They list the 428 members of the congregation who served in WW1. There is also, apparently, a plaque to the right of the alter, near the small chapel, which reads: To the greater glory of God, the chancel screen as erected by the congregation to the undying memory of the men of this church who gave their lives for king and country. There were 58 names on the screen  (whereabouts unknown), including  2nd Lt George Drewry. He was born in 1894 at 58 Claremont Road, and won his VC for his actions in the Battle of Gallipoli, in 1915.  He was killed, accidentally, three years later. The church also displayed a 2' x 2' tablet, in honour of Drewry.

Emmanuel Church, Romford Road.There is a bronze plaque, unveiled in 1922 (see photo) with the names of around 49 local servicemen/parishioners  killed during World War1.  The inscription reads: To the glory of God and in everlasting memory of the men from Emmanuel Parish who laid down their lives for king and country in the Great War 1914 -1918. It was dedicated on 5 Jan 1922 by the Bishop of Barking. The church also houses  a wooden board, unveiled in 1956, with the names of 36 local service personnel and civilians killed in World War 11.

Plaque to fallen World War 1 parishioners,
Emmanuel church, Romford Road

The nearby St Peter's Upton Cross church was demolished in 1972, and its war memorials - one for each of the 2 world wars were moved to its new "parent" church, Emmanuel. Although the Second World War plaque remains in its new home, the First World War monument - with 15 names on it -seems to have become "lost"
.
St Edmunds Church, Katharine Road. At one time hosted a screen and a plaque. The plaque reads: This screen is dedicated in memory of the men in this congregation who gave their lives 1914 - 1918. 66 names are listed.  The screen may now be lost, as the plaque is mounted on an outside wall of the church.

St James Church , Forest Lane. There was a memorial screen with the 148 names of the parishioners who perished in the First World War, and a chapel, in the church,  with window dedicated to the fallen. These  were unveiled on 13 November 1921 by Lt Gen Sir Francis Lloyd.  The church was demolished in 1964 (see photo)and it appears that nothing from the memorial and window was saved.


Former St James' church, Forest Lane.
Former memorials assumed lost/destroyed

St Marks, Lorne Road hosts a parishioners' plaque, which was originally erected on the previous church (see photo) and moved when that was demolished, in 1985. The inscription reads In memory of those fallen in the war 1914 -1918 from this parish, and lists 44 names. The church also features a  memorial window to the First World War fallen. It is in three sections; one depicting Christ crucified with two soldiers at his feet; to the left, a depiction of Mary;  and to the right, one of  St George. It was designed by Herbert Hendrie and unveiled by the Rev James Elphick in 1920.  It, too, was moved to the new church when the old one was demolished.
 

The previous St Mark's church, Lorne Road.
Its memorials now housed in post 1985 church

St Saviours Church, Macdonald Road. The church was demolished in 1974. It had a roll of honour for the 134 parishioners who were lost in World War 1, with the inscription: To the glory of God and in undying memory of the following me from this church who died in the service of their country in the great war 1914 - 1918. Their names live for evermore Unfortunately not, however, as the memorial plaque has been subsequently lost. There was an associated Book of Remembrance in the church, listing the names.  Its whereabouts is also unknown, as are a similar plaque and Remembrance Book to the World War 11 dead.


St Saviour's Church, Macdonald Road, under
the hammer. Memorials missing, assumed destroyed

West Ham Synagogue, Earlham Grove. A stone memorial (pictured) featured the 13 names of the congregation who perished in World War 1.  The inscription read: 1914 - 1919, West Ham Synagogue. For God King and Country (13 names). Surely England deserves that we, her Jewish children, should gladly live and die for her. Erected to the memory of members/sons of members and past scholars of the school who made the supreme sacrifice in the great war (see photo).


World War 1 memorial, assumed
destroyed, from former West
Ham Synagogue, Earlham Grove

A similar plaque with the World War 11 fallen was also erected. The Imperial War Museum believe that these memorials were destroyed when the synagogue was demolished, in 2005.

