[The Times: Search: "Wandsworth Common"].
[BNA: Buckmaster Battersea 1898]
[BNA: Buckmaster Wandsworth 1898]
[London Evening Standard: Buckmaster Wandsworth 1898]
[NEEDS EDIT]
THE LATE SIR HENRY PEEK
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES
Sir, May I supplement your obituary notice of Sir Henry Peek by reminding your renders of the signal services rendered by the late baronet in launching the .movement for the preservation of open spaces. That involvement may be said to have first assumed a definite direction at Wimbledon in connexion with the proposal of Lord Spencer to convert the common into a park.
Sir Henry Peek, as the principal resident and the owner of Wimbledon-house, put himself at the head of the committee formed for the protection of the common ed the public, and, it is unnecessary to say, contributed largely to the funds required to finance the Parliamentary proceedings and the litigation which became inevitable.
When Lord Spencer subsequently offered to transfer his rights in the common to a body of conservators, representing both local and general. interests, Sir Henry Peck became chairman of that body, and his hospitable house was for many years the place of meeting of the board.
Sir Henry's interest, however, extended beyond the common at his doors. He simulated s. movement, attended -with like happy results, for the preservation of Wandsworth-common. He was one of the founders of the Commons Preservation Society, and in days when both legal and general opinion was still wavering he offered prizes for essays on the best means of preserving open spaces, and subsequently published six essays on the subject which undoubtedly played their part in emphasizing and guiding public feeling.
He was a warm sympathizer in the early efforts to preserve Epping Forest, and threw the weight of he position in the City on the side of the Corporation of London when they espoused the cause of the public. Some years later Burnham Beeches 'were offered for sale, together with a considerable acreage of enclosed plantation, and inquiry showed that this most picturesque common and its uiagnThoent polards ran great danger at the hand of the speculative builder. The Corporation were able and willing to buy the Beeches, but they had no power to purchase the plantation. On being informed of the difficulty Sir Henry Peek at once agreed to acquire the whole property and to resell the open woods and common to the Corporation at a proportionate price. He thus made the preservation of the Beeches possible.
h is not easy to find capitalists who are thus ready to give the public the benefit of her resources. And, speaking generally, it is difficult to exaggerate the services rendered to the community by the small number of men of means and position - who more than 30 years ago threw themselves warmly into the struggle for London commons, when most persons were inclined to think it hopeless to do more than lay a few acres here and there.
Of Sir Henry Peek's position with respect to charitable institutions it is bandy within my pry ince to speak; it is sufficient to say that there is hardly a subscription list on which his name will not be found. Re was an active governor of Guy's Hospital and A trustee and one of the most zealous supporters of tbo low1 and i Memoril FTund. Xny successive Lord Mayors bvesn him n moving the report of that -und at the annual Mansion-house meeting; he was scarocly der absent from the monthly meetings of the trustees at which applications for relief were considered, and the Toy last joumey he made to London, when really mutt to trvel, was mainly for the purpose of attending such a meeting.
When he purchased his estate at Bousdon b he rebuilt the church and erected schools before he laid the foundation-stone of his own house. And in connexion with these schools le-a pioneer in the movement-established a system of penny dimne, whirh sa -referred to by the Minister of Education in the House of Commons as an example of what could be done consistently with sound principles and to thi e I benefit of the children. Of personal kindnesses sown judiciously and unostentatiously navy miust have vivid recollections;L of such matters 03e CsDnGt speak pubEdy, suffice it to say that those who knew - Sir Henry Peel only as a man of business or as a political representative carn form little idea of the large amount of good achieved by his ceaseless energy, save; brin and! warm heart, durinir a life whicli, t I it has passed the proveida1 ntbee score years and -ten,bass ended aU too:SOon for a wide circle of
[Source: Robert Hunter, "The Late Sir Henry Peek." Times, 2 Sept. 1898.]
Wandsworth Common (183 acres) is a very long strip of ground, unfortunately very narrow, with long monotonous rows of red brick houses, hideous in their uniformity, at its sides. Here there is no attempt at disguise, no illusion of distance, no effect of openness left: the cheap speculative builder has been permitted to spoil it all. A railway line which cuts very nearly through the whole length of the common still further detracts from its value as a breathing-space.
The broadest part of the ground at its western extremity has a good deal of furze growing on it, and here the common joins an extensive piece of ground, park-like in character, on which stands an extremely picturesque old red brick house. When this green space is built upon Wandsworth will lose the little that remains of its ancient beauty and freshness.
Among the small birds still to be found here is the yellowhammer, and it strikes one as very curious to hear his song in such a place. Why does he stay ? Is he tempted by the little bit of bread and no cheese which satisfies his modest wants - the small fragments dropped by the numberless children that play among the bushes after school hours?
The yellowhammer does not colonise with us; he goes and returns not, and this is now the last spot in the metropolis within four miles and a half of Charing Cross where he may still be found. He was cradled on the common, and does not know that there are places on the earth where the furze-bushes are unblackened by smoke, where at intervals of a few minutes the earth is not shaken by trains that rush thundering and shrieking, as if demented, into or out of Clapham Junction. I fear the yellowhammer will not long remain in such a pandemonium.
The people of Wandsworth are hardly deserving of such a bird.
[WC_pp245_246_from_BIRDS_HUDSON_BIRDINLONDON_1898_birdsinlondon00huds.pdf]
Hudson, chapter on SW London, pp 237 - 269 (pdf).
"an extremely picturesque old red brick house." Where was this?