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Category Archives: History
Young refugees’ art exhibition to open at Museum of Croydon
A multimedia exhibition created by young refugees and asylum seekers is opening at the Museum of Croydon tomorrow to mark 10 years of the charity Play for Progress. Forever We Can Be Full will bring together original artwork, photography, music, … Continue reading
When ‘Race Around The World’ was a tea shipper’s business
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Victorian England depended on trade with the rest of the world, and a vast fleet of merchant sailing ships operated by private businesses, often based in the City of London. As DAVID MORGAN outlines, one such company was … Continue reading
Leslie Arms timeline: sad 25-year decline of heritage building
Between 2000 and 2025, the owner of the Grade II-listed Leslie Arms on Lower Addiscombe Road submitted 13 separate planning applications for the building – 14 if you include his 2009 appeal against a refusal of a planning application. Ten … Continue reading
Posted in Addiscombe West, Business, Croydon Council, History, Housing, Leslie Arms, Planning, Property, Pubs
Tagged AA Homes, Addiscombe, Anwar Ansari, Croydon, Croydon Council, Dr Anwar Ansari, Leslie Arms, Planning, pubs, Upper Addiscombe Road
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Grave error in the failure to reconstruct great Grindal’s tomb
CROYDON CHRONICLES: The Minster’s archive is a rich source of documents, registers, publications and correspondence that have yielded vast quantities of detail and information about the history of Croydon for DAVID MORGAN. But here is a letter that the archivist … Continue reading
Here’s Croydon’s election results – from Coronation year 1953
In a special edition of the Croydon Chronicles as the borough goes to the polls, DAVID MORGAN has trawled through the Minster archive to take a look at how local elections were run more than 70 years ago Allegations of … Continue reading
Posted in David Morgan, History
Tagged 1953, Conservative, Coronation year, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, Labour, Liberal Party, London, London Borough of Croydon, Tory, Winston Churchill
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Langley Vale conservation talk, Honeywood Museum, May 28
C O M M U N I T Y A D V E R T I S E M E N T
‘Young people out of hand’: perennial problem of street crime
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Mobs of young people roaming the streets, stealing from shops and terrorising the neighbourhood – just an everyday episode in Croydon, not from last month but during the Edwardian era. DAVID MORGAN delves into the Minster archive The … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, David Morgan, History
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Chronicles, Croydon police, David Morgan, Hooliganism, Hooligans, London, Magistrates' Court
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Town’s oldest building opens its doors for local history month
Croydon’s oldest building is opening its gates to the public for expert guided tours, as part of local history month in May. Thousands walk past the Whitgift Almshouses in Croydon town centre every day, but few give it a second … Continue reading
Duke survived death after he hunted with Croydon’s hounds
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Two hundred years ago, the Derby Arms off Handcroft Road ran a well-regarded livery stables and was a centre for local hunts that were attended by princes and dukes, butchers and shop-keepers. From a single gravestone in the … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History
Tagged Alfred Bignell, Croydon Hunt, Croydon Minster, Croydon Parish Church, David Morgan, Duke of Cumberland, Fox-hunting, Joshua Bignell, King George II, Old Surrey Hunt, Parsons Mead, Pitlake, Rabies, The Derby Arms, The Old Surrey and Burstow Hunt:, West Croydon
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History of Kenley Airfield, free talk, East Surrey Museum, Apr 22
C O M M U N I T Y A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Posted in Activities, Advertisement, Advertisement features, History, Kenley
Tagged Caterham, Croydon, East Surrey Museum, Kenley, Kenley Airfield
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Memorial to victims of Lanfranc air disaster to re-open this July
NEIL BENNETT reports on the fund-raising success and hard-work – even by some doing community service – to make a garden in Croydon Cemetery a fitting memorial to the 39 people killed when their aeroplane crashed into a Norwegian mountain … Continue reading
Posted in Archbishop Lanfranc, History, Neil Bennett, Sanderstead, Schools, Thornton Heath, West Thornton
Tagged Archbishop Lanfranc School, Croydon Cemetery, Lanfranc air disaster, Neil Bennett, Rosalind Jones, Simon Trehearn, Suzy Stowell, The Lanfranc Boys, Thornton Heath, West Thornton
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History of Kenley Airfield, free talk, East Surrey Museum, Apr 22
C O M M U N I T Y A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Posted in Activities, Advertisement, Advertisement features, History, Kenley
Tagged Caterham, Croydon, East Surrey Museum, Kenley, Kenley Airfield
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Langley Vale conservation talk, Honeywood Museum, May 28
C O M M U N I T Y A D V E R T I S E M E N T
The day Dr Bookless took the wicket of the great WG Grace
CROYDON CHRONICLES: A long career in medicine based at Croydon General Hospital and on Harley Street followed for a sporting young man who, when a student at Guy’s Hospital, once enjoyed a cricket moment of a lifetime. DAVID MORGAN explains … Continue reading
Posted in Church and religions, Cricket, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, Health, History, Mayday Hospital, Purley Hospital
