The Elms

Build 8 — last modified 31 October 2026

House No. 4 of the Five Houses of Wandsworth Common · built 1777, demolished c.1880

[C: Build 8 (31 October 2026) moves the plant list shared by all five houses to Part 1, Gardens. Build 7 put this chapter into the standard layout used for every house chapter (adopted 31 October 2026). Every paragraph of Build 6 is here, moved under new headings, with numbered picture captions; the editors’ notes and suggestions travel with their paragraphs. Build 6, in the old layout, is in the archive. A reader’s version, with all notes hidden, is 04-the-elms-reader.html.]

[C: Build 6 adds Henrietta's edit of 13 September, made on a copy that already included Mark's edit of 20 August, so their changes cannot be told apart: notes as H:, rewording (Mark's or Henrietta's) as DEL: and ADD:. Where most of a paragraph was rewritten, the old paragraph is marked DEL: and the new version follows in full as ADD: (without its links or italics).]

At a glance

The setting

[C: Nothing yet beyond the location given above. A short paragraph on The Elms’ position among the Five Houses (fourth from the north, opposite the Common) would go here.]

The house

Ptolemy Dean describes the house as a simple brick-built, three-storey, five-bay house in his book Sir John Soane and London (2006).

The Survey of London describes a relatively grand entrance front, with a tetrastyle portico to the piano nobile, approached by sweeping flights of steps to either side. Internally, space was tight and the planning compact but not entirely satisfactory; an eating room doubled as the entrance hall, with the main stairs in a compartment to the side. The principal reception space was a large drawing room with a canted bay, offering views over the grounds and the widened Falcon Brook and the valley in which it sat, but the two flanking reception rooms did not have easterly-facing windows, and the children’s nursery appears to have been accessible only from the basement via a back staircase. The basement contained all of the usual rooms for a country house, and the stable block was separated from the house by a space of about 22 feet to the north.

[S: I think this was lifted from the Survey book and might need quotation marks etc.]

The house was altered before 1838, according to the Survey of London, using the imagery of the 1838 Tithe map, which indicates a bay window on the south elevation of the breakfast room.

What The Elms might have looked like

The Elms is the one house of the five on Bolingbroke Grove for which we have an architect’s plan, with detailed measurements. The house measured just over 60 feet wide and 33 feet deep, with a much wider basement, and had a basement, ground floor, and two floors above.

Fig. 1. Thomas Chawner’s plan of The Elms (ground floor).

[C: Check the captions of Figs 1–3: which plans are these, by whom (Soane or Chawner), and of which floors?]

Fig. 2. Thomas Chawner’s plan of The Elms (upper floor?).

Fig. 3. Plans of The Elms, ground and first floors.

One of the houses built nearby was Broomfield House (later Broomwood House), built in 1794, roughly 15 years after The Elms. From an existing plan in New Vitruvius Britannicus (1797), we know that Broomfield House and The Elms were more or less the same size:

Broomfield House: 55 feet wide and 40 feet deep. The Elms: 60 feet wide and 33 feet deep.

Both were designed in fairly typical, classical, Georgian style. Photographs of Broomfield House and the nearby Glenelg, taken just before they were demolished, are included below as visual aids to what The Elms — and probably the other three houses for which we have no images — may have looked like.

[S: this is the place to add in the photo of The Elms, and either update or add the discovery story here.]

Fig. 4. Elevation drawing of a classical villa.

[C: Is this The Elms, or Broomfield House?]

Fig. 5. Photograph of a Georgian house nearby, for comparison.

[C: Which house: Broomfield House or Glenelg?]

Fig. 6. Photograph of a Georgian house nearby, for comparison.

[C: Which house: Broomfield House or Glenelg?]

