MARGARET MEE'S AMAZON
[George John Henderson Brown was born in Battersea, London on 12th January 1876 - his father was a clerk with an insurance company - at that time a job with considerable responsibility].
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Battersea
is a district on the south side of the River Thames known today
for an old power station a London landmark. Alperton and Greenhill
are north of the river and not far from Wembley . St John's, a Victorian
church is in the centre of the town and with a burial ground dating
from 1857
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By
the time he married, young George had become a clerk with a good position
at the Alliance Assurance Company. As the supervisor of a department he
earned about £400 per year. The Hendersons or Hendersen, were believed
to be a seafaring Swedish family. The name 'Henderson' was adopted by George's
father, who with blue eyes and brown hair was very typically 'English'.
Lizbelle's family the Churchmans felt sure they had links with the East
Anglian Churchmans who were wealthy tobacco merchants. Lizbelle's father
John Henry Churchman described himself as 'Gentleman'. |
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George
and Lizbelle moved to Chesham, a town on the northern edge of the Chiltern
hills of Buckinghamshire to live at The Crest, White Hill. The house name
came from its position on the top of a steep hill outside the town. George
was usually awake before 6am each day and travelled by Metropolitan
Line train to Moorgate and then walked to offices in Bartholomew Lane beside
the Bank of England. |
Chesham,
29 miles from London is at the northern end of the Metropolitan
Line. The line was built in the days of Victorian railway expansion
opening the small towns for people working in London. When George
and Lizbelle arrived there the population was approximately 10,000.
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George had fought in the Boer War with the City Imperial Volunteers and was a staunch 'Empire Man'. He was appointed a Special Constable with the City of London Police Reserve. He was a Freeman of the City of London.
The
Brown household included a living-in maid who earned 10 shillings per
week and an aunt, 'Auntie Nell ',Ellen Mary Churchman, Lizbelle's sister.
Ellen Mary was an accomplished artist who used her talents to illustrate
children's books, including one written by Susan, Countess of Malmesbury
in 1907.
She
was deaf in both ears caused by the fusing of the bones of the middle-ear
and the problem slowly worsened until she was stone deaf. Eventually she
learnt to lip read at Miss Hare's school in Sussex.).
1907
Dora [
Isabel Dorothea Brown] the first child was born at home at The Crest,
White Hill, Chesham.
1909 22nd May - Margaret was born - Margaret Ursula Brown, also at The Crest, Margaret soon became known to the family and friends as 'Peggy'.
The Family
moved from The Crest to 'Rosemead' a substantial residence in secluded
grounds near Lye Green, a tiny
village about three miles from Chesham. (Lizbelle's parents were not well-off
at the time and George arranged with the Mash family (Covent Garden fruiterers)
for their Pomona Cottage in Grove Lane near Rosemead to be rented to them.)
['Rosemead' has since been converted as an elderly persons' home - Culwood House.]
As there was no suitable elementary school in Chesham, only the local 'Board School', Ellen Mary acted as governess for the children and for a neighbour's child - Maisie Streather. Her father, Edward Streather, was a very successful builder and Estate Agent - the family lived at 'Little Nalders' the nearest house in the same lane.
1910 Cath was born,- Catherine Mary Brown - at Rosemead.
1914 John [to be the last child] was born,- John George Henderson Brown - at Rosemead. Edward Streather became his godfather and Betty, Maisie's sister was one of his greatest friends.
At the outbreak of the Great War against Germany, father George tried to enlist with the army but on account of his age (38-) he was rejected, though eventually he succeeded in joining the Durham Light Infantry ' they accepted him because volunteers were hard to find, so they turned a blind eye to his age' JB.
1915 (?) When George left for the war, the family moved to the south coast Auntie Nell remained in Chesham with her parents in Pomona Cottage while Lizbelle and the children found lodgings at 42 Stafford Road in Hove (adjacent to Brighton). The landlady was Mrs Hetzell - she had married a German prior to the First World War.
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The
towns of Brighton and Hove are side by side on the southern coast
of England. Brighton is best known as a top tourist venue and is
about an hour by train from London
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Peggy and Dora were sent to a private school, The Grange, Eastbourne where they boarded. Peggy hated it. Later they moved to Avondale School, Old Shoreham Road, Hove where they joined Cath and John. [ John went to Avondale when he was four and a half years old and for Dora it was her last school.].
During the time the family lived in Hove there was an surge of interest in spiritualism - partly due to thousands of war widows hoping to make contact with their departed husbands. This was the time when Conan Doyle became one of the great names of the spiritualist movement. Lizbelle too, persuaded by friends in Hove the Fernyhough family, became involved with the Theosophical Society. [John kept in touch with the Fearnehoughs and later almost became engaged to their daughter.]
1921 (late in the year) Auntie Nell left for Canada where she continued to illustrate books.
1922 They
remained in Hove until at least 1922, when the family returned to Chesham
- to a smaller house 
-'The
Haven' in Eskdale Avenue about a mile from the town centre. [the house
still has the same name]. Family treasures including a 'sampler' by the
great grandmother Elizabeth Felizada Milne and possibly the 'Dresden'
clock were taken out of Brandon's Storage where they had been for the
war years.
At about this time Peggy was drawing fairies - (see Dora's picture-), and a clairvoyant, Mr Hodgson who was deeply into the astral world, took some of the pictures and published them without permission or payment. [MM]. One picture from the time is signed 'Peggy Brown' and titled..' Now the Fairy queen gives the signal to stop', is possibly a reference to dances she had visualised. Lizbelle was deeply moved by Hodgson's clairvoyance and thought he was 'very spiritual'.
[1922-Conan Doyle produced an extraordinary book-The Coming of The Fairies- which included 'The Cottingley Fairies'-photographs of fairies by two Yorkshire schoolgirls.]
1922-1925. Peggy was at school with Cath at Dr Challoner's Grammar school, Amersham. The art master was Bengie Buckingham. (Dora had left school in 1922 when she was 15). Peggy and Cath were very close, sharing secrets, usually with Cath following Peggy
 Peggy
and Cath were members of a local amateur dramatic society which
floursished in the town. This is from the play 'She Stoops to
Conquer' an 18th century story by Oliver Goldsmith |
On one occasion the two girls 'ran away' from home going to the Rose and Crown, a Trust House in the nearby town of Tring for a night. 'The family was severely shaken' - a comment by the late John Brown
(1925 - Feb 10th George John H Brown attended a dinner for the City Imperial Volunteers at the Guildhall to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Boer War.)
1925 Peggy left school at 16 with a School Certificate, at the time the general education certificate which students required for a step into colleges.
FOR HELP WITH THE PREPARATION OF THIS ACCOUNT SPECIAL THANKS ARE GIVEN TO THE LATE JOHN BROWN, THE LATE MARGARET MEE, THE LATE DORA PROWER AND THE LATE MISS VIOLET CHURCHMAN OF WOODBRIDGE,SUFFOLK
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