Notes on the Industrial Estate Formerly Located to the Rear of 52 Crooms Hill, Greenwich

 David Whittaker 

Draft Version 24th March 2024 

Notes on the Industrial Estate Formerly Located to the Rear of 52 Crooms Hill, Greenwich 

NB: the postal address of this location changed over the period in question, but for most of its existence, it was a variation of 52, 52a and 52b, accessible through May’s Buildings Mews, before being redesignated as 84/86 King George Street, following the creation of a new access point. 

In chronological order:

1895 – a Nursery (horticultural) was located to the rear of the south side of King George Street and the rear of Crooms Hill, according to the Ordnance Survey map surveyed in 1893. This is the first recorded (presumed) commercial use at this location. 

Extract from Ordnance Survey map published in 1895. The site of the future New Gutta Percha factory is occupied by a Nursery (horticultural). 

1900 and 1901 – Alfred Cooper’s laundry (also referred to as a ‘Sanitary Laundry’) was operating on the site: address given as 52A Crooms Hill. 

1902 – The New Gutta Percha Company Limited was formed, with offices at New Broad Street in the City of London, and manufacturing facilities at Crooms Hill, Greenwich. 

1902 – a trade directory lists Alfred Cooper, laundry, at 52A and the Blackheath and Greenwich District Electric Light Company Ltd (substation) (BGDELC) at the same address. The company had started supplying power to the area in 1900. 

1903 – a trade directory lists the New Gutta Percha Company Limited at 52A, and the BGDELC. 

1904 – a trade directory adds the name of the New Gutta Percha Company’s ‘resident engineer’, a Charles Hall Brown. The 1911 Census records Brown as employed as ‘factory manager electric cable manufacturers’, although does not specify his employer. 

1908 – a trade directory replaces the BGDELC with the South Metropolitan Electric Light and Power Company Limited (mains stores) (SMELPC). The BGDELC had taken over another local supplier to form the latter in 1904. 1910 – the Lloyd George Domesday Survey mapped the New Gutta Percha Company Limited site, included a sketch plan of the buildings and noted that they comprised: an engine room, two winding rooms, boiler house, melting room, store, office, and chimney. Also on the site was a ‘cottage’. Total floorspace: 18,000 ft2 . There is no mention of the electricity company in the Survey.

Map showing the works of the New Gutta Percha Company, Crooms Hill (reference 815), taken from the Lloyd George Domesday Survey of 1910.

1911 – the Census records a Charles Higham, ‘stationary engineman’, employed by a cable manufacturer, presumably living in the ‘cottage’ on site. Higham appears in the 1921 Census, living on King George Street, but still working for the company, as an ‘engine driver’. 

1916 – a trade directory adds Charles Higham to the list at 52A. Another records Charles Hall Brown as ‘manager’. The SMELPC is listed at 52B. 

 1916 – the London Fire Brigade reported that the works, described as ‘rubber importers’ had been damaged in an airship ‘raid’, at about 1.40 am on 25th August, although the Brigade was not called. Damage caused by an incendiary bomb comprised: ‘ A building of two floors about 20 x 20 ft (used as offices and dwellings) and contents slightly damaged by fire, heat and water, roof and window glass by breakage’. The airship responsible was Zeppelin L31, on the second of a two-day campaign over London. 

Zeppelin L31 which bombed Greenwich, including the New Gutta Percha factory, on 25th August 1916. 

1919 – a trade directory lists the New Gutta Percha Company and the SMELPC. 

 1921 – The 1921 Census was the first (and to date the only published) census to require that employees identify the name of their place of work. It lists at least 19 employees of the New Gutta Percha Company Limited: - 

manager - 

assistant manager - 

electric cable estimating clerk - 

wire winder (x2) - 

cable worker (x2) - 

clerk (x2) - 

engineer’s clerk - 

stranderman - 

electric cable maker - 

electric cable sample maker - 

machine hand - 

general labourer (x2) - 

braider - 

engine driver - 

cable hand - 

assistant cable coverer. 

