Theatre – House Historian

Theatrical links and war heroes in Bedford Park, Chiswick

admin London January 17, 2017actress, Bedford Park, Bedford Park Residents Association, Chiswick, Edward Saker, Ellen Terry, First World War, Frank Harrision Saker, Gallipoli, Henry Irving, London, Marie O'Beirne, Mrs Saker, Oscar Wilde, Richard Saker, Theatre, William Gladstone

I have been a little quiet on my blog in the last few months as the second half of 2016 was packed with exciting projects, which made blogging my adventures a little tricky! However, one of the projects in west London has inspired this first of my blog posts for 2017!

Late last year, I was working with the Bedford Park Residents Association on a new house history project, engaging with the residents and local people in promoting the social history of this unique enclave in west London. For more details, you can read the announcement here – BPRA Launch House History Initiative. To launch the project, I spoke at an event in Chiswick talking about the fascinating historic stories you can uncover by researching the history of houses. This included a fabulous story about the residents of a house in Bath Road that I discovered in preparing for my talk at the event.

1891 census - Bath Road — 1891 census – Marie Saker

In looking through the 1891 census for Bath Road, which runs along the boundary of Bedford Park, I found the widowed, Marie Saker, recorded as an actress. She was living in the house with her grandmother and four children, along with a governess and two live-in servants. Her eldest son, George, was a student at the Royal Academy of Music, while her middle son, only thirteen years old, was recorded as an ‘actor’. I admit, I had not heard of Marie Saker, but I was intrigued by the reference to her being an actress and began to delve a bit further.

Mrs Saker (left) in The Masqueraders, 1894 [image courtesy of https://footlightnotes.wordpress.com/tag/irene-vanbrugh/]

It turns out, Marie Saker was a renowned actress of the time and before her marriage she performed as Marie O’Burne (also appeared as O’Beirne and O’Brien). In 1874, she married a theatre manager, Edward Saker, after they met at Alexandra Theatre in Liverpool, where he was manager, and she was performing. Edward Saker had many connections to celebrated names of the time, including being a close friend of Sir Henry Irving. However, Edward died after the couple had been married less than 10 years, in 1883.

In an unusual move (or perhaps more likely forced due to financial need) Marie Saker continued the management of the Alexandra Theatre in the footsteps of her husband. She continued to manage the theatre for several years, certainly an unusual position for a woman in those times, but by 1888 she had moved on and by 1891 we find her living in Bedford Park in Chiswick.

I also found a fabulous piece of theatrical history previously owned by Mrs Edward Saker, which has survived and is now held in The National Archives [Ref: 920 MD 411]. It is the former autograph book of Marie Saker. It is inscribed with a note “This book belonged to Mrs. Saker of Liverpool and came into my possession in February 1895”; signed by Edgar Pemberton [playwright and theatrical historian]. The book is a ‘Who’s Who’ of the late 19th century theatre and includes notes and signatures from many famous names, including Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt, Ellen Terry, Henry Irving, and former Prime Minister, William Gladstone.

In delving further into the story of Marie Saker and her children, I found a very sad turn of events with two of her sons dying during the First World War.

Marie and Edward’s youngest son, Frank, had first joined the military in 1901 so was one of the first to be fighting at the outbreak of the war. He was promoted to Captain in September 1914, but died the following month, on 30 October, on Flanders Fields.

Edward and Marie’s second son, Richard (who had been recorded as an actor in 1891) also joined the military early and served with distinction during the Boer War in South Africa and was awarded the Queen’s Medal with five clasps. At the outbreak of the First World War he was attached to the Australian Infantry as Major and took part in the landings at Gallipoli in 1915. He was wounded several times on the landing, but continued to fight until he was fatally wounded and died on 20 April 1915.

This is just one part of the life of one house and just goes to show the extraordinary stories that can be discovered by researching the history of a house!

Note: if you live in Chiswick and want to know more about the Bedford Park House History Initiative, get in touch with the BPRA – here.