Woodgrange Baptist Church, Romford Road. The church holds a memorial tablet, which reads: Lest we forget.  To the memory of the following men connected with this church who laid down their lives in the great war 1914 - 1918. (27 names) Death is swallowed up in victory The tablet was placed in storage during redevelopment and part of the top and base were chipped.

The Woodgrange Methodist Church on Woodgrange Road hosted a plaque of the 19 members of its congregation who were killed in action during the First World War, but this was, ironically, destroyed when the church, itself,  was hit by an incendiary bomb on 3 December 1940 (see photo).


Woodgrange Methodist church,
Woodgrange Road, after bombing
on 3 December 1940.
WW1 memorial destroyed in WW11

Local cemeteries

Immaculatedly tended, and standard,
Commonwealth War Commission memorials
in Manor Park, City of London, West Ham
and Woodgrange Park Cemeteries

In addition to the meticulously maintained, official Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials in Woodgrange Park (187 remembered), Manor Park (168 remembered), West Ham and the City of London Cemeteries (see photos), there are a number of individual headstones to some of the World War 1 fallen in each of these cemeteries maintained to varying standards - universally poorly, in the case of the Woodgrange Park Cemetery. There are other WW1-related memorials of note within local cemeteries.



Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorial,
Woodgrange Park cemetery, Romford Road



Commonwealth War Graves Commision
memorial, Manor Park Cemetery

Firstly, two Victoria Cross holders. Perhaps the better known is that of John (Jack) Cornwell (1900 - 1916), who was awarded his medal, posthumously for his bravery as a 16-year old at the Battle of Jutland.  His memorial is in Manor Park Cemetery, (see photo).


Jack Cornwell memorial,
Manor Park cemetery

Second, Lt George Drewry  There is a monument to him in the City of London Cemetery (see photo). He is also remembered in what was his local parish church, All Saints, Romford Road, (see above).



The Drewry headstone,
City of London Cemetery

Claxton Family. There is a memorial to this family in West Ham Cemetery, though none of those remembered on it is buried there.  It does, however, throw into focus the devastating effect that the First World war had on many families.  The inscription speaks for itself: In loving memory of Pte Benjamin Claxton, 13th Rifle Brigade, wounded in France August 21st Died Bangour military hospital Sept 10th 1918 aged 19. Pte Samuel Henry Claxton 2nd HAC, killed at Beaumont Hamel Nov 30th 1916 aged 26, interred at Beaucourt. Pte William Claxton 2/10th Middlesex.  Reported missing, then killed in Palestine March 12th 1918 aged 27, interred at Bonn, Cologne.  Sons of WH and RE Claxton "God is Love" Also Rev WH Claxton who passed on to a higher life on Nov 3rd 1935, aged 72 years. Cremated in Bristol.

Other local memorials

The Imperial War Museum's inventory lists three other memorials in the Forest Gate area, two of which seem to have been lost, or at least obscured from public view.  They are:

London County Westminster and Parrs Bank - later, Nat West Branch Forest Gate, 300 Romford Road. A bronze wall plaque was erected in the branch in 1920, as the bank did in all its branches who had a member of staff killed in the conflict.  It read:  In memory of the following member of staff of this branch who gave his life in the great war 1914 - 18 (name) There was only one name (unfortunately no longer known on it.  The plaque was installed c 1920. The building is no longer a bank, or with public access.

Osborne Road According to the Imperial War Museum (IWM), Osborne Road hosted a shrine on side of an unidentified building. It consisted of a three part arch, round headed, supported on pillars. It was an example of street memorials financed and erected by the former borough of West Ham, in memory of the victims of World War 1, and located throughout the borough. According to the IWM repeated whitewashings have obliterated the inscriptions. So much so, that the significance of the tablet may have been lost over time, and been subsequently removed or destroyed.  There is no visible presence of it remaining.  We would be delighted to hear from anyone with photographs of it, or knowledge of its fate and whereabouts.

