The Postcard
A postcard bearing no publisher's name. The image is a glossy real photograph. Note the railings on the right that enclosed what is now a very rare facility, an underground public toilet.
There is also a total absence of moving traffic which would be a virtual impossibility today, as the Upper Richmond Road West forms part of the South Circular.
There are two interesting news headlines outside Maynards the newsagents on the left:
"King's Praise for
Reserve Fleet."
"Balloon Barrage."
King George VI reviewed the Reserve Fleet off the coast of Weymouth on the 9th. August 1939, twenty-five days before Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced that Great Britain was at war with Germany. This indicates that the photograph was taken in August 1939.
The Reserve Fleet was a Royal Navy formation of decommissioned vessels which could be brought to a state of readiness at time of war.
The official Balloon Command was formed on the 1st. November 1938 under the control of Fighter Command. At its head was Air Vice Marshal O.T. Boyd. By 1939, 47 Barrage Balloon squadrons had been set up. At the outbreak of war on the 3rd. September 1939 there were 624 barrage balloons in existence.
The card was posted in Mortlake on Tuesday the 2nd. July 1940 to:
Mrs. Edward Pedler,
Lilac Cottage,
Instow,
Barnstaple,
Devon.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"We are all quite well and
safe.
Mother and I are just off
for a walk if the rain stops,
and will probably go to
Kew all day Thursday.
I intend doing no more
about L. R. P. so he can
lump it.
I hope you have a happy
birthday.
Love to all,
Ed."
Notable People Associated With East Sheen
Notable residents include:
-- Sir Tim Berners-Lee (born 1955), computer scientist and inventor of the World Wide Web, grew up in East Sheen and attended Sheen Mount Primary School. A mosaic was placed at Sheen Lane Centre in June 2013 to commemorate his association with East Sheen.
-- Carol Cleveland (born 1942), actress and comedian, who worked with Monty Python, was born in East Sheen.
-- Abigail Cruttenden (born 1968), actress, lives in East Sheen.
-- Tom Hardy (born 1977), actor, lives in East Sheen.
-- Carrie Johnson (born 1988), conservationist and wife of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was brought up in East Sheen.
-- Sir Trevor McDonald (born 1939), broadcaster, lives in East Sheen.
-- The novelist Mary Anne Evans, better known as George Eliot (1819–1880), took rooms at 7 Clarence Row, East Sheen (now demolished) from May to September 1855.
-- Sir Arthur Blomfield (1829–1899), architect, one of whose early works was Christ Church, East Sheen, designed and lived in The Cottage, now divided into two as 53 and 55 Christ Church Road.
-- Ralph Knott (1879–1929), architect of County Hall, the former London County Council building on the South Bank, Westminster, lived and died in East Sheen.
-- Richard Dimbleby (1913–1965), radio broadcaster, was born in the borough and lived in a flat at Cedar Court, East Sheen. This has been commemorated by an English Heritage blue plaque.
-- Marc Bolan (1947–1977), musician, died at what is now the site of Bolan's Rock Shrine, a few miles from his home at 142 Upper Richmond Road West in East Sheen.
The Brighton Blitz
So what else happened on the day that Ed posted the card?
Well, on the 2nd. July 1940, in order to prepare the coastline against possible sea-borne invasion by German troops, the Brighton beaches were closed at 5.00 pm on the 2nd. July 1940, and were mined and guarded with barbed wire.
Both the Palace Pier and West Pier had sections of their decking removed to prevent their use as landing stages. The town was declared to be no longer a "safe area", and 30,000 people were evacuated.
The Brighton Blitz was the bombing of Brighton by the Nazi German Luftwaffe during the Second World War. Brighton was attacked from the air on 56 recorded occasions between July 1940 and February 1944.
Casualties in the area were 198 killed and 357 seriously injured, with 433 receiving minor injures.
-- The 1940 Brighton Bombing Raid
On the evening of the 14th. September 1940, a lone Dornier bomber, which had become separated from its main group, dropped twenty 50 kg bombs across Edward Street and the Upper Rock Gardens area.
Two bombs hit the Odeon cinema in Kemp Town, killing four children and two adults, along with a further 48 people killed in the surrounding area. This was the worst raid on Brighton for casualties inflicted during the war.
-- The 1943 Brighton Bombing Raid
At 12.25 pm on the 25th. May 1943, the town was attacked by 25 to 30 German Focke-Wulf 190 aircraft. Twenty-two bombs of 500 kg were dropped, and the streets were machine-gunned during the five-minute raid.
Fatalities included ten men, twelve women and two children. An additional 58 people were seriously injured, and a further 69 people were slightly injured. One of the central piers of the 20-metre-high (66 ft) London Road railway viaduct was demolished. There was severe damage to railway workshops and rolling stock.
This was the worst raid for damage inflicted on the town during the war, with 150 houses made uninhabitable, more than 500 people made homeless, and the Black Rock Gasworks being set on fire.
-- The 1944 Brighton Bombing Raid
In 1944 Brighton was hit by V-1 flying bombs.
