AU10/93/5

Reminiscences by Geoffrey B.Foster about life in Ampthill from 1920 to 1949

1992

From: 1920 To: 1992

including the following subjects: - Andrew Underwood was son of Ran Underwood, Norman Foster's successor in Ampthill Fire Brigade and as chairman of Ampthill Urban District Council; - Ampthill pubs; - population increase from 2,270 in 1920s to 6,500 in 1990s; - born at Uplands on the Avenue, moving to Northridge in 1925, moving back to Uplands during the Second World War; - description of the Avenue, a private road leading off Dunstable Street; - Sidney Road and Ampthill, connection with Sir Philip Sidney and house lived in by Charles Roberts, the Foster family's gardener and chauffeur, his son George had tuberculosis and lived in a wooden hut in the garden; - the workhouse, later the Cedars old people's home; - he remembered gas street lighting in Ampthill; - attending Mrs.Wildman's private school in Station Road and paddling in allotments bounding Sweet Briar Walk which led to removal from the school, going instead to Miss Hetley's at Flitwick; - Bobby Vale "deformed and somewhat crippled" ran a bus from White Hart to and from the station to meet trains; - cycling to Ampthill station as a child to watch the trains, goods trains being pulled by a Garrett engine; - James Brooke, descendent of Sir James Brooke, White Rajah of Sarawak lived in Dunstable Street; - White Hart and coaches to London also stopping at Old Bell, Luton; - [Ernest] Maycock's chemist shop; - his father's Labour politics; - clock tower in Market Square, formerly a newsagents; - markets; - Earl of Upper Ossory's pump; - Norman Foster a partner, with Henry Swaffield and his son Leslie, in Swaffield & Son, estate agents; Henry's sister Hilda was deaf; - Norman Foster head fireman of the Ampthill Brigade from 1920 to 1930; new Morris fire engine in 1928 replaced the old steamer; - Zonita Cinema in Bedford Street opposite the Fire Station, which closed in 1960, later becoming a snooker hall; its predecessor the Electric Kinema was in Saunders Piece, previously a Primitive Methodist Chapel; - Frank Peck & Son, drapers in Market Place; - Sir Albert Richardson and his eccentric C18th dress and sedan chair, a member of the Surveyors 1921 Club as was Norman Foster; - British Legion in Church Street; - The sands, Woburn Road and the Alameda (planted by Lord Holland in 1820s and named after Almeidas or tree lined roads in Spain and Portugal) with war memorial including two Welch brothers killed in World War Two [Charles Maximilian, Irish Guards, d.1945; Douglas Harold, RAFVR, d.1943], all sons of Harold, Clerk to Ampthill UDC; - Ossory Cottages in Woburn Street; - Ampthill Park, former site of Bedfordshire Agricultural Society show; - cricket, the writer playing for Ampthill for two seasons because he had a car and so could transport the team; - Katherine Cross and its inscription by Horace Walpole; - Ampthill Castle, built by Sir John Cornwall about 1415 and its association with Henry VIII's hunting trips, eventually being pulled down by 1649; - Bedfordshire Regiment training in Ampthill Park and the memorial, vandalised in 1992; - The Firs, cleared for timber in 1917, and later regenerating; - the writer's suspected scarlet fever and stay at Steppingley Isolation Hospital; - Houghton House standing in Dame Ellensbury Park named after Dame Alianor, second wife of Sir Almaric de St.Amand; - writer's early career with Bedfordshire County Council preparing plans and supervising minor roadworks and memories of watching brick lorries struggle up Ampthill Hill with Peter Dickinson; - Hazelwood Lane; - Sir Anthony Wingfield and his private zoo; - Hon.Romola Russell

item

Foster, Geoffrey B.,
Underwood, Andrew Grimmer,
Underwood, Frank Randall,
Sidney, Philip,
Roberts, Charles,
Wildman,
Hetley,
Vale, Bobby,
Brooke, James,
Maycock, Ernest,
Upper Ossory, John Fitzpatrick, 1st Earl of,
Foster, Norman,
Swaffield, Henry,
Swaffield, Leslie B J,
Richardson, Albert Edward,
Frank Peck & Company Limited,
Swaffield, Hilda,
Swaffield & Son,
Surveyors' 1921 Club,
Holland, Henry Richard (Vassall) Fox, 3rd Baron,
Welch, Harold,
Welch, Charles Maximilian,
Welch, Douglas Harold,
Katherine of Aragon,
Cornwall, John,
Henry VIII,
de St.Amond, Almaric,
de St.Amond, Alianor,
Dickinson, Peter,
Wingfield, Anthony Henry,
Russell, Romola,
Morris Motors Limited,
Royal British Legion,
Bedfordshire Agricultural Society

local fire brigades, fire appliances, animal drawn vehicles, motor vehicles, Ampthill Urban District Council, general population, gardener, chauffeur, servants, tuberculosis, Poor Law Union Workhouses, gas, street lighting, Old people's homes, private schools Ampthill, Flitwick private schools, allotments, medicine & health physical disability, omnibuses, trains, 9th built railways, Ampthill Station, Ampthill White Hart, bicycles, Luton Old Bell, chemists, Labour Party, general politics, clocks, newsagents, water provision, Swaffield & Son, deafness, Morris Motors Limited, cinema, Ampthill Electric Kinema, Ampthill Zonita Cinema, Methodist buildings, Frank Peck & Company Limited, drapers, clothing, buildings & land societies, Royal British Legion, snooker, deaths, World War Two, war memorials, trees, RAFVR, Irish Guards, agricultural shows, agricultural societies, cricket, hunting, Bedfordshire Regiment, vandalism, scarlet fever, Steppingley Isolation Hospital, Bedfordshire County Council, town & local roads, zoos, AMPTHILL, Ampthill The Avenue, Ampthill Uplands, Ampthill Dunstable Street, Ampthill Market Place, Ampthill Sidney Road, Ampthill Station Road, Ampthill Sweet Briar Walk, FLITWICK, Sarawak, London, LUTON, Ampthill Northridge, Ampthill Market Square, Ampthill Bedford Street, Ampthill Saunders Piece, Ampthill Church Street, Ampthill Woburn Road, Ampthill Woburn Street, Ampthill Park, Ampthill Alameda, Ampthill The Sands, Ampthill The Firs, STEPPINGLEY, Ampthill Ossory Cottages, Ampthill Castle, Houghton House, Houghton Conquest Dame Ellensbury Park, Ampthill Hill, Ampthill Hazelwood Lane