The workforce comprised a mixture of male and female workers. The 1921 Census also lists at least six employees of the South Metropolitan Light and Power Company at 52B Crooms Hill: - 

general labourer - 

labourer electric supply - 

pointers mate - 

electric motor tester and fixer - 

mains engineers clerk - 

electric light trimmer. 1921 – 

a trade directory lists an F.J. Clarke as manager of the NGPCL and the address of the company as 52A – 60 Crooms Hill. 

1922 – ‘Who’s Who in Engineering’ describes NGPCL as ‘manufacturing electric wires and cables’. 

1924 – a trade directory lists the NGPCL at 52A and 54 and the SMLPC. 1925 – a trade directory lists the address as 52 - 58 Crooms Hill. This is the last directory entry for the NGPCL. 

 1925 – the NGPCL was recorded as the subject of a winding up order. 1926 – a trade directory lists the Greenwich Cable Works Limited (GCWL) at 52A Crooms Hill. 

1927 – a newspaper reports that the GCWL has teams competing in local football and cricket leagues. 

1927 – a newspaper reports that the GCWL had been successful in supplying cable to Ilford Council. 

1927/28 – a trade directory lists the GCWL and the SMLPC. 

1928 - a newspaper reports that the GCWL had been successful in supplying cable to Hammersmith Council. 

1929 – a newspaper notice indicated that the site comprised two factories, which, together with a number of adjacent residential properties, were being offered for sale following the move of the GCWL to ‘extensive premises in Croydon’. Total factory floorspace comprised 36,000 ft2 .

Extract from the South London Observer, 13th March 

1929 – sale of the former New Gutta Percha factory and adjacent buildings. 

1929/30 and 1931/32 – trade directories list the ‘Crest Manufacturing Company (E. H. Rayner) electrical engineers’, at 50. No further information can be found about this company. 

1933 and 1934/35 – trade directories list only the ‘South Metropolitan Electric Light and Power Co Ltd (stores)’ on the site, at 52B. 

1935/36 – a trade directory lists ‘Dufrais and Company Limited, onion peelers’, on the site. No further information can be found about this factory, but the company was one of a number of vinegar manufacturers that later merged with British Vinegars Limited. The name Dufrais survives as a food brand. 

1936 – a trade directory lists the South Metropolitan Electric Light and Power Co Ltd (stores) at 52B. No other company is listed on the site. 

1937/38, 1939, 1940 1942 and 1943 – trade directories list the South Metropolitan Electric Light and Power Co Ltd; and ‘English Plaster Products Ltd, plaster board manufacturers’, at 52 Crooms Hill, Mays Buildings. No further information can be found about this company. 

1944, 1945, 1947 and 1948 – trade directories list only the South Metropolitan Electric Light and Power Co Ltd, at 52A. 1949 - 1959 – no commercial uses are listed in trade directories at the site. 

1950 – an Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1950) shows ‘Electric Cable Works’, likely to be an error, at 52 Crooms Hill. By this date, 84 and 86 King George Street had been demolished, apparently to create a new access to the works. 

 Extract from an Ordnance Survey map surveyed in 1950, showing ‘Electric Cable Works’ at 52 Crooms Hill (likely to be an error). 

1960 – 1965 – trade directories list the ‘London Electricity Board (depot)’ (LEB) at 52B. The Board was created in 1948 as a part of the nationalisation of the electricity industry. 

 1966 – a trade Directory lists the address of the LEB depot as having changed to 84/86 King George Street, following the creation of a new access to the building. 

 1967, 1968 and 1969 – trade directories list the LEB depot at 86/88 King George Street. 

1970 – a trade directory lists the LEB depot at 86/88 King George Street. This is the last mention of commercial premises at 86/88 King George Street. 

1998 – a planning application for housing development in King George Street, including the former factory site, is granted permission by Greenwich Council. Building subsequently proceeds