The sale of 1821

When the owner Sir James Mansfield died in 1821, the house and 12 acres of grounds were offered for sale. In the advertisement his estate was described as follows:

“A commodious freehold residence — pleasantly situated at Wandsworth Common, tastefully disposed and adapted for the accommodation of a Family of the first Respectability … containing suites of handsome apartments on the Principal Story, with a tastefully designed entrance by a double flight of stone steps to the Hall; three capital Bedchambers, with Dressing-rooms and Water closets on the first floor, with servant’s apartments in the Basement, numerous excellent offices of all descriptions plentifully supplied with water; Coach houses, stables for five horses and other outbuildings … Farm yard enclosed by folding gates with stable; Cow-house, Cattle shed; Poultry houses; Piggery, Dog-kennel; rick yard … kitchen garden, Melon-ground; tool and rabbit houses enclosed by a lofty wall and paling … a beautiful lawn, tastefully laid out and ornamented by fine timber; a cold bath, with a constant supply of fine water … the whole estate containing about twelve acres, in high condition.”

The advert also lists a “valuable cellar of superior flavoured old wines consisting of 160 dozen of excellent Port, Sherry, East India, Madeira etc.” and eight loads of meadow hay.

Fig. 7. Newspaper advertisement.

[C: Is this the 1821 sale advertisement quoted above? Date and paper needed.]

Fig. 8. Newspaper advertisement.

[C: Which advertisement is this? Date and paper needed.]

The cold bath

The cold bath mentioned in the 1821 sale advertisement deserves special mention. It was a fashion in the 18th century for the gentry to indulge in cold, outdoor bathing, encouraged as a health benefit. The Elms had the typically grand gardens to allow for a walk around the grounds before taking the bath. This could have been in a bath house or pool, perhaps located near the brook (where there was a constant supply of water) or closer to the main house, positioned to afford a good view. The fad for cold bathing slowly ebbed away later in the 19th century.

A blog post from The Fire on the Hill (20 July 2012) describes the vogue among the 18th-century upper classes for cold, outdoor bathing, explored in an article by Dr Clare Hickman: “Bath-houses, spring-fed pools and pseudo-rustic grottoes provided a congenial environment for the gentry of the time to pant and splash around in ice-cold water, while surrounding gardens allowed space for a leisurely stroll beforehand, as recommended by fashionable physicians. Like most other health fads, the fashion for cold bathing ebbed away, and as the 19th century wore on, the increasing trend towards taking regular, hot, indoor baths would no doubt have made immersion in freezing spring water seem an even less attractive proposition.”

The estate and grounds

In 1797 the land on the Clapham Common side of the Falcon Brook was sold to the owners of three of the Five Houses, but not to Grove House or The Elms, making these two estates significantly smaller than the other three.

The family portrait as evidence

[DEL: The portrait by John Downman RA, owned by The Elms’ owner Benjamin Cole, shows a family scene in an idealised garden, painted in about 1781. The style of the period was often to depict a wealthy individual set against a grand rural background with Italianate architectural detail to enhance the grandeur of the family group; we cannot attribute every detail to The Elms, but elements such as the grand building to the left, rolling green pasture into the middle distance, and a fine horse and groom were all recorded features of the property.]

[ADD: The portrait by John Downman RA, owned by The Elms’ owner Benjamin Cole, shows a family scene in an idealised garden, painted in about 1781 (see below). The style of the period was often to depict a wealthy individual set against a grand rural background with Italianate architectural detail to enhance the grandeur of the family group; we cannot attribute every detail to The Elms, but elements such as the grand building to the left, rolling green pasture into the middle distance, and a fine horse and groom were all recorded features of the property. It is worth noting that the 18c saw a large emphasis on statuary and decorative garden buildings inspired by 17c Italian landscape painting and the Grand Tours of Europe and so were typical of grand estates. The type of trees (which could be elms in the foreground) is consistent with the trees depicted in the grounds of Bolingbroke House. INSERT portrait by John Downman]

The tithe apportionment, 1840

The apportionment book supporting the tithe map records The Elms as follows [DEL: (Flood Marsh*):]

* Both The Elms and Dent’s House are described as ‘flood marsh’ unlike the other three houses, suggesting the southern end of [DEL: Bolingbroke Grove] was of damper conditions.

[H: or Five Houses Lane?]

Planting

The plants likely to have been grown in the gardens of all the Five Houses are described in Part 1: Gardens, “General planting”.

[C: The general paragraph on plants, the plant table and its footnote, which appeared in every house chapter, have moved to Part 1, Gardens (Henrietta’s suggestion). Build 7 in the archive has them.]