Tagged British Medical Journal, cricket, Croydon, Croydon General Hospital, Croydon Minster, Croydon Parish Church, Crystal Palace, Crystal Palace Park, David Morgan, Dr John Bookless, Guy's Hospital, London, London County Cricket Club, Mayday Hospital, Purley Hospital, WG Grace
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From flames to fame, Waddon’s Knox family made their mark
CROYDON CHRONICLES: From the night of the Great Fire of Croydon, DAVID MORGAN tells the story of a family of vicars and bishops, of writers and editors, and Enigma codebreakers The fire which destroyed Croydon Parish Church in 1867 had … Continue reading
‘Decency’ hustings as no one missed the missing candidate
ELECTION SKETCH: In a cramped ‘hub’ in Broad Green, the first full hustings of the 2026 Croydon Mayor campaign took place last night. KEN TOWL was there, so you didn’t need to be (and you couldn’t have squeezed in, anyway) … Continue reading
Posted in 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon Mayor election, Community associations, Croydon Business Association, Ken Towl, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Pusey, Peter Underwood, Richard Howard, Rowenna Davis, Ruskin House
Tagged 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon mayoral election, 2026 local elections, Ben Flook, Cllr Rowenna Davis, Conservative, Councillor Rowenna Davis, Croydon, Croydon Council, Dan Tebbutt, Green Party, Ken Towl, Labour, Liberal Democrats, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Peter Underwood, Richard Howard, Rowenna Davis, Taking The Iniative Party, Tory, TTIP
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The wartime night that the ‘first lady of jazz’ sang for Croydon
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Adelaide Hall performed at the Cotton Club, sang with Duke Ellington and took to the stage in the Berlin of Sally Bowles. And she was a star of the old Croydon Empire, as DAVID MORGAN explains It was … Continue reading
Langley Vale conservation talk, Honeywood Museum, May 28
C O M M U N I T Y A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Et tu Brute: Fringe party claims credit for getting Perry elected
There’s more than a sense of the Ides of March about some of the rhetoric coming from public meetings as the 2026 local election campaign gets into its stride, as WALTER CRONXITE, Political Editor, writes It seems somehow appropriate that, … Continue reading
Posted in 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon Mayor election, Gabriel MacArthur, Peter Underwood, Rowenna Davis, Ruskin House
Tagged 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon mayoral election, 2026 local elections, BBC Question Time, Cedar Hall, Charles Gordon, Cllr Rowenna Davis, Councillor Rowenna Davis, Croydon, Croydon Council, Derek Hatton, Donna Murray-Turner, Farah London, Fiona Bruce, Gabriel MacArthur, Green Party, Ken Towl, Labour, Liverpool, London Borough of Croydon, Militant Tendency, Peter Underwood, Question Time, Rowenna Davis, Ruskin House, Taking The Initiative Party, TTIP
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Take a step back in time for the start of the election campaign
KEN TOWL was at last night’s Ruskin House election debate, so that you didn’t need to be The great red-green face-off at Ruskin House last night answered some burning questions, such as who will Your Party support? And, what will … Continue reading
Posted in 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon Mayor election, Ken Towl, Peter Underwood, Rowenna Davis, Ruskin House
Tagged 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon mayoral election, 2026 local elections, Cedar Hall, Cllr Rowenna Davis, Councillor Rowenna Davis, Croydon, Croydon Council, Derek Hatton, Green Party, Ken Towl, Labour, Liverpool, London Borough of Croydon, Militant Tendency, Peter Underwood, Rowenna Davis, Ruskin House
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Music Hall performer whose potato song helped the war effort
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Musical director of the Croydon Empire theatre enjoyed a colourful career and played a part in the community, writes DAVID MORGAN A century ago, long before we had mass media in our living rooms and at our finger … Continue reading
Posted in David Morgan, History, Music, Theatre
Tagged Croydon Empire, David Morgan, History, Jack Morgan, Music Hall, Second World War, Theatre
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Historic Commercial Vehicle Brighton run, A23, May 3
C O M M U N I T Y A D V E R T I S E M E N T
From a few lines in Henry V, actor stood alongside the greats
CROYDON CHRONICLES: An outstanding producer-director at The Old Vic who performed alongside the likes of Sir Henry Irving and Sir Laurence Olivier, and appeared in some of the most notable films of the 1940s and ’50s, Harcourt Williams’ acting talent … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Cinema, David Morgan, History, Theatre, Uncategorized
Tagged Around The World In Eighty Days, Audrey Hepburn, Croydon, David Morgan, Gregory Peck, Hamlet, Harcourt Williams, Henry V, John Gelgud, Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Roman Holiday, Sir Henry Irving, The Old Vic, Whitgift Grammar Shool, Whitgift School, William Shakespeare
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Cycle Carnival saw thousands lining the streets for good cause
CROYDON CHRONICLES: There was a time when the town’s streets were not such a hostile environment for cyclists as they are today. They even had an annual event to celebrate, and raise large amounts for charity. DAVID MORGAN takes up … Continue reading
Posted in Cycling, David Morgan, History
Tagged Croydon Cycle Carnival, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, Wulfruna
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Gertrude Massey’s masterstrokes showed Royalty in best light
CROYDON CHRONICLES: A prize-winner at Croydon School of Art went on to become one of the most sought-after portrait artists in Edwardian London, and taught Evelyn Waugh and the Wizard of Oz’s Scarecrow. DAVID MORGAN recalls the stellar career of … Continue reading
