Griffmonsters Old Rushden Photos

I will start this piece of research and investigation with a little story. When I was young, pre-teenager years, I would spend many a Saturday at my grandparents, primarily to accompany my Granddad to the Rushden Town football match during the afternoon. As was the custom, on arrival I would also be given a few pence to purchase some sweet treats at the corner shop at the junction of Victoria Road and Rectory Road, Eadys I seem to remember but could be wrong. This purchase entailed a quarter pound of mint stripes for my Granddad and what ever took my fancy but would usually involve some liquorice based confectionery such as a sherbet fountain, which was a liquorice straw in a tube of kali, or a batch of liquorice bootstrings.

My Nan would always be interested in my purchases and would exclaim the word Spanish whenever a string of liquorice appeared from my paper bag of goodies. To a young mind this was obviously wrong and she really didn't understand what liquorice was. In hindsight, I know better and the word Spanish was an old term for liquorice on account that the deep rooted plant which was the raw material of the product was primarily imported from Spain after demand outstripped the native supply in the late 19th century, hence the reference as Spanish.

The Spanish reference certainly went back to the pre-war years when my Nan would be more of the age to purchase such confectionery. Back in those days my family owned a sweet shop which my Nan would make numerous references to and which is the subject of this article. The shop was located on the corner of Rectory Road and Portland Road and was bought by my Great Grandfather at the start of the 20th century. Whether this family shop assisted in my Granddad charming my Nan is unknown, but it certainly had a lasting impression upon her considering the numerous times she referenced it in her conversations.

I never knew the shop during my lifetime as it had long been demolished when I was born. All that I have ever known of the former site of the sweet shop is a small car park with a bus stop in front of it and no recognition that a shop or indeed any kind of building had once stood here. In fact it is difficult to imagine there was space to fit a building on this site but we shall come to that later.

So, lets go back in time to try to trace the history of this shop and its occupants. We need to go back to the late 19th century when the town of Rushden was expanding at a very rapid rate. The population figures demonstrate the burgeoning increase in the size of the town. In the mid 1800's the town had a population of some 2,000 residents and it rapidly grew to over 10,000 by the end of the century, no doubt its increase in size fired by the booming boot and shoe industry. My Great Grandfather came to the town during this period, having been in the workhouse in Linslade, Buckinghamshire as a teenager after his parents fell on hard times. He was offered an apprenticeship as a plumber and lodged in Fitzwilliam Street, soon marrying a local girl by the name of Caroline Desborough by the time he was 21, moving to Alfred Street to begin his married life.

Obviously the expansion of the town was accompanied by a large amount of construction, both commercial and residential. Certainly prior to the 20th century the town did not extend beyond what is now Rectory Road. Back in those days the road was no more than a track behind the High Street locally known as the Back Way or Back Lane with many of the houses in the vicinity taking on localised names such as Dentons Yard and Succouth Place. One terrace of houses still exists from this period and is still named as Beaconsfield Terrace (formerly Place) even though it is located on Rectory Road. Things appear to have changed at the end of the century when the road was made into a thoroughfare to relieve the High Street and adopted the name of Rectory Road.

On the Ordnance Survey map of 1885, the site of the shop is depicted with a building on at the end of a terrace, with no recognition of Portland Road which was yet to be constructed. This can be cross-referenced with the 1900 OS map where Portland Road has come into existence and the terrace becomes the corner of the new road. This is also backed up by the census in 1901 which references 12 and 14 Rectory Road, which are the numbers that we are interested in, where the Harris and Downes families occupied 12 and 14 respectively. The 1891 census is difficult to determine whether these houses existed as it does not specifically list the house numbers and the Harris and Downes families are not referenced but they could have been occupied by other families. There is a Watts family at number 10 that appears to be consistent across the two census records. Considering the number of listings it is most likely the house was in existence during this period. The 1881 census has no record of houses in Rectory Road although there are a few unnumbered references for Back Lane. The 1871 census lists Back Lane with numbers only going to 6. Therefore it is difficult to put a definitive date on when this terrace of house was constructed. It would certainly seem later than 1871 and probably between 1881 and 1891 and certainly there by 1901.

