Parkview Estate - Cowper Road, even numbers on the north side

NB For houses on the South side, see the page on Cowper Road: odd numbers

John Cumberland and John Robert Brown bought the Parkview estate from the ‘Packe & Pym’ Harpenden Estate 1882, with a view to selling plots to individual developers. From the deeds of Rose Cottage, no, 14, kindly loaned by Mr and Mrs Banks, we can trace the purchase by Arthur Palmer in July 1884, and subsequent conveyances until 1978.

Cover of the handwritten conveyance

Witnesses to the signatures included builder/developer Henry Salisbury

Plan attached to 1884 conveyance

Plan attached to 1978 conveyance

By the 1930s careful handwriting was replaced by typewriters. Many earlier documents have been lost since the Land Registry has dispensed with the bundles of documents held by solicitors as proof of title. With that we have lost a valuable local history resource. If any more deeds and documents have survived, we would be pleased to store scans or photographs in our archive, so please contact us. Sometimes details of architects, builders and the cost of construction were included in the bundle of deeds.

AND PLEASE HELP US ADD INFORMATION ABOUT PEOPLE WHO HAVE LIVED IN YOUR HOUSE BOTH BEFORE AND SINCE 1974

Photographs were taken in August 2019 by Rosemary Ross, for the well-attended Exhibition held on 1 December 2019.

Dates have been derived from Kelly’s directories, which started to be published in 1900 and ceased publication in 1974, and are only approximate. Directories were generally published every two years, but annually between 1967 and 1974. The addition of ‘?’ or ‘+’ indicate that we do not know when change of occupancy might have taken place. This is particularly true of the wartime periods: no directories were published between 1913/14 and 1922, or between 1941/2 and 1946. Information from Electoral Registers could be added after 1974 – and we hope that residents will be able to tell us when their house was built – in the 1880s or 1890s – and for whom.

2 Cowper Road

Cowper Cottage – no.2

1900 – James MacDonald FRHS
1910 – Mrs Parker 1910
1913/14?Mystole – Maxwell Kidman
1922-24+ Herbert George Rayment
1927/8-1930+ Edward Alfred Beament
1934  Arthur Stanley Paine
1935/6  Mrs Randall
1938   Arthur Stanley Paine
1956-1962+Bernard Morgan – not listed 1964;
1966  Ralph L Keen
1991

4 & 6 Cowper Road

4  Seymour Cottages 1900-1924+ – Henry Sanders
1926 William Weston
1952 Mrs Bawkes/Baulk

6  Seymour Cottages 1900 Alfred Butler
1906 Tomas Brasier
1922 Mrs Brasier
1946 Robert Arthur Hilliard
1948-1961 Robert H Mitchell – not listed in 1962 or 1964;
1966 Antony J Brooker
1969 Beryl Abbot to ?

8, 10 & 12 Cowper Road

8  Elstree Cottages

1900-6 William Pearman
1907 Frederick Charles Brasier
1922 George Henry Baulk
1938 Ernest Catlin
1941 – 1974+ Wilfred Hilliard-

10 Elstree Cottages – 1900-28+ Miss Weston
1939-60+ George Richardson – not listed 1962;
1964-72 A Coates
1973 E A Hollowood & Kenneth Wheatley
12 Elstree Cottages – 1900-06 Joseph North
1907 Arthur North
1934 Mrs North
1956-67 Miss L North
1968 – Christopher J Thomas

14, 16 & 18 Cowper Road

14 Rose Cottage – 1906 Frederick William Simpson
1910-24+ Henry Whitehouse
1926 William Frederick Hillier
1938 Arthur Thomas Carter, school attendance officer
1978 Lyn & Matthew Banks

16 Sunnyside Cottages – 1900 Frederick William Blake
1903 Mrs Jenkins
1910 Mrs Woodfield
1922 Charles Parkin
1935/6 Charles Viner
1968 M N Darcus

18 Sunnyside Cottages – 1900 John Foster
1906 Ebeneezer Foster
1911 Mrs Smith
1922 Mrs Jones
1924 Mrs Hodge
1926 George Hodge
1928 Henry Dines
1934 Frederick John Pearce
1935/6 Edmund James Wheele