Old Bonaventurians A 4' x 3' metal enamel plaque sits in St Antony's church, it is not dedicated to all the church's fallen parishioners, however. It  commemorates the boys and masters of St Bonaventures school, situated next door to St Antony's church. Its inscription reads: To the glory of God and in memory of old Bonaventurians who gave their lives in the wars of 1914 - 1918 and 1939 - 1945

Addendum

Royal Mail Sorting Office, Earlham Grove. Thanks to Carol, in the comments, below, for drawing our attention to this memorial, and to Paul Holloway for pointing us to the Royal Mail Memorial Database.

Below is a photo of this memorial, at 199 Earlham Grove.  It is wall mounted in the sorting hall, and not accessible to the public. It reads: In memory of our gallant comrades who fell in the Great War, and then lists the names.  There is an additional small plaque, attached to the bottom of it, dedicated to the memory of those who died in WW11.



Royal Mail Sorting Office memorial,
199 Earlham Grove

No sooner had this post been uploaded on the blog and a new war memorial was unveilled in Forest Gate - on 4 August 2014, the centenary of the British involvement in WW1, remembering:

The glorious dead 'K'Division, the Great War 1914. The following police officers gave their lives (23 names are listed) Here lies sacred soil of the Somme and Paschendaele 4th August 2014.

Newly unveilled war memorial,
outside Forest Gate police station,
August 2014

Footnote. We are indebted to the Imperial War Museum for much of the detail contained in this blog.  The relevant section of their website can be found at: www.ukniwm.org. Any corrections to the text, or up-to-date photos or sightings of any memorials mention, will be gratefully received.  They will be added to this post, and where relevant, forwarded to the Imperial War Museum, for their definitive records index and database.

Forest Gate and WW1 - on the 110th anniversary of its outbreak

Over the years, we have published various articles on how Forest Gate was impacted by the First World War. On the 110^th anniversary of its outbreak, this post summarises them, with links to the greater details provided in each.

Troops on the battle fronts

Elliott Taylor and Barney Alston published Up The Hammers to mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War 1. It is available from Newham Bookshops and other reliable book retailers. It is the story of the West Ham Battalion (known as the Hammers Brigade) from its establishment in Forest Gate in December 1914 until its demise and amalgamation with other detachments following severe losses in 1918.

Recruitment poster for Hammers Battalion

We published two articles based on it, featuring the lives of Forest Gate soldiers: here and here. The first covered the period until the first day of the Battle of the Somme (1 July 1916), and the second covered the period until the battalion's disbandment in January 1918.

A significant local figure in the battalion was William Walter Busby of Sherrard Road, a local Congregationalist and scout leader, who was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry during the Battle of the Somme and who was killed on the fateful night of 26/27  November that year, when over 170 members of the Battalion were killed at the Battle of Ancre.

Forest Gate's William Walter Busby MC

Other Forest Gate soldiers whose roles were recognised by Taylor and Alston and whose stories we relate included: Bernard Page, Leonard and Alan Holthusen, Gilbert Simpson, Arthur Davies, Alfred Sekles, Private EM Wilding, Private Robert Lee, Hubert Ayres, Joseph Sait, Arnold Hone, Cpl Frederick Hunt, Sgt Harold Joseph Morrison, and 2/Lt George Gemmell.

Their stories and their experiences are summarised in the blog articles but well told in Taylor and Alston’s book.

Cover of Taylor and Alston's book

The home front

We have been fortunate to have access to almost a century of the Godwin Road school logbook, including how the war impacted the school, its pupils, and the wider community. We published details of the impact here, in an article and series of diary entries that featured:

·         Deaths of former Godwin pupils during the conflict;

·         Assistance Godwin pupils gave to the war effort;

·         How war-induced fuel and food shortages impacted Forest Gate;

·         Impact of air raids on the district;

·         Attempts to provide "business as usual" in the school; and

·         The impact of the Spanish flu epidemic of 1919 on Godwin.