In summary

In summary, the information available on The Elms provides one of the more comprehensive pictures of [ADD: all] the [DEL: overall][ADD: Five Houses in its detail of] property and [ADD: wider] estate. It was the first of the Five Houses to create a lake from the brook, and on the 1862 OS map is annotated as ‘The Elms’ — the only other house singled out by name in this way is Bolingbroke House.

The estate in maps, 1761–1868

[C: The maps in date order, each with the text that describes it. Most of the pictures came from the “additional images” at the end of Build 6; three of them repeat maps already shown and are marked. No picture of the Corris map was found among them.]

John Rocque, 1761

[DEL: When The Elms was built in 1777, the landscape was rural and open, having been agricultural — arable, pasture, and meadow, as shown by the Rocque Map of 1761. Within this verdant environment, the Five Houses were created, foreshadowing Victorian ribbon development in the mid- to late-nineteenth century.]

[H: INSERT RELEVANT SECTION OF THE ROQUE MAP WITH INDICATION OF LOCATION OF THE ELMS]

[ADD: When The Elms was built in 1777, the landscape was rural and open, having been agricultural arable, pasture and meadow, as shown by the Rocque Map of 1761 below.]

Fig. 9. John Rocque, map of the environs of London, 1761 (detail).

John Corris, 1787

[DEL: The Corris Map of 1787 shows the house sitting in a rectangular plot fronting Wandsworth Common on its west side. A tree-lined lane divided the house from rough ground characterised by poor, damp land with gravel pits. The house’s grounds lay principally to the east, down to the Falconbrook. The map shows an additional smaller detached building just south of the main house, and another north of the house abutting a similar one at Bolingbroke Grove House — likely stables or a carriage house. A particularly characteristic feature of The Elms is the exceptionally wide lake created by the brook at the end of the gardens, with damming detail visible at the north and south ends.]

[ADD: The Corris Map of 1787 (see below) shows the house sitting in a rectangular plot fronting Wandsworth Common on its west side. A tree-lined lane divided the house from rough ground characterised by poor, damp land with gravel pits. The ‘Explanation’ of the ‘Plan of Battersea Surry’ supporting the Corris Map describes the blue line and shading depicting the property owned privately, the red line showing land owned by Earl Spencer and the green line depicts the edge of Wandsworth Common. We also see a thin black line marking a slim rectangle in front of the house but outside the curtilage of the property. Perhaps they are encroachments or enclosures projecting into the Common but interesting that they protrude only about half way from the front property boundary to the track and do not take all the space between the front garden and the road or track. It is curious also that they are not in front of all five houses, only two (also Dents House) and not the entire garden frontage onto the Common. We know householders often encroached on common land to form ornamental gardens or to keep undesirables away and gradually to enlarge their property. The house’s grounds lay principally to the east, down to the Falconbrook. The map shows an additional smaller detached building just south of the main house, and another north of the house abutting a similar one at Bolingbroke Grove House which were likely to be stables or a carriage house. A particular characteristic feature of The Elms is the exceptionally wide lake created by the brook at the end of the gardens, with damming detail visible at the north and south ends.]

[H: INSERT RELEVANT SECTION OF THE CORRIS MAP]

[C: No Corris map picture for The Elms yet.]

Thomas Milne, 1800

[DEL: The 1800 Milne map shows the land marked as ‘P’ meaning ‘Paddocks and Little Parks’, suggesting the grounds had a large proportion of rough grass for grazing alongside more formal planting of trees and shrubs. At this stage the common was known as ‘Battersea Common’.]

[H: INSERT MILNE MAP]

[H: INSERT IMAGE OF ORIG AD IF AVAIL HERE?]

