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History of Stratford in 1882
Private Residents - Commercial
Stratford (or Stratford Langthorne), the ford of the street or Roman way from London to Colchester, a polling place for the Southern division of the county, is a suburb of London, and lies on the east side of the navigable river Lee and on the Great Eastern railway, whence the Colchester and the Cambridge, and the Blackwall and the North Woolwich, and the Woodford and the Tilbury and the Southend branch lines diverge: there are three stations, viz., Stratford Central station, Stratford Bridge, Maryland Point. It is 3¾ miles from Shoreditch, is a ward of the parish of West Ham, in the union of that name, and within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court and Metropolitan Police, in the Bow County court district, rural deanery of Barking, archdeaconry of Essex and diocese of St Albans, and Eastern Metropolitan postal district. It is united to Stratford le Bow, in Middlesex, by a bridge over the river Lee. Tramways are laid down from the Broadway to Aldgate.
Stratford is included in the Local Board District of West Ham.
St Johns is an ecclesiastical parish, formed in 1844 from the mother parish of West Ham; the church situated in the centre of town, where the main road from the east of London diverges towards Romford and Leytonstone: is an edifice in the Early English style, and was built in 1834 as a chapel of ease to the parish of West Ham, becoming a parich church about 1859; it was erected at a cost of £23,000; of which £18,000 was raised by subscription, and the remainder advanced on security of the rates; the church consists of chancel, nave, aisles and tower. The land was given by the late Lord Mornington, then Tylney Long Wellesley Pole, esq. of Wanstead, and T Humphreys esq. , lords of the manor. The register dates from the year 1859. The living is a vicarage so constituted in 1868, yearly value £310 and is in the gift of the vicar of West Ham, and held by Rev Raymond Percy Pelly, M A of Trinity College, Cambridge. The area is 301 acres; the population in 1871 was 10,834.
Christchurch is an ecclesiastical parish, formed in 1852 from the mother parish of West Ham; the church, in High Street, erected in 1851, is a stone building in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave and aisles, with tower and spire. The register dates from the year 1852. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £300, with residence, in the gift of trustees, and held by the Rev Charles William Servante. The area is 405 acres; the population in 1871 was 4,000.
Stratford New Town, formerly called Hudson’s Town, is a part of Stratford, adjoining the Angel lane railway station.
St Paul, Stratford New Town, was formed into an ecclesiastical parish from the mother parish of West Ham, in 1865. The church, situated in the Maryland Road, is a plain brick building, consisting of aspidal chancel, nave, aisles, apse, and a turret with 1 bell. There are sittings for 1,250 persons, half of which are free. The register dates from December 10th, 1864. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £300, in the gift of five trustees, and held by the Rev William Spencer. The area is 236 acres; the population in 1871 was 8,730.
There is a Presbyterian church in Leytonstone Road.
The Catholic church of St Francis of Assisi opened May 12, 1868: is a rectangular building in the Italian style, with a small tower over the porch containing 1 bell and was erected at a cost of £6,000; it will seat 400.
The Congregationalist, Baptists, Primitive Methodists, United Free Methodists and Wesleyans have chapels here.
The Town hall, a building in the Italian style, opened July 7th, 1869 by Sir Thomas Western, lord lieutenant of the county and is situated at the corner of West Ham lane and the Broadway, Stratford, with a frontage of 102 feet in the Broadway and 112 feet in West ham lane. The façade towards the Broadway has two principal storeys, from which in front of the entrance is projected a colonnade of rusticated work, rising into a spacious balcony supported on columns and terminating in a balustraded parapet, with groups of statuary; above this is a supplementary storey similarly treated : to the right of the main building is a well proportioned tower 100 feet in height, crowned by a coved domical roof, supporting a small turret and vane: the principal front is of stone, the portico and other portions being adorned with polished columns of red granite: this building is occupied by the officers of the local board, engineer and surveyor, nuisance inspector, school board, vestry clerk and of various local collectors and has on the ground floor a large hall 79 feet long, 30 feet wide and as many high; a fire brigade station is on the west side. Messrs Lewis Angell and John Giles were the architects.
On the river Lee are flour mills, chemical and print works, artificial manure factories, soap and candle works, vesta and match manufactories and distilleries. A market for vegetables, fruit, roots and straw, has been established, adjoining the Stratford Bridge Station, by the Great eastern railway company, who have constructed warehouses and sidings for the development of trade.
The abbey of Stratford Langthorne for Cistercian monks was founded here in 1134, the abbot of which was a lord of Parliament, and of which the income at the Dissolution was £573 15s 6d. : there are now no remains of the building, except perhaps the Abbey Mills. George Edwards, the naturalist, was born here in 1692 and was also buried here.
