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Earls Court
Earls Court photos
Displaying the first of 13 old photos of Earls Court. View all Earls Court photos
Earls Court maps
Historic maps of Earls Court and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Earls Court maps
Earls Court area books
Displaying 1 of 13 books about Earls Court and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Earls Court
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Greater London memories
As it Used to be
This shot of Kings Road at the corner of Sydney St. is where the Chelsea Palace Music Hall used to be. I particularly remember the old building when used by ITV to transmit shows like Spot The Tune in the mid to late fifties. I don't know when it was demolished to have this carbuncle built.
Custom Cars And Mrs. Beeton!
I lived in Chelsea when Mr. Beeton was still alive and running his bakery on the King's Road. I worked there for a while after leaving college and I feel very privileged to have done so. He dressed like a Victorian gentleman and hand-iced all the important cakes himself. The shop was a delight, unchanged for many years, and it was a tragedy when the business closed down. The old wooden racks, counters and floors were a step back in time, and the baked goods simply divine..... I've never tasted better bread, and the franzipan cakes were sublime. I served many famous faces, particularly on Saturdays, and I still have a couple of autographs written on the white paper bags we used to put the cakes into! I lived in Ixworth Place, in a lovely airy flat on the Sutton Estate and was very happy there. Further along towards Hyde Park Corner was St. George's Hospital - now the ridiculously expensive Lanesborough Hotel - and in 1964 I was lucky... Read more
Living in Chelsea After The War.
Hi all. We first moved to Chelsea in 1945 and took up residence at 58, Elm Park Gardens. I first attended Park Walk School then went on to the Cooks Ground School in Old Church Street (later changed to Kingsley School). I did a paper round every morning 7 days a week from Bloomfield's paper shop in Gloucester Road, Kensington, and helped the local milkman from Bunces Dairy in Old Church Street in Chelsea every Saturday morning, then I would queue up outside the Co-op in the Kings Road (World's End) with the children's pram, shopping list and ration book in hand, waiting my turn to move up and purchase the week's groceries with the money I earned from my paper round, which was a pound a week (giving my mother 15 shillings of it), a lot of money in those days. My mother had seven of us to feed in those days and every penny counted. During the summer holidays I would learn to swim in the Serpentine in Hyde... Read more
Visiting my Inlaws
In 1953 I used to visit my in-laws who lived at 19 Rumbold Road, Fulham. I remember when we walked along Kings Road towards the football ground there was an antique shop that had an unusual armchair in the window. It was carved in the form of an old lady. Her arms were the arms of the chair and the front legs were the front legs of the chair. So if someone sat on it they were sitting on her lap. My relatives' home was very poor, with only a tap coming out of the wall and an enamel bowl under on a stand to catch the water. The toilet (which was considered 'modern') was a wooden slat from wall to wall and the plaster was falling off the wall, showing daylight through. There were 'Baths' nearby where people had to visit for a bath as no one had bathrooms. A market nearby sold most beautiful fruit! Large juicy oranges etc. My husband's grandfather had a Bakery shop in Fulham Road during the... Read more
Underground -
When a was a small girl my parents used to take me to visit my Grandparents, in Kensington where they lived at No. 29 Kelso Place. As the underground trains pass deep under the houses there, I was often to be found in their sitting room laying on the floor with an ear pressed against the carpet listening for the deep rumbling noise! I also remember my parents taking me into one of the large Department stores in the High Street, Derry & Toms, to see Father Christmas. I still have the photo taken of myself with 'him' receiving a present.
Royal College of Music
My memories refer to 1955 through 1959.
I remember these years with affection - being taught 'cello by Harvey Philips, piano by Hilda Klein (excellent use of swearwords, I remember!!), composition by Herbert Howells (lovely man). I remember that ineffectual conductor Richard Austin and a visit to the College by Herbert von Karajan who was refused, by Ernest Bullock, his request to take a First Orchestra rehearsal as 'it might upset Mr Austin'! I well remember Harvey fuming when he learned of it.
I remember Sir Malcolm Sargent coming into the College on numerous occasions (after all, he lived just over the road in Albert Hall mansions!) and expecting to be treated like royalty.
I am not in touch with anyone who was at College with me so if anyone is out there ... make contact! Our twilight years prompt the need to share memories, perhaps.
My e mail address is : rayl@waitrose.com
Mother And 10 Siblings Born Here
My mother was one of 13, 2 died in infancy, all born at 28 Dartmoor Street. Have been to the house 3 times, but the street is no longer Dartmoor and I can't find out what the name is now! I took a picture I have of grandparents (Mary and John Howard) and my mother back in the 1920s and stood by their front fence and had my picture taken in the same spot. Awesome feeling!