[ADD: The 1800 Milne map (see below) shows the land marked as ‘P’ meaning ‘Paddocks and Little Parks’, suggesting the grounds had a large proportion of rough grass for grazing alongside more formal planting of trees and shrubs. At this stage the common was known as ‘Battersea Common’. The Elms was offered up for sale in 1821 and the excerpt below describes in some detail the exterior features of the estate of Sir James Mansfield upon his death. It comprised 12 acres of land. ‘Garden lights, tools, plants, garden implements, two carts and harness, about eight loads of meadow hay’ and ‘dairy and kitchen utensils and healthy greenhouse plants’ ‘Coach houses, stables for five horses and other outbuildings........... Farm yard enclosed by folding gates with stable; Cow-house, Cattle shed; Poultry houses; Piggery, Dog-kennel; rick yard ......kitchen garden, Melon-ground*; tool and rabbit houses enclosed by a lofty wall and paling a beautiful lawn, tastefully laid out and ornamented by fine timber; a cold bath*, with a constant supply of fine water the whole [estate] containing about twelve acres, in high condition.’ The two features below merit further detailed explanations: *Cold Bath. This distinctive feature deserves special mention. It was a fashion in the 18c for the gentry to indulge in cold, outdoor bathing. It was encouraged as a health benefit and The Elms had the typically grand gardens to allow for a walk around the grounds before taking the bath. This could have been in a bath house or pool perhaps located near the brook (likely as there is reference to constant supply of water and we know some cold baths were supplied by spring water) or closer to the main house. In either location, it may well have been positioned to afford a good view. The fad for cold bathing slowly ebbed away later in the 19c. *Melon Ground. This is another distinctive feature reflecting the opulence of this estate. Melons had been fashionable as exotic fruit for centuries. For heat and enriched soil special raised beds (to contain the manure) were made out of woven hazel poles and these were fenced off in an enclosure separate to the main vegetable garden. The melon obsession continued into the Victorian era, with special melon houses being built and every grand house had its own strain of melon, selected and bred by the head gardener for the particular requirements of the house. Other characteristics of note are the selection of livestock kept. This may indicate a degree of self-sufficiency with meat, game and poultry. A rick yard was used to stack hay or straw. We can suggest that the trees may have been elm, white or black poplar, horse chestnut, oak or lime just by way of example. It is worth noting that these trees all flourish on the common today, suggesting favorable conditions.]

Fig. 10. Thomas Milne, land-use map of London and environs, 1800 (detail): “P” marks paddocks and little parks.

The tithe map, 1840

[DEL: The Tithe Map of 1840 is a gem of extra information. We can see the creation of tracks around the house for carriage and pedestrian access. The property had a circular sweeping drive between the lane and house, and unlike most of the other houses there are no trees bordering the lane by the common, lending a more open aspect to the west. Between 1787 and 1840, The Elms expanded its outbuildings considerably. The map shows a long building which may have been stabling, alongside what may be a dairy — the distance between the dairy and stables being a convenient 22 feet or 7 metres. There are also possible greenhouses to the south of the house, logically facing south and close to the area marked as ‘garden’.]

[H: INSERT RELEVANT SECTION OF TITHE MAP]

[ADD: The Tithe Map of 1840 is a gem of extra information. We can see the creation of tracks around the house for carriage and pedestrian access. The property had a circular sweeping drive between the lane and house forming a semi circular area shown undescribed although the style of the time of Humphrey Repton was to create ‘artificial’ circular shrub or flower beds. Typical of Repton style was to have paths and tracks of gravel. Unlike most of the other houses, there are no trees bordering the lane by the common, lending a more open aspect to the west. Between 1787 and 1840 The Elms expanded its outbuildings considerably. There appear almost as many outbuildings as Bolingbroke Grove House but by the time its neighbour was demolished, The Elms became one of the more significant of the Five Houses alongside Bolingbroke House. The Tithe Map shows the same small building from the Corris Map on its north boundary abutting another building with its neighbour Bolingbroke Grove House. Alongside this there is now a long building which may have been stabling as indicated in the London Survey which also refers to a dairy. The dairy is perhaps the protruding section of the house on its north side facing this long building which this survey suggests as stabling. Such a layout would naturally connect these two service areas. The distance between the dairy and stables was a convenient 22 ft or 7m There are also possible greenhouses to the south of the house, logically facing south and close to the area marked as ‘garden’. We know that at least up to 1821 and the sale of the house, the grounds boasted exotic plants and ‘fine timber’ meaning trees. Did for example the sale of ‘Garden lights, tools, plants, garden implements’ mean that the gardens had become much reduced? The 1840 map at the time of the two successive occupiers show no indication of trees unlike three of other houses whose perimeters alongside the lane appear densely planted with shrubs or small trees. It is tempting to assume that there was planting but smaller scale than trees such as shrubs. Whilst The Elms showed a substantial lake created by the Falconbrook in 1787 map, this is not shared by the other houses until the 1840 Tithe Map. This shows widening of the brook for the other houses but still the lake for the Elms is shown at least double the width of the others at its widest point.]