West Ham borough suffered  2,035 civilian and military deaths during World War 1; the exact number of the Forest Gate death toll is not known.

1915 post Lusitania sinking anti-German riots

Contemporary photo of anti-German East End riots

After the onset of war, the biggest upsurge in anti-German feeling locally came nine months after the outbreak of hostilities; and followed the sinking of the Lusitania on 7 May 1915. There was a significant amount of rioting and looting of German premises in both Forest Gate and Manor Park by Forest Gate residents, reported by the Stratford Express.

Stratford Express reports the riots

Extensive extracts from the paper identified locations of the rioting and looting; these included:

·         341 Green Street (now the library)

What is now Green St library attacked

·         Manor Park Broadway

What is now Manor Park library attacked

·         Station Road, Manor Park

·         Romford Road

·         Green Street and

·         Sebert Road

Bonheim's the furriers, Sebert Road attacked

We were also able to identify over a dozen local looters and rioters, successfully prosecuted in Stratford Magistrates Court.

The anti-German riots article can be accessed here.

Conscientious Objectors

We accessed several primary sources, secondary reference sites, and books to find considerable details of 48 Forest Gate people who claimed Conscientious Objector (COs) status during WWI and provided details of them here. On a pro-rata basis, given the total number of COs registered nationally, Forest Gate could have expected to have been home to only eight. It is not entirely clear why the local number would appear to have been so disproportionately high.

We found ten local Quaker COs (John Edwin Davies, Alexander Stewart Fryer, Frank George Hobart, Ernest George Mountford, Reginald William Mountford, George Leonard Pratt, William Ronald Read, Frank Augustus Root, Robert Sandy, and George Alfred Weller). 

Twenty other local COs quoted religious objections as grounds for seeking exemption from military service. Some were Jehovah's Witnesses, but others were members of the Church of England (CofE) and its fundamentally pacifist arm, the International Bible Students' Association (IBSA).

Two of the 48 claimed political objections to fighting (Edmund Howarth and Frederick Thompson, the former described as an "Anarchist/Communist/ Athiest" and the latter as a member of the Independent Labour Party). 

There were four local Absolutists who refused to enlist or undertake any work that could be seen as supporting the war effort. They had a totally torrid time. They were Howarth, Thompson (above), Frank Augustus Root, and George Arthur Weller.

Twenty-one of the Forest Gate 48 served prison sentences because of their CO status - some in several prisons. Fifteen - almost a third of local COs spent time in Wormwood Scrubs, four in Winchester, two in Dartmoor, and one each in Maidstone, Pentonville, Newhaven, and Wakefield, while four spent time in unspecified prisons.

The fate of several Forest Gate WW1 war memorials

About twenty varied war memorials were erected after World War 1 in the Forest Gate area.  As far as is possible to tell, about half of them have subsequently been lost or destroyed. The article chronicling their fate can be accessed here.

About half of the memorials we featured were in churches and synagogues; some have been subsequently lost or destroyed as a result of Second World War bomb damage, while others were not saved when churches and a synagogue were demolished.

War memorial: All Saints church

Forest Gate's major cemeteries have Commonwealth War Grave memorials and about 300 individual graves and plots with headstones.

CWGC memorial Woodgrange Park cemetery

There are a small number of other employment or school-specific memorials to the WW1 fallen, including at St Bonaventure school, the Royal Mail Sorting Office, and one recently installed outside Forest Gate police station.

War memorial outside Forest Gate police station, erected during centenary of war

In all war conflicts, some deeply tragic personal stories illustrate the human cost and suffering of the wider story. This blog has featured two very different case studies, both resulting in devastation and death caused by the “War to end all wars.” One was a love affair that ended in death on a battlefield, and the second was a horrific murder case undoubtedly induced by post-traumatic stress disorder.