20, 22 & 24 Cowper Road

20  Belmont Villas – 1900 Henry Pearce
1903 Mrs Wooston
1910 Charles Edward Brooks
1911 Henry Joseph Ide
1913/14 Frederick William Woolston
1922-28+ Arthur William Woolston
1930 Ernest Frederick Arnold
1935 -1962+ Mrs Tebb – not listed 1964;
1969 Derek Field
1970 Christopher Morgan
1972 Stephen J Dinnage
1973 Peter G Stops
20A 1968 Adrian P Appleby
1969 Richard J Franklin
1971 Rt A Bowskill
1972-3 Colin Fletcher
1974 Michael Weston
22  Belmont Villas – 1900 Henry John Woolston
1922-24+ Stanley Woolston
1926 Ernest Frederick Tassell
1938 Charles Pope
1952 Reginald G H Greene-Kenny
1956-? Rev Edwin M A Smith
1964 J E Hulstrom
1968 – David Ansell
24A 1949-? Mrs O Campbell – not listed 1964-66
1972 Michael C Fletcher
24   Belmont Villas – 1900 John Ernest Fisher
1926 Mrs J Fisher
1934 Miss J E Fisher – not listed 1935/6;
1938 Reginald Hunter Nash
1949 Alan Nash
1952 Alan E Potter
1956 Miss H Gentle
1968 Wm G H Garett
1969 David K Peace

26 & 28 Cowper Road

26  1900 William Deamer
1906 Frederick Hines
1910 Orange Villa – Harry Langley Reeve, (decorator)
1911 A W Woolston
1913/14 -?Richard Henry Combes
1926 Mrs Coombes
1935/6 – Hertbert Hutton 1932 (upholsterer)
28  1900 – 1935+ Lyndale – Daniel Nott
1938-73 Herbert Arthur Hunt
1974 Peter Jobbins

30 & 32 Cowper Road

30 1900 Mrs Winters
1903 Miss Healey
Lichfield – 1907 John Hendry
1910-11 Mrs Hollway, dressmaker
1913/14 Samuel Langford
1922 Herbert Fells
1926 Arthur John Butress
1928 Chas Viner
1935/6-38+ Percy Welch
1941/2 -52 Leopold Stubbs
1956 Gordon Sweetland

32  1900 Thomas Bazley
1903 Henry Whitehouse
Avondale – 1910-11+ Albert Osborne
1913/14 -28 Hartley Wm Hawkins
1930 George Edward Longland
1934 John Edser
1952 Mrs Edser
1956-60 Albert Gage – not listed 1962;
1964 Miss E H Gladwin

34 Cowper Road

34    

1900 Hill Crest – Col John Davis Thwaites
1903 (Stanley cottage) – Mrs Beesley
1910 Abram Dolomore Thomas
1926 Robert Finch
1938 Walter Dale (seemed to own no.36)
1941/2-1956 Alex J Maynard
1958 not listed
1960 John Wiggett
1962-66+ Ronald Osborne
1968 Ernest Everett – not listed 1969
1970 Thomas J Harris
1973 Keith Tizzard

36
1938 Walter Dale (also at no.34)
not listed in 1941/2-46;

38, 40, 42 & 44 Cowper Road

This group of houses was built by William Samwells, on his retirement from The George in 1883. He himself lived at 23, one of two similar pairs on the opposite side of Cowper Road, with a commitment to pay his share of maintaining the road. It has proved difficult to match information in Kelly’s directories with the names and subsequent numbers of these houses – but we are grateful for help from current residents, including the loan of deeds for No.44, which have been scanned and photographed for the Local History Archives. However, the gap in Kelly’s directories between 1913/4 and 1922 means that crucial information is missing.

To finance his commitment to build four houses on the plot he purchased from John Cumberland and John R Brown in 1884, William Samwells took out a mortgage from John Wright Salisbury of Limbrick Hall in 1885 in order to build four houses with outbuildings and two summer houses (were these shared?). He provided guarantees for the mortgage through a life insurance policy he had set up with Provident Mutual Life Assurance Association in 1874.

On William’s death in 1901, his wife Ann and his sons Harry and John Joseph were his executors. They were able to pay off most of the mortgage, while taking on responsibility for maintenance and rates. When Ann died in 1906, according to the 1949 Abstract of Title for no.44, her sons inherited the houses (then known as Adelaide Villa (42) and Earls Villa (44), occupied by Louise Sore and Thomas Kidman (as tenants). The outbuildings, however, were inherited by William Edward Brown (son of J R Brown who lived in Milton Road?).