Fig. 11. Battersea tithe map (detail): The Elms and its grounds.

Fig. 12. Battersea tithe map (detail).

[C: Seems to repeat the previous figure. Remove?]

Fig. 13. Battersea tithe map (detail): the Five Houses along the edge of the Common.

Edward Stanford, 1862

The 1862 Stanford map [ADD: (below)] is interesting in its depiction of four recent arrivals that still exist today: [ADD: Just beyond the London Brighton and South Coast Railway running parallel to Bolingbroke Grove lies] the Royal Patriotic School (now Building), the Surrey County Prison (now Wandsworth Prison), a large plant nursery (now Capital Gardens [ADD: or] / Neals Nurseries), and the County Arms. The area was becoming more developed.

[H: INSERT 1862 STANFORD MAP]

Fig. 14. Edward Stanford, Library Map of London and its Suburbs, 1862 (detail).

Fig. 15. Edward Stanford, 1862 (detail).

[C: Seems to repeat the previous figure, more tightly cropped. Keep one?]

Ordnance Survey, 1868

[DEL: The 1868 OS map shows an increased-sized pond almost opposite this house and more trees formally planted along the common edge. References to ‘waterfall’ in three nearby places explain the damming method of creating long thin lakes from the Falcon Brook, again reminiscent of the Capability Brown method. The layout of buildings looks similar to that shown on the Tithe Map. There is a clear line dividing the more domesticated garden area around the house from the broader section of perhaps wilder grass or meadow leading down to the brook. By now Bolingbroke Grove House had gone (since 1864), and so to the northern side The Elms overlooked the newly emerging Bolingbroke Estate with smaller terraced, semi-detached, and detached properties.]

[H: INSERT 1868 OS MAP]

[ADD: The 1868 OS map (below) shows an increased-sized pond almost opposite this house and more trees formally planted along the common edge. References to ‘waterfall’ in 3 nearby places explain the damming method of creating long thin lakes from the Falcon Brook, again reminiscent of the Capability Brown method. The layout of buildings looks similar to that shown on the Tithe Map. It shows a symmetrical and formal drive up to what we assume is stabling and a possible coach house to the north of the house. The semi-circle created by the horseshoe drive and the lane is shown as planted. The ‘garden’ and possible greenhouse of the Tithe Map remains and there is a clear line dividing what looks like more domesticated garden area around the house and buildings and the broader section of perhaps wilder grass or meadow leading down to the brook. The house would have had conspicuous privacy from its neighbours on its northern boundary with the newly created ribbon development on the historic site of Bolingbroke Grove House, as indicated by the lines of trees along those boundaries. The density of trees or shrubs is greater around the house, becoming more sparsely planted in the long tract of land leading down to the brook. There is a clear line dividing the more domesticated garden area around the house from the broader section of perhaps wilder grass or meadow leading down to the brook. By now Bolingbroke Grove House had gone (since 1864), and so to the northern side The Elms overlooked the newly emerging Bolingbroke Estate with smaller terraced, semi-detached, and detached properties.]

Fig. 16. Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1868 (detail).

Fig. 17. Ordnance Survey map (small detail).

[C: Seems to repeat part of the previous figure. Remove?]

Owners and occupants

The Elms was designed by Richard Norris in 1777 and leased to him in 1778. It had a stable block and carriage drive. According to the Survey of London, it was designed specifically for Benjamin Cole and his young family. Cole was a very wealthy draper of Wandsworth and Bath, a government broker, and Sheriff to the City of London and County of Middlesex in 1782–3. He occupied The Elms until about 1800.