The diaries of two local lovers whose affair was extinguished on the battlefields

A decade ago, local resident Paul Holloway self-published an account of a romance between his Forest Gate grandmother, May Larby, and a friend she met while travelling to London to college—fellow Forest Gater Jack Richardson. The book was called There Are No Flowers Here. We published a story summary in two articles, here and here.

May Larby

The romance between the couple, who lived within half a mile of each other, only lasted two years, but May lovingly remembered it for the rest of her life through the precious letters they exchanged during its brief duration.

May’s daughter from her later marriage, Elizabeth, kept these letters, and Paul transcribed and published them on her death, in remembrance of the two women and Jack.

The first episode of the series tells how the couple met and how their friendship blossomed until Jack, having enlisted in the City of London Fusiliers, was sent to the front line in France in early 1915.

Jack Richardson

The second episode of the blog records Jack’s experiences in the trenches until his final message to May:

“While the weather lasts, I think on the whole, I would rather be in the trenches than in billets. I scarcely ever sleep comfortably in town because I expect to be called up with an alarm every night I hear the gunfire; here the guns boom all night and one doesn’t notice it.

"My beloved, these days of sunshine make me feel only a matter of weeks or a month or so before I see you again - I dream of it at night."

Sadly, it was not to be. On Sunday, 25 April 1915, Jack was wounded, having been reconnoitering in front of his trench at night with his sergeant. He died of these wounds on Friday, 7 May 1915, aged 22.

Jack's memorial scroll

May later married Richard Williams and had four children. She became a successful mathematician, was awarded a CBE for her contribution to maths in education, and died in 1986, aged 91. But the memory of that brief affair lingered with her till the end - 70 years on; individual testimony to the lasting grief that the 'war to end all wars' brought to so many.

The 1919 Forest Gate Murders – a Post-Traumatic Distress Syndrome case study

Some of the most horrific local civilian deaths resulting from World War 1 came six months after the cessation of hostilities when four members of the Cornish family were murdered in their home, Stockley Road in April 1919.

The murdered Cornish family

Henry Perry, aka Beckett, was executed by hanging at Pentonville jail on 10 July 1919 for the murders - and so became the last person judicially executed for  Forest Gate-related killings.

Case reported

The story of the killings and subsequent trial is a horrific one, covered on the blog here. Perry, a war veteran, pleaded insanity, but this was dismissed. PTSD was not a well-understood condition at the end of World War 1. “Shell shock” was probably as close an understanding of the condition that existed then, but it was not accepted as a defence.

Henry Perry aka Beckett, as a soldier

In a more enlightened time today, it would be widely accepted that the four Cornish family deaths, along with that of the perpetrator Perry, would be accepted as deaths consequential to the traumas and suffering Perry experienced on the battlefields of Europe.

Heritage Week in Forest Gate

Newham Council is holding its third Heritage Week from 8 - 18 November this year. There are literally dozens of events taking place across the borough and almost all are completely free of charge.

There are over a dozen in Forest Gate and Manor Park alone, and this article focuses exclusively on them. Some events are at specific times on particular days - they are shown in chronological order, here. Other exhibitions, displays etc last for the whole of the festival, and are listed at the end. For details of the borough-wide programme, see foot of the article.

Thursday 8 November

WE Wright: The Photographer and His Work

W.E. Wright was a late Victorian and Edwardian photographer of note. He had two studios in Forest Gate, and six others across East London and Essex.

This is the launch event of the Week. There will be a small reception, from 6pm, followed by  an illustrated talk by Wright's great-grand-daughter and the editor of this blog, on the man and his work.

The exhibition, which will run for the duration of the Week has been curated by Wright's great-granddaughter  this blog and a number of local historians. It extends over three separate galleries and features some of his extensive work, including many of his local photographs. There are also details of his family and extensive business life.  There will be a 10 minute running slide show, on a continuous loop, showing the man and his work, running until the end of November.