It is uncertain exactly when my Great Grandfather, Charles Chamberlain bought the shop. What is known is that he bought both the shop (number 14) and the adjacent house (number 12) together. This enabled him to continue his house decoration business, together with his wife being the shopkeeper, a double income which no doubt put them in good stead for the future. There are clues as to when this purchase occurred and the first is the most significant event that happened in Rushden in the early 20th century which was the Great Fire of Rushden which devastated the town in 1901.

During the afternoon of Friday 19th July of 1901 at around 1:30 a fire started in the largest shoe factory in town, that of Messrs. John Cave and Sons, Limited which occupied land between the High Street and Alfred Street. This quickly spread, engulfing shops in the High Street and the Succoth Chapel on the opposite side of the High Street. Despite valiant attempts by the fire crews of Rushden, Higham and Irthlingbourgh, bolsted by crews from Kettering and Northampton, the fire could not be contained. By 2:45 Alfred Street School had caught alight with no hope of saving it and even a house in duck street was set ablaze. It was a devastating and sad day for all of Rushden

At the time of the fire Charles Chamberlain and his wife were living at 27 Alfred Street, which these days is in the terrace adjacent to the school. There are no specific details of the residential premises that were engulfed in the fire although the records state that it amounted to a dozen or more. Considering the Chamberlain's house was directly opposite the factory as well as very close to the school it is not unreasonable to conjecture that it may well have been one that was engulfed in the inferno. Could this have forced his hand to not only move to Rectory Road, but to buy it? Unfortunately I have found no other reference to his business between 1901 and a listing in the 1903 Kelly's Directory where he is advertised as a painter and shopkeeper in Rectory Road. The census of 1901, recording him living in Alfred Street was carried out on 1st March of that year, which was before the fire. In all probability it is very plausible that he moved residence during that year.

What is unknown is why he should have bought both the shop and the private residence next door. This mystery may be solved in the knowledge that Caroline's elder brother William is described in the 1901 census as a confectioner working at home in George Street. By the 1911 census he had moved to a High Street and was described as a sugar boiler working at home. It is also known that one of the shops in the High Street destroyed by the fire was owned by the Desborough family. There is no definitive documentation to deduce what happened but we could possibly conjecture that if the shop had also been an outlet to Williams produce then the families joined together and provided the method and means for William to continue his trade.

Things certainly seemed to go well, with his business being firmly established in the town. This is borne out in newspaper advertising of the period. Things, however, were about to change. In June of 1910 Charles passed away at the age of just 38. A premature death brought on by an apoplectic seizure as he arrived in Hunstation to convalesce on orders from his doctor. This must have put a great strain on the family at the time leaving his wife to bring up their three children, Joe, Edward and Cis. At least the shop provided some kind of income.

By 1913 Caroline had married again to a man from the North-East named Ernest East. Although this seems to have been a strange and distant connection, in reality they were first cousins with a long connection between the Desborough and East families. It would appear that Ernest was a military man prior to the marriage and relocating to Rushden must have continued the Painting and decorating side of the business, no doubt with assistance from Charles' sons, Joe and Edward, who were now teenagers.

The First World War saw Edward killed in battle. During this time a shrine was placed in front of the shop. Whether there was any connection with this placement and the death of Edward is uncertain. Ernest died in 1931 leaving Caroline to continue the shop alone. There are certainly references to her still at the shop up to the start of the WWII but for how long she remained there is unknown. She died in 1952.