Benjamin Cole invited Sir John Soane to make plans to alter the house to improve its layout, which was deemed most inconvenient. A pupil of Sir John Soane, Thomas Chawner, drew plans of the existing layout, with dimensions of the raised basement/service floor and the ground floor, which survive and are housed at the Sir John Soane Museum Archive. Plans were prepared for the alterations and were shown to and discussed with Cole, but they were not implemented, and no charge was made by Soane for the preparatory work done. These plans have not survived.

From the plans drawn up by Chawner, it has been estimated that the ground and upper floors of the house measured about 60 feet (18 metres) wide, and that the basement floor measured about 100 feet (30 metres) wide. The width of the whole plot was about 500 feet (150 metres). Plots for Grove House and Bolingbroke Grove House had similar widths. The Elms was similar in size to both of those houses and with a similar sized estate.

[S: we have all of the plans that Thomas Chawner drew up — not sure why these are not included! I have these. — Sarah]

After Benjamin Cole left The Elms (c.1800), it was bought by Sir James Mansfield, who lived in it from 1803 to 1821. He was a distinguished lawyer, having represented John Wilkes on his application for bail when he returned to England in 1768.

[S: who is John Wilkes? Need to expand this.]

Mansfield became Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas in 1804 and presided over the trial in 1812 of John Bellingham for the murder of Prime Minister Spencer Perceval. Mansfield died in 1821.

The house was then occupied by John Gordon, a solicitor, and then his son, Alexander, 1823–44. It was purchased by John Deacon (when he also purchased Broomwood House); Sir Charles Forbes later became the owner of both houses. There was a short occupation by Frederick Mangles (1846–1855), an MP, ship owner, and merchant trading in India. The final occupant was Charles Lambert (1858–1870s). When the house was demolished, Lambert moved to Streatham.

[S: this just feels like a bit of a list — can we colour it a bit?]

Benjamin Cole (11 July 1739 – August 1816)

Benjamin Cole was born on 11 July 1739 to parents Benjamin and Elizabeth and was baptised on 25 July 1739 at St Benet Fink in the City of London. He was a very wealthy draper and member of the Drapers’ Company, and also a Government broker. He was appointed Sheriff of the City of London and Middlesex for 1782/3, elected on Midsummer Day 1782 by the City Livery Companies at Guildhall.

Benjamin married Harriett Steer (1755–1829) on 12 December 1776 at All Saints, Edmonton. Their first two known children were Harriett, born 24 September 1777 (died June 1783), and Maria, baptised 25 July 1780 at St Mary’s Battersea. They then had a son, Benjamin, born 25 August 1782 and baptised in Wandsworth on 16 September 1782, and a daughter, Caroline, born 7 February 1784. The family lived at The Elms, Bolingbroke Grove, from perhaps late in 1777 or early 1778 until about 1800.

The portrait by John Downman RA, shows a family scene in an idealised garden, painted in about 1781, which would suggest that it portrays a version of the grounds at The Elms.

Fig. 18. John Downman, portrait of Benjamin Cole and his family in an idealised garden, c.1781.

[C: This answers Sarah’s question below (“where is the picture?”). Owner, and permission to reproduce, to be recorded.]

Fig. 19. John Downman, the Cole family portrait, c.1781 (another copy).

[C: Same portrait as the previous figure. Keep the better copy.]

[S: where is the picture?]

Benjamin Cole died in August 1816 and was buried at Bathwick, Somerset, on 5 August 1816, aged 77. His Will describes him as being of Bathwick, late of London. He left his estate to his wife, Harriett, who died on 4 February 1829 and left her estate to her two children, Benjamin junior and Caroline.

Sir James Mansfield (10 May 1734 – 23 November 1821)

Sir James Mansfield, SL KC (originally Manfield), was a British lawyer, judge, and politician. He was twice Solicitor General and served as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas from 1799 to 1814.

Fig. 20. Portrait drawing of a man.

[C: Who is this: Sir James Mansfield, or Benjamin Cole? In Build 6 it sat at the end of “What The Elms might have looked like”.]

