LOOKING BACK WITH DR JONATHAN OATES
Ealing and
the First
World War
writing: ‘It is a great satisfaction to live in your own
house, but more especially when the place is one of
your own making, and has existed in your mind
as regards its principal characteristics many years
before it actually came into being.’
They held an annual garden party each summer.
Harris enjoyed showing off his collection of
Rembrandts and other illustrations and rare books
to his visitors. In 1871 he wrote: ‘They seemed much
pleased with my books and prints, and there was no
lack of talking or of life.’
Being comfortably off, he was able to devote
his time to his interests, which were chiefly
historical and legal. His chief claim to fame was
his unsuccessful attempt to establish the Historic
Manuscripts Commission.
It was a small household; in 1881 the couple had
only a cook and a housemaid living with them. His
grandson remembered him as ‘a good raconteur, a
bon-vivant and an excellent host’ and his wife was
recalled as ‘a woman of strong character, held the
purse strings tightly all her life.’
Harris died in 1890 and the property reverted to
his wife’s family. It was let to various tenants over the
subsequent decades, usually army officers and doctors.
In 1927 the house had two floors, six bedrooms,
two bathrooms and three reception rooms. The
grounds, of 12 acres, included a tennis lawn, an
orchard, a paddock, ponds, a greenhouse and a
kitchen garden. It was described as ‘placed well
back from the road, with long carriage approach
and lodge entrance.’
However, its days as a private house were
numbered. In 1929 it was bought for £4,000 by
Ealing Council. The house then became a health
centre in a district with a growing population and
the grounds became a park.
This year marks the centenary of the outbreak
of the First World War and there have been
many events to mark it, including a recent
talk at Ealing Central Library. It had a local
impact as well as national and international
dimensions. Did you know that Ealing was
home to several hundred Belgian refugees? Or
that support for war, at least in the opening
months, was supported by all shades of
political and religious opinion, in contrast to
the Second World War? Yet much remained
the same in the first few months; there was no
conscription of men or women taking over
men’s jobs or rationing or bombing.
Ho Chi Minh:
True or false?
Islip Park
Four decades ago it was revealed that Ho Chi
Minh, the late president of North Vietnam,
and Communist revolutionary, had worked
in Ealing prior to the First World War. A
delegation from Vietnam played homage to
their former master at the Drayton Court
Hotel, where he had been employed in the
kitchens. This interesting fact gained credence
by repetition. However, no one at the hotel had
been aware of it hitherto, there were no records
of the time which survived and even members
of the great man’s family could not verify the
story. Was the tale true or false? Find out at a
talk at Ealing Central Library later this year –
keep your eyes open for more details in future
editions of Around Ealing.
around ealing
Summer 2014
45