Have your photograph taken as a Victorian, on the night of the launch! 

Attendees will be able to have a period photograph taken. Bring along century old family photos and discuss them with the exhibition producers.

A great opportunity to compare and contrast locations in Forest Gate today and a century ago, and to see how fashions, costumes and cars have changed over the period!

Thursday 8 November, 6-8pm.  Forest Gate Library

Saturday 10 November

 Forest Gate Heritage Walk - North To South: from Forest Gate Station to West Ham Park

An illustrated walk revealing many of Forest Gate’s hidden gems, including the site of THE Forest Gate, two sets of almshouses, The Upper Cut Club, Forest Gate’s two oldest churches, the home of Britain’s most important trade banner manufacturer, Newham’s oldest secular building, London’s oldest senior football ground, the site of the home of the founder of antiseptic medicine, Lord Joseph Lister, sites of bomb damage.

THE Forest Gate

Forest Gate's earliest purpose-
built church - still standing!

Pawnbrokers' almshouses

Bombed out Methodist church

Upper Cut Club

Jimi plays the Upper Cut

   

Appalling working conditions in Forest
Gate Steam Laundry at turn of 20th C

Conducted tour of Grade11
listed St Antony's church

The home of Britain's most
significant trade union banner maker

Old Spotted Dog - Newham's
oldest secular building

Dame Anna Neagle's
childhood home

Birthplace of the founder of modern surgery

Home of Dr Fothergill and site
 of Britain's one-time second
 largest botanical garden

Ham House - stood where West
 Ham Park now is, and its
remains cans still be seen

Samuel Gurney, "Mr Forest Gate",
whose lands covered most of
what is now Forest Gate, and
who lived in what is now
West Ham Park

Gurney's sister, Elizabeth Fry, who
 he put up around the corner, when
 her family fell on hard times.

The walk will end at West Ham Park, home of "Mr Forest Gate", Samuel Gurney, the one-time second best botanical collection in Britain and home of prison reformer, Elizabeth Fry. 

Please note that this is a two-hour pavement walk. There will be a short site visit to Grade 11 listed St Antony's church, where one of the priests will give a conducted tour.

Saturday 10, 11am-1pm Meet outside the Forest Tavern (173 Forest Lane, Forest Gate, E7 9BB) just before 11am.

Newham Heritage Week Launch

Come down to Forest Gate Library and immerse yourself in heritage activities and find out what will be happening during the Heritage Week.

There will be a wealth of information and varied activities available for children and adults, including a children’s banner making workshop with the Museum of London, plus interactive activities and workshops with Salmagundi films, your chance to purchase rare heritage titles from Newham Bookshop and much, much more.

Saturday 10, 12 - 4pm Forest Gate Library

Museum of London, Children’s Banner Making Workshop

Join the Museum of London and the Museum of Docklands in this suffragette themed banner-making workshop, taking inspiration from the Museum of London’s extensive militant suffragette collection and learning about the East London Suffragettes.

Saturday 10, 12-4pm Forest Gate Library

Salmagundi Films: Digital Archiving Workshops

Salmagundi Films will be in residence at Forest Gate Library to facilitate lively and informative digital archiving workshops, using iPads. 

‘inHERitance’ workshop

An opportunity for Newham residents to celebrate the influential women who have shaped their lives. Women who are well known, friends, family members or community figures. Bring along photographs, an object or ‘curiosity’ of historical or personal significance which celebrates influential women and share memories.

Work with Salmagundi Films to preserve their stories and share with the community.

Saturday 10, 11.30am-1.30pm

WW1 Memorabilia workshop

An opportunity to share and record treasured war memorabilia and their stories. Bring along photographs, medals, an object or ‘curiosity’ of historical or personal significance and work with Salmagundi Films to preserve the story and share with the community.

