The Postcard
A postcard published by W.H. Burdekin of Purley.
The card was posted in Purley on Tuesday the 2nd. September 1913 to:
Mrs. Strohl,
72, Hatfield Road,
The Avenue,
Bedford Park,
London W.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Arrived quite safely.
Bags of time at Vic.
Reached P. at 5 to 10 -
not bad eh?
Glad to see you all
once again.
Much haste and much
ironing for Rose".
Purley
Purley is an area of the London Borough of Croydon. It was part of the county of Surrey until 1965. It is located south of the town of Croydon, and 11.7 miles (18.8 km) south of Charing Cross. It had a population of about 14,000 in 2011.
Aviation
Kenley Aerodrome, to the east of the town, was one of the key fighter stations - together with Croydon Airport and Biggin Hill - during the World War II support of Dunkirk, Battle of Britain and defence of London.
Suburban Growth
Purley grew rapidly in the 1920's and 1930's, providing spacious homes in a green environment. Northeast Purley stretches into the chalk hill spurs of the North Downs.
Promenade de Verdun
One road, Promenade de Verdun, created by William Webb, has a distinction all of its own. It is 600 yards (550 m) long and has on one side Lombardy poplars planted in local soil mixed with French earth specially shipped over to the UK.
A plaque at one end of the road explains that the French ministry of the interior donated the soil from Armentières, as a memorial to the alliance of the Great War and the soldiers who died.
At the other end stands an obelisk carved from a single piece of stone with the inscription:
"Aux soldats de France morts
glorieusement pendant la Grande
Guerre".
Purley in WWII
The 32nd. Surrey Battalion of the Home Guard was known as the Factory Battalion, and had the specific task of guarding the Purley Way factories: its units were mainly based on staff from the individual firms.
The factories adjoining Croydon Airport took the worst of the air raid of the 15th. August 1940: the British NSF factory was almost entirely destroyed, and the Bourjois factory gutted, with a total of over sixty civilian deaths.
A comprehensive history of Purley and its growth around Caterham Junction (now Purley Station) with the coming of the railways some 150 years ago is found in the Bourne Society's 'Purley Village History' and in its Local History Records publications.
The Webb Estate
The Webb Estate made headlines in a 2002 survey, which found that it had over the years attracted the highest-earning residents in the UK. In the same year Purley topped Britain's rich list, becoming the most affluent suburb.
Purley consistently features among the most affluent suburbs in Britain owing to its exclusive gated estates, large houses and greenery, yet it is less than 30 minutes from central London by train, thus attracting wealthy city workers.
Fictional References to Purley
-- On television the town became known in the sitcom, Terry and June where Terry and June Medford (Terry Scott and June Whitfield), had moved after the characters' previous series, Happy Ever After.
The sitcom was set on the cusp of Purley and Wallington (on Church Road in a house within sight of St Mark's Church) and the opening credits featured them searching for each other around the (now unrecognisable) Whitgift Centre – a shopping precinct in Croydon.
-- One of the houses used in Footballer's Wives is 7 Rose Walk, Purley, owned by former Crystal Palace FC Chairman Ron Noades.
-- Purley is famous for a reference in both the "Marriage Guidance Counsellor", "Nudge Nudge", and "Kilimanjaro Expedition" (mentioned in the film And Now for Something Completely Different) sketches by the Monty Python team.
-- The CBBC children's sitcom Little Howard's Big Question is based in Purley, and also features continual references to Croydon.
-- Mr Angry, a character on Steve Wright's Radio 1 afternoon show in the 1980's, is from Purley.
Notable Residents of Purley
Notable residents include:
-- Michael Arthur, Vice-Chancellor of Leeds University, and Provost of University College London from September 2013, was born in Purley.
-- Jay Aston, singer with Bucks Fizz, was born in Purley.
-- Ronald Binge and his wife Vera lived at 18, Smitham Bottom Lane in the 1950's. He composed the Elizabethan Serenade there.
-- Derren Brown, magician and mentalist, was born and grew up in Purley.
-- Peter Cushing OBE, actor, grew up and went to school in Purley.
-- Brian Fahey, composer of "At the Sign of the Swingin' Cymbal" (the signature tune to BBC Radio's Pick of the Pops).
-- Andy Frampton, former professional footballer, grew up in Purley.
-- Shelagh Fraser, actress, was born in Purley.
-- Laura Hamilton, TV presenter and Dancing on Ice Contestant, lives in Purley.
-- Nigel Harman, actor, was born and grew up in Purley.
-- Sir Bernard Ingham, Margaret Thatcher's former press secretary, lives in Purley.
-- Sir David P. Lane, oncologist best known for identifying P53, went to school and grew up in Purley.
-- Martin Lee, singer with Brotherhood of Man, was born in Purley.
-- Archibald Low, pioneer of radio guidance systems, was born in Purley.
-- Ray Mears, TV survivalist, went to school in Purley.
-- Ron Noades, former chairman of Wimbledon FC, Crystal Palace FC and Brentford FC and owner of the Altonwood Golf Group, lived in Rose Walk, Purley, from 1993 until 2013.
-- Innes Hope Pearse, doctor and co-founder of the Peckham Experiment, grew up in Purley.
-- Francis Rossi, lead singer of Status Quo, lives in the Webb Estate in Purley.
-- John Horne Tooke, an English politician and philologist, lived in Purley at the end of the 18th. century where he began writing Epea Pteroenta, Or, The Diversions of Purley.
-- Wilfried Zaha, footballer, Crystal Palace FC, lives in the Webb Estate.
Two Fatal Rail Crashes
So what else happened on the day that Rose posted the card?
Well, the 2nd. September 1913 was not a good day for railway safety, as there were two separate fatal crashes on that day:
- A collision between two trains on the
New York, New Haven and Hartford
Railroad in New Haven, Connecticut
killed 21 passengers and injured 30.
- A rear-end collision between two
sections of the London-Scotland
express at Carlisle, England caused
a fire that burned 15 passengers to
death.
Bill Shankly
The day also marked the birth in Glenbuck, Scotland of Bill Shankly, Scottish association football player and manager, and midfielder for Preston from 1933 to 1949. Bill was also in the Scotland national football team from 1938 to 1949, and coach for Liverpool from 1959 to 1964.
Bill suffered a cardiac arrest early on the morning of the 29th. September 1981, and was certified dead at 01:20, twenty-seven days after his 68th. birthday.
Bill was cremated at the Anfield Crematorium on the 2nd. October, and his ashes were scattered on the Anfield pitch at the Kop end.
Thomas Sperry
The 2nd. September 1913 also marked the death of Thomas Sperry, who was born in 1864. He was an American entrepreneur and co-founder of S&H Green Stamps.
Sperry died in NYC at the age of 49 years of ptomaine poisoning contracted during the return voyage after a two-month trip to Europe.
Sperry was brought ashore on a stretcher, and his condition was too bad to travel to his home in Cranford.
Bill Miner
Bill Miner also died on that day. Bill, who was born in 1847, was an American outlaw, nicknamed 'The Gentleman Robber'.
He is reputed to have come up with the phrase "Hands up!"