The population of the Stratford Ward in the West Ham Local Board District in 1871 was 23,286.
Official Establishments, Local Institutions etc
Post & Money Order & Telegraph Office, Savings Bank & Government Annuity & Insurance Office, branch of Eatern district, Martin Street.
Post & Money Order Offices & Savings Banks, 288 Romford Road – William Stock, receiver; 137 Romford Road - Alfred Tooks harding, receiver; Market Place, Leytonstone Road, New Town – Robert Canham, receiver; 64 High Street – John Osborne, receiver; 271 High Street – John Lines, receiver; Leyton Road, New Town – John Butler, receiver; 170 Maryland Road – Sidney Thomas Fisk & Co, receivers.
Pillar Letter Boxes, Broadway; Maryland Point; & at Stratford & Stratford Bridge railway stations
West Ham Local Board.
Offices, Town hall, Broadway
Clerk, Frederic Edward Hilleary MA, ML
Medical Officer, Thomas Drake
Engineer & Surveyor, Lewis Angell C E
Assistant Surveyor, I G Killey
Building Inspector, T H Raiman
Chief Sanitary Inspector, William Horn
Inspector of Nuisances, William Evans & William Allen
Collectors, Thomas Watton, Charles W Ashdown & J J Richardson
Insurance Agents: -
County Fire, G Gwinn, 7 The Grove; J Hendon; P T Little, 372 High Street; H Ough, 62 Romford Road
Guardian, R Frewer, Heath Lodge, Avenue Road, Forest Gate
Hand in Hand, F C Blackburn, Rokeby House
Phoenix Fire, G More, 267 Romford Road; A E Smith, 153 Romford Road; & T Willis, 158 The Grove
Provident Life, P T Little, 372 High Street; & H Ough, 62 Romford Road
Queen, G W Miller, Elm saide, Deanery Road
Sun fire, J Rivett, high Street
Public Establishments
Essex (1st) Artillery Volunteers (comprising 10 batteries), head quarters of the brigade & No’s 3 to 7 & 9 & 10 batteries, Romford Road, Samuel L Howard, lt-col; cap Augustus J Hill BMA adjutant; Edwin J scott, quarter master; John B Kennedy & Rae Corbet, surgeons; Sl Evans, acting surgeon; Rev Wm Spencer MA acting chaplain.
Inland revenue Office, The Grove, W C Lock, surveyor of taxes; James Bayford, supervisor of inland revenue
Magistrates Court Room, Great Eastern Road, open every day except Saturdays & Sundays; Magistrates meet every Wednesday; Clifton & Haynes, clerks
Metropolitan Police Station, West Ham lane
Town Hall, Broadway, Charles Iyan, keeper
West Ham Burial Board, Town Hall, Jeremiah Self, clerk;
West Ham Fire Brigade, Station, Broadway, Wm Jones, superintendent
Public Officers
Clerk to the Burial Board, Jeremiah Self, The Grove
Clerk to the West Ham Board of Governors & the Assessment Committee, Frederic Edward Hilleary MA ML, Town hall, Broadway
Collector of water Rate, Charles P Hurann, Disraeli Road
Inland Revenue Officer, Frederick Abbott, 12 Romford Road
Collector of Poor Rates, William Hopkins
Vestry clerk, George Alfred Sedgwick, Town Hall
Regristrar of Births & Deaths, Thomas James Vallance MD. Romford Road
Registrar of Marriages, Charles William Ashdown, 241 Romford Road
Relieving Officer, No 1 District, West ham union, J Carter, High Street
Superintentandant registrar, Frederic Hilleary Ma ML Town hall; deputy, John James Mulley, Florence Villa, water lane
Supervisor of Inland Revenue, Jas bayford, 154 The Grove
Surveyor of Taxes, Thomas Wallace Foyer
Places of Worship
St Johns Church, Broadway, Rev Raymond Percy Pelley MA vicar: 11 am & 6.30 pm; weekdays 8 am & 7.15 pm
Christ Church, High Street, Rev Charles William Servante, incumbent; 11 am & £ & 6.30 pm; thur 8 pm
St Pauls Church, Maryland Road, New Town, Rev William Spencer MA, vicar; 11 am & 3.30 & 6.30 pm; daily 8 pm; saints day 9 am
St Johns Mission chapel, Chant Square; 11 am & 8.30 pm; wed 7 pm