Saturday 10, 2-4pm Open to all.

Spaces are limited, to book contact Forest Gate Library

Monday 12 November

From Suffragettes and Beyond

Discover the history of women and the vote.  Be inspired by the fascinating story of how women won the vote, from the earliest petitions and protests to the direct action of the suffragettes and beyond. Find out when women sat in the Lords and what they did when they got there. The event will be led by Charlotte Dobson, who is a Senior Education and Engagement Officer for Parliament.

She focuses on building relationships with local community groups, in order to deliver sessions which encourage people to become more actively engaged with Parliament. You are welcome to turn up on the day but places are limited so you may wish to book by visiting Forest Gate or calling 020 3373 0856

 12.30-2pm Forest Gate Library

Talk: Manor Park Seen Through Old Postcards

A rising locality – the life and times of Manor Park at the turn of the last century. Local historians Peter Williams and Mark Gorman will tell the story of Manor Park 100 years ago, illustrated by local postcard images.

Earl of Essex, in better days
- soon after opening in 1902

You are welcome to turn up on the day, though spaces are limited so please guarantee your space by contacting Manor Park Library either in person or on 020 3373 0858

 6.30 - 8.30pm Manor Park Library

Tuesday 13 November

Talk: Forest Gate During World War 1

An illustrated one hour talk on Forest Gate and the First World War by the editor of this blog. It will examine life on the home front - particularly food shortages and Zepplin raids - through the detailed diaries of Godwin school, local soldiers and their fates (particularly in the Hammers' Battalion), the treatment of local conscientious objectors. There will be half a dozen brief biopics of local people and "their ward, including a touching story of a romance killed in its tracks by the war. 

The causes and objects of anti-German riots during the war, the Armistice, and the fate of the local war memorials erected to remember the dead will all be covered in this extensively illustrated talk.

Local anti-German riots in April 1915

The Hammers Battalion story
 - unit for many local men

Zepplin raids over Forest Gate

Some of the many thousands of
Forest Gate men who signed up

Troops mustering, on Wanstead Flats

The fate of local Conscientious Objectors

George Drewery VC -
from Claremont Road, one 
of six local case studies 
covered in the talk

Another. William Busby MC, local
congregationalist and scout leader

And another - Jack Richardson - 
whose local romance was 
ended by the war

And one of many local 
memorials to the fallen

Places are limited, you can book by visiting Forest Gate Library or calling 020 3373 0856

 7-8.30pm Forest Gate Library

Wednesday 14 November

The Princess and the Suffragette

 Visit from popular children’s author Holly Webb to Forest Gate Library to discuss her book The Princess and the Suffragette with Newham school children in years 5 and 6. Newham Bookshop will be on site to sell signed copies of Holly Webb books (from £6).

Schools are asked to get in touch with Forest Gate Library if they are interested in their year 5 and 6 classes being booked in. Tel: 020 3373 0856 Email: CN.forestgate@newham.gov.uk

Session times: 9.30-10.30am, 10.45-11.45am and 1.15-2.15.pm Forest Gate Library

Thursday 15 November

Film: Archibald Cameron Corbett: The man and his houses

A one hour professionally produced film about the remarkable story of the man behind the Woodgrange Estate and Forest Gate’s iconic clock and water trough, followed by a Q& A with the film’s producer and a  historian of the estate.

Corbett, a Scot, was a housing innovator, a public health campaigner, very progressive Liberal M.P and generous philanthropist. 

A fascinating insight into the man behind the Woodgrange estate and much of Ilford, as well as impressive estates in south London.