[S: repetition]

The son of a Hampshire attorney, Mansfield attended Eton from 1745 to 1750, and then King’s College, Cambridge, of which he was elected a Fellow in 1754. He graduated BA in 1755 and MA in 1758. Mansfield pursued a career in law, admitted to the Middle Temple on 11 February 1755 and called to the bar on 28 November 1758. He was appointed one of the counsel for John Wilkes in 1768, and was also one of James Somersett’s lawyers; Somersett was a slave brought by his master from Jamaica to London in 1769, and freed on 22 June 1772 by a ruling from Lord Mansfield (no relation).

Mansfield was made King’s Counsel on 24 July 1772. He was involved in the trials of the Duchess of Kingston for bigamy (1776) and was defence counsel for John the Painter (1777). He became Chief Justice of Chester in July 1799 before becoming Chief Justice of the Common Pleas on 24 April 1804, receiving a knighthood. As chief justice, he presided over the trial of John Bellingham, assassin of Spencer Perceval, in 1812. He resigned on 21 February 1814 due to ill health and died at his house in London on 23 November 1821.

Frederick Mangles (1794–1869)

Frederick Mangles lived at The Elms from about 1846 to 1855 as a leaseholder. He also had an address at 17 Gracechurch Street in the City of London. The 1851 census states that he was a Magistrate, merchant trading to India and the colonies, and dealer in ships’ stores. He was baptised on 1 May 1794 to parents James Mangles of Woodbridge, Suffolk, and Mary, at St John, Hackney. As eldest son he was heir to the family’s ship chandlery and whale oil business in Wapping and Rotherhithe. In 1840 he became a Director of the East and West India Dock Company.

Frederick married Mary Anne Scott on 3 May 1832 at Hammersmith. They had at least six children. Frederick died on 10 February 1869 and was buried at St Mary, Horsell, Surrey on 17 February. His estate was valued at under £5,000. Mary Anne died in 1878 and her estate was valued at under £500.

Charles Lambert (1812–1887)

Charles Lambert was called “the best judge of a Havana cigar.” Lambert & Butler was established in 1834 in Clerkenwell, Central London, by Charles Edward Lambert and Charles Butler, among the earliest British cigar manufacturers. The company operated as a private business until 1901 when it merged with other UK manufacturers to form the Imperial Tobacco Company. Apart from tobacco products, L&B released several cigarette card sets from the 1910s to the 1930s. Nowadays L&B is a brand owned and commercialised by Imperial Brands.

[S: more repetition here?]

The household

1841

The occupier of The Elms was Alexander Gordon, 65, solicitor, and his wife, Harriet, 50, and their children Alexander, 25; William, 20; Clarence, 20 (none born in Surrey); and Elizabeth, 15, and Janet, 14 (both born in Surrey). Elizabeth Gordon was born 19 April 1824 and baptised 12 May 1824 at St Mary, Battersea; father Alexander, Esq., abode Wandsworth Common. Janet Gordon was baptised 16 October 1827 at Battersea. In 1851 this family had left The Elms and were living at Widbury Hill, Ware, Hertfordshire.

Servants: Ann Harris, 30; Mary Attree, 30; Sarah Drew, 20; Elizabeth Skinner, 40 (all female servants); William Bass, 20; Richard Trent, 25 (male servants). All ages on this census are rounded.

1851

Resident was Frederick Mangles, 57, head of household, married, Magistrate, merchant trading to India and the Colonies, dealer in ships’ stores who was born in Hackney. His wife, Mary A., 40, was born in Hammersmith. Their children: Georgiana M., 10; William W., 5; and Grace M. H., 3, all born Compton, Surrey. Per Annex 1 of South Battersea: The Formative Years, the owner of The Elms in 1851 was John Deacon. The Mangles family lived at Down Farm, Compton, Surrey in 1841; in 1861 they had moved to Pendell Court, Bletchingley, Surrey.

Servants: William Killerby, 24; Benjamin Attfield, 23; Ann Raven, 51; Rebecca Spong, 20; Mary Wilder, 32; Elizabeth Jenner, 18.

1861

The head of the household was Charles Lambert, 48, married, tobacco manufacturer, born in Wallington, Surrey; his wife, Anne, 42, born in Croydon; plus their children: Charles E., 17; Allen B., 16; Louisa, 13; Jessie A., 11; Ernest J., 6 (all born London); and Gertrude, 3, born Battersea.

