London - Kennington Park Prior to 1912. And Bram Stoker.

            The Postcard

A postcard bearing no publisher's name that was posted in Kennington on Saturday the 20th. April 1912 to:

Miss E. Johnson,
42 Josephine Avenue,
Brixton Hill,
London S.W.

The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:

"Kennington S.E.
20.4.12.
Dear E,
This is another view of
famous Kennington.
This is supposed to be
the Park, and showing 
its famous fountain that
I have just had a drink 
out of, for old curiosity's
sake.
How do you like this
splendid weather?
From Y.L. Will".

Kennington Park

Kennington Park is a public park in Kennington, south London.  It was opened in 1854 on the site of what had been Kennington Common, where the Chartists gathered for their biggest "monster rally" on the 10th. April 1848. 

Soon after this demonstration the common was enclosed and, sponsored by the royal family, made into a public park.

Kennington Common was a site of public executions until 1800 as well as being an area for public speaking. Some of the most illustrious orators to speak here were Methodist founders George Whitefield and John Wesley who is reputed to have attracted a crowd of 30,000.

The common was one of the earliest London cricket venues and is known to have been used for top-class matches in 1724.

The Water Fountain

The Felix Slade drinking water fountain in the photograph was designed by Charles Henry Driver. 

Slade donated the fountain in 1862 after feeling sorry for the local children who had to take their refreshment from the cab horse trough.

World War II

On the 15th. October 1940, a public  bomb shelter dug as a grid of trenches in the park, suffered a direct hit during the Blitz. 

An estimated 104 people were killed. Only 50 bodies could be identified by name. Due to treacherous wet ground conditions, with the shelter walls collapsing on rescuers, the remains of up to another 54 local people were left in the ground, covered in lime, and the trenches filled in.

Bram Stoker

So what else happened on the day Will posted the card?

Well, the 20th. April 1912 was not a good day for Bram Stoker, because he died on that day.

Abraham "Bram" Stoker, who was born on the 8th. November 1847, was an Irish author, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel 'Dracula'. 

During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving, and business manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London, which Irving owned.
   

Taken on: August 1, 2019

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Sets appears in: • London

Groups appears in: • Trésors d'Autrefois (Sur inv.) • C'était HIER...en IMAGES... more » • London Vintage Postcards « less

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