WORTHIES AND SOCIAL LIFE.
Notable
persons who held Walthamstow manors are mentioned elsewhere. (fn. 1) Many prominent City merchants
were associated with Walthamstow. George Monoux
(d. 1544) of Moons, draper and lord mayor, was one
of the parish's greatest benefactors. (fn. 2) William
Coward (1648–1738), merchant planter, lived in
Marsh Street, where he built the first nonconformist
chapel. (fn. 3) The West Ham distiller Peter Lefevre
(d. 1751) lived at Winns. (fn. 4) Edward Forster the elder
(1730–1812), governor of the Royal Exchange, lived
at Cleveland House, where his three sons, Thomas
(1761–1825), botanist, Benjamin (1764–1829), scientist and naturalist, and Edward the younger (1765–1849), botanist and philanthropist, were brought up.
His grandson, Thomas I. M. Forster (1789–1860),
naturalist and astronomer, also grew up in Walthamstow. (fn. 5) Sir Robert Wigram (1744–1830), chairman of
the East India Docks, lived at Walthamstow House.
Among his sons were (Sir) James (1793–1866), vicechancellor of England, and Joseph (1798–1867),
bishop of Rochester. (fn. 6) Sir William Mallinson (1854–1936), timber-merchant and philanthropist, lived at
the Limes. (fn. 7)
Among eminent Walthamstow churchmen and
divines were its vicars, Thomas Cartwright (1634–89), later bishop of Chester, and the antiquary,
Edmund Chishull (1671–1733). (fn. 8) Nonconformist
divines who ministered in Walthamstow included
Samuel Slater (d. 1704), Hugh Farmer (1714–87),
the biblical critic John Simpson (1746–1812), and
Eliezer Cogan (1762–1855). (fn. 9)
Public servants who had country houses in Walthamstow included Sir Martin Frobisher (1535 ?–94), the navigator, (fn. 10) Anthony Todd (d. 1798),
secretary to the Post Office, (fn. 11) and Sir William Batten
(d. 1667), surveyor of the Navy, and Admiral Sir
William Penn (1621–70), commissioner of the Navy,
who both often entertained Pepys there, probably in
Marsh Street. (fn. 12)
Men distinguished in the professions and the arts
who were connected with the parish included the
poet George Gascoigne (1525 ?–77), whose house in
Walthamstow was probably Thorpe Hall. (fn. 13) John
Guillim (1565–1621), writer on heraldry, is said to
have lived in Walthamstow, (fn. 14) and the composer
Martin Peerson (1590–1651 ?) owned property
there. (fn. 15) The physician and writer Daniel Whistler
(1619–84) was born in Walthamstow. (fn. 16) The blind
musician and composer John Stanley (1714–86)
lived in Salter's Buildings at Forest Rise. (fn. 17) The
philosophical writer Thomas Solly (1816–75) and the
physician Sir Richard Powell (1842–1925) were both
born in Walthamstow. (fn. 18) William Morris (1834–96)
was born in Clay Street at Elm House, and lived at
Water House from 1848 to 1856. (fn. 19) The newspaper
publisher Edward Lloyd (1815–90) bought Water
House in 1857. (fn. 20)
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) attended Dr. Cogan's
academy at Essex Hall, (fn. 21) as did Samuel Sharpe
(1799–1881), the Egyptologist and translator of the
Bible, Russell Gurney (1804–78), Recorder of
London, and the surgeon Samuel Solly (1805–71). (fn. 22)
Julian Marshall (1836–1903), art collector and
author, attended Forest school (fn. 23) and Admiral Sir
Cyprian Bridge (1839–1924), naval author, attended
Dr. Greig's school at Walthamstow House. (fn. 24)
An entertainment hall was built in Orford Road
in 1866 by the Walthamstow Public Hall Co. Ltd. (fn. 25)
After it was sold to the local board in 1876 as a
town hall (fn. 26) it was still let for social activities. The
Victoria hall, Hoe Street, was built in 1887 by
J. F. H. Read, founder in 1867 of the Walthamstow
musical society, and John Cropley, a local builder. (fn. 27)
In 1896 it became a theatre, renamed King's theatre
from 1901 to 1907 when, as Victoria hall, it became
the town's first cinema. It was pulled down in 1930
to build the Granada cinema. The twin-towered
Palace theatre of varieties was built in High Street
in 1903. (fn. 28) It closed in 1954 and was demolished in
1960. The first purpose-built cinema, the Princes
Pavilion, opened in 1910 in High Street; by 1914
there were nine cinemas. Six remained in 1951, (fn. 29)
but only two in 1965, the Granada and the Regal,
Highams Park; two others were still open as bingo
halls. (fn. 30) Walthamstow greyhound stadium, Chingford
Road, opened in 1931. (fn. 31)
The district council's High Street baths (1900)
were adaptable as a public hall in winter. (fn. 32) The
public library (1909), High Street, included a lecture
hall, used for that purpose until 1920, when the hall
became the reference library. (fn. 33) Lloyd Park Pavilion,
built by the borough in 1937 and modernized in
1965, includes a small theatre. The Assembly hall,
Forest Road, was opened by the borough council
in 1943. (fn. 34) In 1947 the first of an annual series
of borough musical festivals was organized. (fn. 35)
Municipal encouragement of the arts includes maintenance of the William Morris gallery (1950) at
Water House, where the Morris collection, the
Brangwyn Gift of pictures and sculptures, and the
Mackmurdo Gift of furniture and textiles, are
housed. (fn. 36)
An association for self-improvement which was
founded in 1840 to form a circulating library and
provide lectures (fn. 37) had 1,000 books in 1855 and 80
members in 1865; it seems to have ceased by 1870. (fn. 38)
Walthamstow working men's club and institute,
originally called St. James's club, was founded in
1862 in Marsh Street, moving in 1872 to its present
(1971) site, nos. 82 and 84 High Street, where a hall
was built and in 1890 additional club premises with
two shops for letting in front. (fn. 39) The literary institute
founded in 1882 is described elsewhere. (fn. 40) A co-operative society formed before 1898 was taken over
in that year by the Stratford Co-operative and
Industrial society. (fn. 41) The Walthamstow antiquarian
society, founded in 1914, had published 48 monographs by 1970, besides other publications. (fn. 42)
A Walthamstow cricket club existed in 1816. (fn. 43)
The Walthamstow cricket and lawn tennis club,
founded in 1862 as an activity of the Walthamstow
volunteer rifle corps (formed in 1860), was virtually
independent of the corps by 1884; it still existed in
1971. (fn. 44) In 1907 there were about 20 cricket clubs. (fn. 45)
The Rectory Manor tennis and bowling club, which
was founded in 1897, was an enlargement of the
Walthamstow lawn tennis club which existed in
1895. The club ceased in 1971. (fn. 46)
Walthamstow Rugby football club, formed c.
1865, was among the leading London clubs in the
late 19th century. Clubs formed later included the
Walthamstow Alberts and the Saracens. (fn. 47) Walthamstow Avenue Association football club, founded in
1901 by former pupils of Pretoria Avenue school
as Avenue United and renamed in 1903, won the
F.A. Amateur Cup in 1952 and 1961. (fn. 48)