In 1919 the Samwells brothers ‘assented to devise’ the houses and outbuildings to William E Brown, who in turn, in 1920, sold Earls Villa (by then known as Mystole Villa) to William George Wilson, a baker and grocer from Luton – who sold Mystole Villa to Edith Kate Le Lacheur in 1921.

It is likely that the other three Samwells properties were similarly sold in 1919/1920 to ‘owner-occupiers’. Before that the occupiers of these properties, as listed in Kelly’s directories would have been tenants. This could account for the gaps in the occupation – and changes of house-names before house numbers were assigned.

38   1900 Hill Crest – Col John Davis Thwaites (who was already there in 1891
1903 (Stanley cottage then Hill Crest) – Mrs Beesley
1910 – 1913/14 + Abram Dolomore Thomas (date of changeover unknown
1922 38 George Pawlett
1956 Mrs Pawlett
1958-60+ Geo W Bond
1962 Anthony Miller
1964 J D Ilett
1970 Ernest Hutchings

40   1900 Knebworth Alphaeus Andrews
1903 Frederick Hines
1906 -11 Wyaxye Maxwell Kidman (who seems to have brought this house-name from no.44
1918-1935 40 William Felix Turner,
school attendance officer, and enumerator for 1911 Census
1938 Mrs Castle
1941/2 Algar John Trevass
1949 Mrs R Castle
1952-60 Denis Caffarey
1962 H W Haynes

42   1900 Adelaide James Howe
1901 Trefoyle Mrs Veitch
1903 John Hadfield Wheeldon
1906 Mrs Stubbs
1922 Harry James Reeves – numbered 42
1927/8 Mrs N Jackson & 1966 Miss D Thorne
+ 1969 Thomas Jackson

44   1900-3  (Wyaxye) Thomas Kidman
1906 Mont Clair /Mystole– Henry Child
1922 44 Charles William Clear
1923 Mrs Lelashure/ Le Lacheur, Charles Wm Clear
1928 – 1941/2+ Joseph Brown Bartram
1946 Frederick James Boughen
1952-66+ Eric Artiss
1968 Stanley E Shotter

46 & 48 Cowper Road

It is not clear from Kelly’s what preceded the pair of houses numbered 46 & 48, built in the 1990s. However it is possible that it was a house called Roseneath, which was occupied by Henry Robinson in the 1891 census,

1900 James George Hemmings /Arthur Arthur Bracey, coal merchant
1903 Miss Towne, H E Simpson
1906 Bertram Lawrence
1907 Alfred Eccleston
1910 James Snoxell assistant insurance supt

Then entries for Roseneath cease.

Instead E C Jarvis, builder, is listed without a house-name or number. It is not clear whether he used the plot as a builder’s yard, or whether Roseneath was demolished. However, from 1930 onwards it appears to be the site or offices of Park View Tennis Club (E Allwright, Hon.Sec), and the entry continues as E C Jarvis and Park View Tennis Club until after 1946. From then on there is no entry in Kelly’s directories – so did this plot remain empty until the 1990s?

50 & 52 Cowper Road

50   1922 George Fossey
1926 Ernest Trott
1927/8 John Edser
1934  J G Maddy
1938  A E Heasman
1946 Arthur R Humphries & Jarvis EC & FH builders
1949-52+ Arthur Humphries
1956-58+Arthur Charman
1960 Joseph T Smith

52    1922 William A Dobbs
1941/2 – 1974+? Albert Summers

In 1976 the Eatons moved into 52 – the house had been rented out for many years and was “getting in a bad state. The only water was one cold tap in the kitchen and electricity was very basic with a large hole under dining room window. We had it all repaired and I really loved the place.” The Eatons moved to Suffolk in 1985.

