From Jeremy Bacon
I
have a steam car engine. The plate on it says Steamobile built 1962 by N.C.
Gregory. I have been told that he was
possibly Apprentice foreman/teacher at J.Stone & Co.(Deptford). Can you help at all?
From Pat O’Driscoll
In the May issue a letter from Paul
Harcombe mentions some 'old maps’ at the Land Registry showing a building
called the Magnetic Office close to the Rotunda, Woolwich. Unfortunately he
does not give the dates of the maps.,
In 1844 the newly created Admiralty Compass
Department acquired a house on Maryon Road,
Charlton for testing compasses for the Royal Navy. It had a large garden in which a wooden
observatory was built. The official address of the establishment was ‘The
Compass Observatory, Woolwich’. In 1869
as the Royal Dockyard at Woolwich was closed, the Compass Department moved to
Deptford Yard where they remained until 1917.
Could the Magnetic Office have any
connection with the time when the Compass Department was at Charlton. I hoped
to find an answer in ‘Steady as She Goes: A History of the Compass Department
of the Admiralty' by A.E.Fanning., published in 1986 but could find no
reference to the Magnetic Office in the area described by Mr. Harcombe. This is
not to say that there was no connection. I think that this is a good place in
which to begin further investigation.
From Nick Martin
I have just come across the above website
and your email address. I wonder if you
have any information on the following. I
am trying to trace details of my great great grandfathers company
"Martin & Co". It was
started by Robert Martin with his two sons Alfred and Albert. Albert left it to his son Ernest, in 1932.
They were manufacturers of Horse Hair clippers, later becoming hairdressers
clippers, from about 1875 until at least
1927. Robert Martin lived at No 1, The Village, Old Charlton, Woolwich from 1881 until 1906 and with his
sons, had several business addresses
over the years, including:
1861 - 4 Upper Market Street, Woolwich
1873 - Old Charlton, Kent
1881 - 15 Rectory Place, Woolwich, Kent
1890 - Charles St, Plumstead, Kent (from
Patents)
1891-1900 - 229 Burrage Road, Plumstead,
Kent
1893 - North Kent Works, Charles Street,
Plumstead, Kent (from Patents)
1910-1928 - 4 Nightingale Place, Woolwich
Common, Woolwich (business address? - printed on hair clipper sales pamphlet
and from patents)
1913 - Owned factory and adjacent land in
Woolwich Dockyard. Owned freehold property, address 9, Gildersome Street,
Woolwich (from Will)
From Bill Burns
My friend in Australia, Julian Holland,
Curator of Scientific Instruments at the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney,
is looking for material on S.H. Silver.
From P.Mumford
I was very interested to see from your website
(which I have only just discovered )that someone from English Heritage
recently gave a talk on the Mumford mill. My name is Peter J.G. Mumford and the
mill was owned by my family . I was taken around the mill just before my family
sold it in the early sixties when it was an empty shell having been stripped of
its contents by Rank Hovis when their lease ended . I have many old photographs of the mill and indeed some original plans (I
think) . I will have to dig. I lived in
London for many years and often used to pass the mill but I hav'nt seen it for
about fifteen years . I would be very interested in knowing what info you have
about the mill, and indeed if you could advise me of the current ownership. I
long to see inside it again and would very much like to show my sons what their
grand parents and great grandparents and great great grandparents achieved .
Does the mill now have a preservation on it.
From Bruce Peebles
I'm from Laverton in
Western Australia. I recently acquired a set of old rigging and sail plans for
the Cutty Sark but after many hours of
close examination am unable to verify them as correct or to date them in any
ways There appears to be no authors name or period on them. They do appear to
be of some age due to the discolouring of the paper and hand drawn. Are you
able to assist me in the dating and authentication of these plans.
From John Grieg
My cousin from the Hawaiian branch of the
family has come up with some interesting papers that might be relevant to the
oil milling trade at Griegs’ Wharf in Greenwich. Firstly, it is likely that
there could have been considerable changes around 1903 - my great-grandfather
was then in financial difficulties and might have had to make economies.
Secondly, the estate in Trinidad was
more diversified than just sugar cane, there was land under coconuts and
also, certainly in later years, some was used for cocoa cultivation. The
coconuts might account for the oil milling and you mentioned a fire in the
cocoa store at the wharf in 1895. Thirdly, there was a connection with a line
of steamers - this was probably the Trinidad Shipping and Trading Company
Limited. However, this may only have run
between Trinidad, New York and Glasgow.
In addition, I have been in touch with the
oil milling trade association and they have put me in contact with three people
with a knowledge of the history of the trade.
One of them has said that most of the linseed came in from the Baltic
rather than from other areas
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