Corbett - the man

Above and below, Corbett's public legacy
 in Forest Gate: the clock and drinking
 trough. The only local surviving reference 
to the  man behind the 700-house
 Woodgrange Estate

Guardian journalist, Lucy Mangan - the
film's narrator and former
 Corbett house resident

Contact Manor Park Library to book your place either in person or on 020 3373 0858

 6.30-8pm Manor Park Library

Friday 16 November

Newham Female Voices

A performance organised by Newham Music, this powerhouse group of female singers have formed a ‘pop-up choir’ for Newham Heritage Week 2018. The choir is made up of singers from several Newham schools and they will be performing a variety of songs exploring the intersection of Newham’s musical history and the 100th anniversary of women receiving the right to vote in the UK.

 1pm Forest Gate Library

Saturday 17 November

Forest Gate Heritage Walk - West to East

An illustrated walk that embraces: a site of championship boxing contests, the house of the last person convicted of witchcraft in Britain, the location of the Rolling Stones conviction for indecent behaviour, site of Forest Gate's Anglo-Saxon treasure find. 

There will be a site visit to the former Odeon Cinema (hosted by the Minhaj mosque). We will come across, serious WW2 bomb damage, with pictures and stories, the location of the first Rock Against Racism gig, home of Mr Universe Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the childhood home of Small Faces’ Ronnie Lane.

"The Killer" plays West Ham baths

Witchcraft in
Forest Gate

Criminal convictions
for The Stones

Forest Gate's
Anglo-Saxon treasure

Site visit to the former Odeon cinema,
now Mosque, with access to the balcony
and views over Forest Gate

The bombed out Queen's Cinema

Muscle Mansion - one-time
home of Arnold Swartzenegger

Teenage home of former
Small Face, Ronnie Lane

Site of dreadful Victorian slums

Potato Hall - whose owners employed
 Irish farm labour, seeking
refuge from "the Hunger"

The walk will end at the site of a mid 19th century slum, condemned by Charles Dicken's brother, Alfred, Potato Hall and Irish Row, where some of those fleeing the famine found homes on local farms. 

Please note that this is a two-hour pavement walk. The site visit  will require climbing of stairs, from which a great views of the balcony of the former cinema (usually blocked off) and Forest Gate itself can be seen. Participants can sit this out.

 11am-1pm Meet just before 11am outside Atherton Leisure Centre, 189 Romford Rd, E15 4JF

Children’s Suffragette Sash and Community Rosette Making Workshop

Eastside Community Heritage will facilitate suffragette sash and rosette making workshops that will pay homage to this historic movement and help a younger generation learn about their vital role in political history. There will also be a selection of sound bites to aid discussion and learning from oral histories so children will find the topic truly engaging and inspiring.

Spaces are limited, so booking is advised but not essential, please contact the library.

 1-2.30pm Manor Park Library

Throughout the Festival

Exhibition: W.E. Wright: The Man and his Work

W.E. Wright was a late Victorian and Edwardian photographer of note. He had two studios in Forest Gate, and six others across East London and Essex. This exhibition - curated by his great-granddaughter, this blog and a number of local historians - features some of his extensive work, including many of his local photographs plus details of his family and business life.

There will be a slide show, on a continuous loop, detailing his life, his business and some of his fascinating photos, in addition to displays of his photographs in three separate galleries. The exhibition provides an excellent look back at Forest Gate 100 years ago - buildings, fashion and social history.

The exhibition is in Forest Gate library and runs until 30 November

Heritage Display Case:  Forest Gate Playing music in the 1960s

Objects relating to music of the era.

Thursday 8 - Sunday 18 - Forest Gate Library

Addresses and opening hours of venues

Forest Gate library (The Gate)

6-8 Woodgrange Road, E7 0QH

Open: Monday-Friday: 8am-8pm Saturday: 10.30am-8pm Sunday: Closed

Tel: 020 3373 0856, e.mail: CN.Forestgate@newham.gov.uk

 Manor Park library 685-693 Romford Road, E12 5AD

Open: Monday-Saturday: 10am-8pm Saturday: 10.30am-8pm Sunday: Closed.

Tel: 020 3373 0858, e.mail: CN.Manorpark@newham.gov.uk

Full Heritage Week programme 
Can be downloaded here