54 Cowper Road

54   1907-1928 Charles  Alderton, monumental mason
1930 James Robinson
1932 Mrs Smith
1934-38+ Frederick George Chinchen
1941/2-1946+ Mrs R A Sweetman
1949-52+ Gordon Sweetland
1956 Lewis Eukkuans & Mrs Stubbs
1960 – 61+ John Martin
1964 B Davies

54A  – flat within no 54 1949 – ? Leslie G Challice
1964 J W Pescod
1968 Walter Scott

54B (Stable Cottage) Cowper Road – on site of earlier stables

The Cottage / 54B

1954 Mrs M H R Simpson
1986  Joanne Dickinson
2014 Michael Bedford

Betjeman Close, built in the early 1990s, and accessed between 54 and 56 (The Hawthorns) which was rebuilt at the same time, encompasses builders’ yards, accessed from Cowper and Upper Shakespeare Road (we hope to add a map in due course).

The Hawthorns – 56 Cowper Road

56A  possibly a sub-division of 56

1941/2-46 Percy Claridge
1949 -1963 Mrs Henderson
not listed 1964;
1966 Albert E Grey
1971 A Dow
1973 Michael Romanowski

56     The Hawthorns – House (when was it rebuilt?)  1900 William Claridge and Rev Joseph Martin (Wesleyan)
1903 Henry Williams
1903 William Claridge plumber
1941/2 Mrs J North
1952 Mrs North & Mrs S B Holt
1969 Mrs Bartlett
1971 John R Forrest
1973 Michael Morling

Yard at no.56   CLARIDGE William & Son (see advert) 1924;
Claridge & Hall Brothers builders (yard) 1941/2;
Harvey & Co, builders (yard) 1941/1;
J F Cummings builders yard 1964 (not listed 1966)
Hawkins & Smith builders 1969

58 Cowper Road

58     1900 George Coburn, carpenter – house and yard;
1922 COBURN & SON builders – tel 355 1926-1949+;

1952-62 J F Cummings, builder (yard)
not listed 1964;
1968 L C Weston, funeral directors
1970 Hawkins & Smith, builders

Possibly living in a flat/rooms alongside the business offices?

1941/2 -46+ Mrs E E Coburn
1956 Miss Willoss & Miss Forbes
1966 Arthur C Addington
1971 David Daniels

58A   1969 Kenneth H Stratton

60 & 62 Cowper Road

60    1900 Miss Thorne, dressmaker 
1906  Mrs Thorne
1922  Mrs Powick
1926  Brian Batch
1928  Thos. Henry Dobbie
1941/2-60 William Foster
1962  G E Thrussell

62    1900 -1910 Henry Porteous
Burns Cottage 1906
1911  William Di m Batchelor
1941/2 -1956+ Mrs O’Hara
1958  Ronald Sheppard; not listed 1962;
1964  E A Liddiard
1968  Michael J H Miller

64 & 66 Cowper Road

64 The Cot 1900–1910 Alexander Mutter
Hazelhurst 1906;
1911  David Maxim
1922  Stanley Claude Lawrence
1930  Gilbert Tyler 1930, from 1934-66 haulage contractor
1968  Ernest Everett 1968 + Maurice Everett from 1969

66      Cavendish Villa – 1900 – Miss Morgan
1906 Myrtledene
1922 William Puddefoot
1924 Mrs Richardson
1938-1966 Albert Arthur Ben
1968 Philip O’Donnell & Lilian Horesman

Morteyne cottages 68 to 72 Cowper Road

68      Moreteyne Cottages 1900 Herbert C Hall
1922 Mrs Belshaw
1924 James Denton
1930 Dennis Borders
1935/6 Geo Warrall
1938 Thos Rutherford
1941-62 Peter Thompson
1962-70 Gordon T Chaplin – not listed 1971;
1973 Daphne E Chaplin

70      Moreteyne cottages – 1900 Henry Brown
1922 – ? Swan & Reeve, decorators
1922 Ernest Swann
1924 Miss Swann
1926 William Herbert Curl

72      Moreteyne cottages – 1900 Frank Bonfield
1907-41+ Hall & Bonfield, decorators not listed 1946;
1953 Mrs E Bonfield
1956 Arthur Bates
1970 A Bates, plumber

74 & 76 Cowper Road

74   1900  Samuel Jarman
1903  Mrs Brooks
Waverley Cottage – 1907 Robert George Willmott
1910-1938+Mrs Matthews, dressmaker
1941-1969 Hugo Berger; not listed 1970

