History of South Norwood
South Norwood is an urban town and in south London, England, in the London Borough of Croydon. It is a suburban development 7.8 miles south-east of Charing Cross. South Norwood is an electoral with a resident population in 2001 of just over 14,000. A tributary of the River Wandle, which rises in Merton, ends in South Norwood.
The south-eastern side of the town is dominated by the 125-acre (0.51 km2) country park which opened in 1989. At the other northern end of the town is South Norwood Lake, which was created after the reservoir for the unsuccessful Croydon Canal went out of use. It is used by the Croydon Sailing Club and local anglers who fish for carp, bream and perch.
Together with Norwood New Town, it forms the ward of South Norwood in the local authority of Croydon. There are two secondary schools in the area along with a public leisure centre. The town has a high street which forms part of Selhurst Road which includes a number of banks, estate agents and a coffee house. It is a commuter town, with many residents travelling to either the financial and insurance districts of Croydon or the City of London for employment via the large railway station. The town and surrounding areas are covered by the London SE25 postcode.
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. He was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction.
William Ford Robinson Stanley
William Ford Robinson Stanley (2 February 1829 – 14 August 1909) was a British inventor with 78 patents filed in both the United Kingdom and the United States of America. He was an engineer who designed and made precision drawing and mathematical instruments, as well as surveying instruments and telescopes, manufactured by his company "William Ford Stanley and Co. Ltd."
Stanley was a skilled architect who designed and founded the UK's first Trades school, Stanley Technical Trades School, as well as designing the Stanley Halls in South Norwood. Stanley designed and built his two homes. He was a noted philanthropist, who gave over £80,000 to education projects during the last 15 years of his life. When he died one of his homes was used as a children's home after his death, in accordance with his will.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Coleridge-Taylor was born in 1875 in Holborn, London, to Alice Hare Martin, an English woman, and Dr Daniel Peter Hughes Taylor, a Sierra Leonean Creole. They were not married. He was named Samuel Coleridge Taylor. His surname was Taylor, and his middle name of Coleridge was after the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. His family called him Coleridge Taylor. He later affected the name Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, allegedly following a printer’s typographical error.
Daniel Taylor returned to Africa by February 1875 and did not know that he had a son in London. He was appointed coroner for the British Empire in The Gambia in the late 1890s.
Coleridge-Taylor was brought up in Croydon by Martin and her father Benjamin Holmans. Martin's brother was a professional musician. Taylor studied the violin at the Royal College of Music and composition under Charles Villiers Stanford (who would conduct the first performance of his Hiawatha's Wedding Feast in 1898.) He also taught and conducted the orchestra at the Croydon Conservatoire.
Brocks Fireworks
Brocks Fireworks, formally known as Brocks Explosives Ltd, was a well-known manufacturer of fireworks, founded in London and subsequently based in Hemel Hempstead, Dumfriesshire and Norfolk. The company was taken-over by its rival Standard Fireworks in 1988.
Brocks was founded in the early 18th century in Islington by John Brock and it is thought to have been the oldest British firework manufacturer.
In 1825 the factory was located in a residential area in Baker's Row, Whitechapel: it was blown up when a boy who was ramming gunpowder into a fire-cracker accidentally created a spark which ignited it, and threw it aside as he ran out in fright. Fifty pounds of gunpowder and a large amount of saltpetre exploded immediately, blowing the roof off, setting fire to the building, and smashing every pane of glass in most of the adjoining streets.
The company moved to south London, to South Norwood and Sutton and developed an association with Crystal Palace, devising spectacular free public displays (known as "Brock's Benefits") and adopting "Crystal Palace" as a brand name.