Catholic Church of St Francis of Assisi, Grove, Crescent Road, Rev Francis Verhagen; Rev Germain Verleyer; Rev Aidan McCarthey (guardian); Rev W James Egan; Rev Bede Wrigley & Rev Columban Ellison, priests; 8,9,10 & 11 am & 6.30 pm; daily 6.30, 7 & 8 am; tues, wed, thur & fri 8 pm
Presbyterian Church, Leytonstone Road, Maryland, Rev George Wilson, minister; 11 am & 6.30 pm; wed 7.30 pm
Baptist Chapel, Carpenters Road, Rev Geo head Towner; 11 am; 6.30 pm; wed 7.30 pm
Baptist Chapel, Romford Road (no appointment as yet)
Baptist Chapel, the Grove, Rev J H Banfield, minister; 11 am & 6.30 pm; mon & wed 7.30 pm
Congregational Church, Grove Crescent Road, Rev James Knaggs, minister; 11 am & 6.30 pm; thur 7 pm
Primitive Methodist Chapel, Chapel Street; 11 am & 6.30 pm; thur 7.30 pm
Primitive Methodist (Ebenezer) Chapel, Henniker Road, New Town; 11 am & 6.30 pm; wed 7.30 pm
Primitive Methodist Chapel, Major Road, New Town; 11 am & 6.30 pm; wed 7.30 pm
United Methodist Free Church, Bridge Road; ; 11 am & 6.30 pm; mon 7.30 pm
Wesleyan Chapel, The Grove ; 11 am & 6.30 pm; wed 7 pm & sat 8 pm
National Christian Church, Broadway, Rev Thomas Crow, minister; 11 am & 6.30 pm
Schools:-
West Ham School Board, offices, Town hall; clerk, Jeremiah Self: architect, J T Newman, senior assistant clerk, C W Carrell; superintendent of visitors, Henry Madden
Board Schools, Channelsea Road, D Webbe, master; Miss E Stevenson, mistress; Miss Alice Hovell, infants mistress – High Street, John William Smith, master; Miss Annie Ware, mistress; Miss Emily Silversides, infant mistress : Maryland Point, William Crouch, head master, George Baldock, henry Herbert, John S Ashplant, assistant masters: North Street, New Town; Miss Caroline parker, mistress
Abbey School, John E Dam, master; Miss Ellen Simonds, girls mistress; Miss Sophia Stevens, infants mistress
British (Stratford & West Ham), Bridge Road, J J Morrell, master; Mr Sidlery, Mr Edwicker, assistant masters
Grey Girls, Miss Mary Tebbs, mistress
Christ Church (National), High Street, Mrs Emily Moorman, mistress
National), Chart Square, Henry John Millard, master; George Housden, assistant master; Miss Gabrilla Stilly, mistress; Mrs Marian L Brasuer, infants mistress
St Pauls national, Maryland Road ( boys & girls) A J Clarkson, master; J Coates, J Cross & T Potter, assistant masters; Mrs Eliza ?ay, mistress; Mrs Mary Goodwin, assistant mistress, Miss Emma Rayson, infants mistress
Catholic (mixed), Grove Crescent Road, James Gillis Cockburn, master
Free Ragged, Chapel Street, Alfred Jennings, mistress; Miss Edith Baker, infants mistress
Great Eastern Railway (boys), Maryland Street, Charles Buckingham, master;
Newspapers
Essex Times & Romford Telegraph, 20 Broadway, Wilson & Whitworth, proprietors (published Wednesday & Saturday)
Stratford Express, 20 Broadway, Wilson & Whitworth, proprietors & publishers (published on Saturdays)
Stratford & South Essex Advertiser, 272 High Street, O T Little, proprietor, published friday
Stratford Times, 20 Broadway, Wilson & Whitworth, proprietors (published on Wednesdays)
Railway Stations:-
Central, Station street, Angel Lane, Henry Clark Francis, station master
Maryland, Samuel Woods, station master
Stratford Bridge, Bridge Road, Isaac John Pryke, station master
Conveyance to London:-
Omnibuses from the Swan Hotel, Broadway, to the ‘Dolphin’, Oxford Street every half an hour, from 8 am to 10 pm
Tramway cars from Broadway to Aldgate every five minutes from 7.30 am to 11 pm; from Broadway to Leytonstone every fifteen minutes from 8 am to 10 pm; tramway omnibuses from ‘Princess Alice’, Romford Road, every half hour from 8.15 am to 10 pm
Carriers to London : - William Bushman & R Sholl pass through West Ham, daily. Carriers from Ilford, Romford, Barking, Plaistow, Woodford & Leytonstone pass through daily.