76  1900   Leonard Chandler
1901 Henry Thomas  Southam
1903  Ernest Swann
1906 Mrs Elmes
Clewer Cottage – 1913/14 – 1926 Mrs Waller
not listed 1927/8;
1928  George Hawkes
1932  Richard Smith
1934  William Border
1935/6 Rt Hockey
1941/2 John Haydn Yates
1958  Charles Floyd

78 & 80 Cowper Road

78  1900 Albert Edward Davis, laundry 1901;
1903 Bushy Villa – James Claridge
1911-38+ Charles Brett
1941/2 Frederick Penny
not listed 1952;
1956 Rt Liddle

80   1900 George Haines
1903 George Alan Thody
1906 George Sanderson
1907 Myrtle Villa – Frederick Rose
1910 Frank Thorn
1911 Jesse Hunt
1913/14 Frederick Redrupp
1922 William Boreham – not listed 1930;
1932 Frederick Wm Hull, decorator HULL F W & SON, est 1919, decorators. (Tel 3655) 1952

82 & 84 Cowper Road

82  1900  Mrs Chew
1906 Mr Chew
Maisonnette 1913/14;
1922-32 Robert Bent
1935/6-1966 Edward Curl
1968 Edward Curl jun

84  1901 J Knight
1903 Whitton House – Frederick Placemen
1906 Frederick Reeve
1910 Haslemere– Harry G Thorn
1913/14 Jesse John Hunt
1922 Ernest William Wright
1923 John H Dodds
1927/8 Thomas Firmin
1928 George Button – not listed 1930;
1932 John Munday
1949 Walter Hunt
1956 Ernest W Hunt
1962 P D Sutton

86 & 88 Cowper Road

86 Madeira Villas 1900 Henry J Lawrence
1903 Richard Archer
1013/14 Richard Webb
1922-38+ Mrs Tott
1941/2 Edward M Chapman
1946 Frank Lawrence

88 Madeira Villas 1900 James Claridge
1903 Arthur Ashwell
1913/14 Harry Beckley
1930-1936 Cyrille Garwood, Mrs Garwood
1938 George Paddison
1964 Mrs B E Paddison – not listed 1971;
1972 David H Cairns

90 & 92 Cowper Road

90   Laurel Villas – John Hadfield Wheeldon 1900 – not listed 1903;
1907  Frank Ernest Hitchcock
1910  Walter Archer 1910
1911  Hartley William Hawkins
1913/14 Laurel Villa – Alfred Tott
1922  Lewis Noy 1922
1927/8  Joseph Ives 1927/8
1930  Mrs Luck 1930
1935/6 Leonard George Rolph
1941/2 Arthur Dawes

92  Laurel Villas 1900 Henry William Child
1906 John Dowling
Foxcotte 1913/14
1926-?Mrs Dowling
1938 Albert Everett

94 & 96 Cowper Road

94    Was this Business premises, then a house?

1900 Frederick Hall, builder
1903-38 Hall Brothers builders
1941/2-1946 Claridge & Hall Bros Builders Yard
1948-c.1956 Frank Bentley & Son builders  not listed 1958

1934 Hector Hall
1938 George Henry Baulk
1949 Mrs A N Baulk
1958 Paul Klein – not listed 1962;
1964 R Metcalfe; 1966 Robin Skilton; 1968 R Metcalfe

96      Donald Ward 1972

Plan showing position of 96a, 98 and 98a Cowper Road in 1977

Digging the reservoir – seen from Granary Lane

Built on land bought from the Water company during the 1970s, 96, 96a, 98 and 98a were not yet occupied when the last volume of Kelly’s directory was published in 1974.

96A Cowper Road with a former entry to the Water Works alongside

98 and 98A Cowper Road

100 Cowper Road

102 Cowper Road

104 & 106 Cowper Road

100   1958  Terence Steenson
1962  Arthur Foxwell
102   1958  Stanley Potter
104   1958  Derek White
1968  Harold Pearman
106   1958  John Lines

108 t0 118 Cowper Road

Finally, the last plots in Cowper Road were developed as part of the Gilpin Green development, with a group of maisonnettes on the corner of the Green in 1963.

Extract from 1924 OS map

Trees which survived from the Granary Farm estate

A few trees which formed an avenue up to Granary Farm have survived diagonally across the Green.