Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Katherine Mansfield Beauchamp, the well known New Zealand writer had Haringey roots.

Her Great Grandfather, John Beauchamp (1781-1852) lived in at least three different addresses in Haringey during the mid-nineteenth century - Hornsey Lane, the Allhallows parish of Green Lanes, and finally, Clay Hill (now known as Devonshire Hill).  He was a businessman who invented a form of imitation silver which he patented as British Plate, but he was more interested in the company of writers and artists and was even referred to as the 'poet of Hornsey Lane' following the publication of one his poems in the local press.

Katherine's Grandfather, Arthur (1827-1910) was born in Highgate and lived in Hornsey Lane as a child. His father's business had folded so he headed off to New Zealand where his aunt had acquired many acres of land in the Wellington district.  Arthur then moved to Australia where Katherine's father, Sir Harold Beauchamp was born in 1858, and the family then moved back to NZ for good.

Interestingly, there was a house in Hornsey Lane called Wanganui which was owned by an architect called Walter Graves who lived there from about 1885 - and the Beauchamp family lived in Wanganui, NZ from approximately 1869 to 1876...

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I love this! Thank you!

You're welcome! If you ever find out what the Wanganui connection is, even if there is one, please let me know.  It has been driving me mad!

Well Angela, my sister and her family lived in Wanganui for a couple of years (I'm from Wellington).

Thanks for this :) Katherine's book The Dolls House made such an impression on me as a youngster, and I was born in Wanganui. I knew about her various esoteric interests but not about the Wanganui connection. How interesting. Thanks

Thanks to Karl for linking this thread to the a photo of Wanganui, the house in Hornsey Lane.

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