You can also hear some more about the project by watching some recent films made by The Chiswick Calendar – Discover the history of your house with Melanie Backe-Hansen

Shakespeare and The Clink: The history of Horseshoe Wharf

admin London September 25, 2015Bankside, Bishop of Winchester, Clink Street, London, The Clink, The Globe, Theatre, warehouse, wharf 4 Comments

Today, Bankside is a popular destination for a night out or a saunter on the weekend, with Borough Market around the corner, as well as the many cafes, pubs, and restaurants. It is also often used in television and film, including Dr Who and Bridget Jones’s Diary! However, Bankside is also one of the most historic parts of London and has been through an extraordinary transformation over the centuries, from fields, to a Tudor and Stuart red-light district and theatre land, through to a busy Victorian industrial enclave. It may be a cliché, but Bankside really is ‘jam-packed’ with history!

Section of 'Long View of London from Bankside' by Wenceslaus Hollar, 1647 — Section of ‘Long View of London from Bankside’ by Wenceslaus Hollar, 1647

The lower part of this drawing by Wenceslaus Hollar shows Bankside at the time of the Civil War, with the Bishop’s house and gardens to the bottom left and the theatres and entertainment venues behind, along with the old London Bridge to the right.

A short time ago, while I was with Chestertons estate agents, I was asked to research one of the more recent apartment buildings that had been built on the site of an old warehouse called Horseshoe Wharf. It is situated across from the remains of the Bishop of Winchester’s 14th century palace, and despite the young age of the current building, the site has a history going back to the 12th century.

Remains of the Bishop of Winchester's Palace — Remains of the Bishop of Winchester’s Palace

Bankside has been occupied from as far back as the Romans in the 1st century, but an archaeological study of the site of Horseshoe Wharf revealed it was occupied from the 12th century – at exactly the same time that the Bishop of Winchester was establishing his home here by the banks of the Thames.

The Bishop of Winchester was the lord of the manor, separated from The City across the river, which meant he had his own court, and even his own prison – the infamous ‘Clink’. It formerly sat to the west of Stoney Street and eventually gave its name to the area, so it became known as the manor of the Clink. The Clink was one of the worst prisons in London, where prisoners were left to starve or even literally left to rot or drown in the rising tide. The name of ‘The Clink’ is believed to have originated from the word for keyhole, but it is also commonly thought to originate from the ‘clinking’ of keys. Whatever the origins, the name is now synonymous with the name for prison.

A closer look at the drawing by Wenceslaus Hollar also reveals Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and a Beere Bayting [sic] ring. During the 16th and 17th century, this part of London was notorious for its entertainments, with taverns, theatres, and brothels. Being outside the jurisdiction of the City of London, many came to the south side of the river, which became known as the ‘playground of the City of London’. It was also the original red-light district when Soho was just fields.

A revetment was first built along The Thames at Bankside in the 14th century, but it was in the late 16th and early 17th century that a stone wall was built (which corresponds with the time that a great many people were coming across the river to visit the taverns and theatres). The new wall also allowed for sturdier construction of houses and tenements, which were built around the time of Hollar’s drawing in the 1640s. The name of Clink Street also first appeared at this time. However, within 150 years most of these early houses were demolished and a new brick river wall constructed, which led the way for the tall warehouses and wharf buildings we recognise today.

It was at this time, in the late 18th and 19th centuries that industry took over the riverside. The first building named Horseshoe Wharf was built in 1837 and by 1838 was occupied by lighterman, John Raymond. Lightermen operated the small flat-bottomed boats known as ‘lighters’ that transported goods from the ships in The Thames to the quays. John Raymond & Son were recorded at Horseshoe Wharf for almost 40 years until the 1870s.

Section of map of London by John Rocque, 1746

From the 1880s through to the 1930s, Horseshoe Wharf was occupied by a variety of businesses, including Doo Brothers lightermen, John Muir & Company, corn merchants, and Coombe Gordon & Co., granary keepers. It continued as a warehouse building after the Second World War, but by the 1990s the site of Horseshoe Wharf was chosen for a new apartment building. After the demolition of the old building, English Heritage had the unique opportunity to undertake an archaeological study before the foundations for the new building were put in place, revealing the fascinating details about the early settlements, as well as the evolution of the riverside walls and the story of one of the most historic parts of London.

Horseshoe Wharf from riverside — Horseshoe Wharf (in the centre) from riverside