Servants: George James, 24, domestic coachman; Ellen Grant, 45, cook; Sarah Seagar, 23, servant; Hannah Skeats, 33, servant; and Rachael Skeats, 20.

1871

The Elms had many occupants: Charles Lambert and his wife, plus six of their children, a daughter-in-law, and granddaughter.

Servants: M. N. May, 23, domestic nurse; Eliza H. Dyer, 20, parlourmaid; A. M. Baker, 25, housemaid; E. M. Dyer, 26, domestic nurse; Susan Bridges, 24, cook; Jane Alford, 19, domestic nurse; Stephen ____, 19, groom.

Lambert family notes: Charles Lambert was born 1812 at Beddington, Surrey, died 1 September 1887 at Oak Hill Place, Leigham Court Road, Streatham. He married on 10 August 1842 Ann Brooker, born 1820, in Croydon. Charles Lambert died in 1887 and in his Will he left an estate of £75,832. He lived at Oak Hill, Streatham, and had a business address of 141 and 142 Drury Lane. Lambert & Butler cigarettes were launched in Clerkenwell in 1834 by Charles Edward Lambert and Charles Butler, among the earliest British cigar manufacturers. Lambert & Butler operated as a private business until 1901 when it merged with other UK manufacturers to form the Imperial Tobacco Company.

[C: The servants’ lists for each census could be set out as tables, as in Bolingbroke House.]

Live-in servants at The Elms

Ann Raven is listed as a servant on the 1851 census at The Elms; the order in which servants are listed suggests she was the most senior female servant. She was a widow, aged 51, born in Enfield. Research suggests she was a cook; in 1861 she appears working in Wandsworth, and in 1871 she was living alone at 73 Vauxhall Street, Lambeth, a widow aged 76, with the tantalising occupation ‘kept by children’. She is another rather shadowy figure, for whom little further information could be found.

Rebecca Spong was aged 20 in 1851 and a live-in servant at The Elms and was born either in Compton or Worpleston, Surrey, probably baptised 20 June 1830. She was found on one later census, in 1901, living at 20 Scylla Road, Peckham Rye, single, retired housekeeper. Rebecca died on 6 March 1904 and her Will states that she, a spinster, leaves her estate of £355 4s 10d to a Thomas Spong.

The end of the house

From the Survey of London, we learn that in 1877 Sir Charles Forbes of Broomwood House died, and within three years his executors had sold his estate, then known as Broomwood Park, along with part of the Dent’s House estate and The Elms, which Forbes had also acquired. All were sold to John Cobeldick, builder of Stockwell. By 1881 builders were at work and the west ends of Broomwood and Honeywell Roads, with small frontages to Bolingbroke Grove, were laid out.

Fig. 21. Auction advertisement for the building materials of “The Elms”, Bolingbroke Grove, to be sold on Tuesday 10 November (1880) by Harry Foster & Co., “to clear the site”.

[C: Paper and date of the advertisement needed.]

Fig. 22. Ordnance Survey map of the site after demolition.

[C: Which edition and date?]

Fig. 23. Later Ordnance Survey map: the new streets over the site.

[C: Which edition and date?]

Fig. 24. Later coloured map of the area.

[C: Which map and date?]

Sources

[C: No sources are listed yet for this chapter (Build 6 had no Sources section). Ptolemy Dean, Sir John Soane and London, and the Survey of London are cited in the text.]

[C: The pictures below were among the “additional images” at the end of Build 6. They are photographs of typed pages of an earlier draft of this chapter (one shows a long ground plan). They are kept here for the editors to check, and are left out of the reader’s version.]

[C: Small changes made in this layout: the opening facts set out as a table; old headings (“Info Sheet”, “History of the Site after Demolition”, “Owners and Occupiers”, “Census Records”, “Biographies of Key Individuals”, “The Elms — Grounds, Landscape and Environs”, “Further Notes: The Cold Bath”) replaced by the new section headings; all the “additional images” placed or set aside; footer links pointed at the new-layout pages.]