Returning to the history of the building, its demise occurred in 1956 when the whole terrace of houses was demolished. During the period that it was owned by the Chamberlain and East families, Rectory Road had become a relief road to the High street with significant road widening carried out in the 1920s to provide adequate access for traffic along the route. It was said that prior to this the road was barely wide enough to accommodate two directions of traffic and in consequence buildings had to be demolished to create the width for a road to cater for the increasing amount of mechanised traffic. Despite this work, there remained a pinch-point at the junction of Portland Road where traffic bottle-necked due to the terrace of houses that included the shop. This terrace jutted out into the road causing a single lane on the road in front. Therefore to alleviate this congestion the houses were sanctioned to be demolished and this explains why there is such a narrow piece of land where the shop used to be. Originally it would have taken up part of the road.

Now to the main picture at the head of this article which depicts the old sweet shop with Ernest East standing in front, and Caroline and her daughter Doreen in the doorway of number 12. One thing that draws the eye is the painted side of the shop with the words 14 Portland Road prominently displayed and a street sign below for Portland Road. Without a doubt the shop was 14 Rectory Road, this is borne out in all official documentation from census records, newspaper advertisements and birth certificates. 14 Portland Road exists today and this does have a stone placed above its upper bay window that clearly depicts the date 1899 which means both shop and 14 Portland Road existed at the same time, probably built within a decade of each other. They are clearly two distinct buildings.

The clue to this conundrum is in the painted sign which appears to advertise a furniture warehouse with 'Expert Advice Given' and established 1890. The business set up by Charles Chamberlain and then superseded by Ernest East was for House decoration with plumbing and glazing services. This is clearly a different business. To qualify this, the Chamberlain and East business is advertised at the lower corner of the wall where it clearly states For Gasfittings and Wallpapers. In addition to this, in 1891 Charles was yet to set up a business as the 1891 census has him living in Fitzwilliam Street where he is described as an Improver Plumber and Glazier. An improver, as far as I understand, was someone still learning the trade. The obvious answer to this conundrum is that Charles had shrewdly rented out the side of the building to advertise a business in Portland Road that by coincidence was the same number as his own shop. A likely candidate for this Portland Road business is Bert Scroxton and Sons who was advertising in the Rushden Echo and Argus in February 1926 with that specific contact address and slogans of Furniture Removers to all parts of the World. Haulage of Every Description. Up-to-date Saloon Bus to carry 14 persons.

Mr Scroxton was certainly familiar with Charles as both a business acquaintance and probably also a friend. This is borne out by press cuttings when Charles passed away in 1910. He had suffered apoplectic seizure and under the advice of doctors had travelled to Hunstanton to recuperate. Unfortunately he became unconscious the train pulled into the station and died later that evening. It was said that Bert Scroxton was in the Hunstanton area at the time and offered his assistance to Caroline during this trying experience.

It would be good to date this picture and there are plenty of clues that can give us a good idea. The lower part of the wall has three advertising hoardings for films. Two of these can be clearly made out, Fighting Blood and Life's Greatest Question, with the first and most distant looking to be another advertisement for Life's Greatest Question. Fighting Blood appears to be a boxing related film. There were two films with this title released in the early 20th century, one in 1911 and the other in 1923. The second seems the most likely candidate as it is a boxing film staring George O'Hara, Clara Horton, Kit Guard. Life's Greatest Question is easier to identify as it clearly lists the principle actors being Roy Stewart and Louise Lovely. This certainly ties in with such a named film that was released on 19 August 1922. This poster also provides dates for the film showing which are Thursday, Friday and Saturday July 31, August 1 and 2. Therefore the photo must have been taken after 1922. The only calendar dates that coincide with the relevant days immediately after 1922 are for the year 1924, this not occurring again until 1930. If this was 1924 then Doreen, the girl in the doorway, would have been 10 years old which seems reasonable as opposed to 16 if this was 1930. 1924 seems to be the most likely year. As for the time of year, if we consider such posters were regularly updated for imminent films, then this suggests the photo was taken some time around June or July 1924.

This has been a fascinating discovery of both family history and the history of a long forgotten building on one of Rushden's main thoroughfares. Most questions have been answered after a lot of research and investigation. And I still clearly remember my Nan fondly speaking of the little sweet shop on Rectory Road.