Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
The name Chettle, as in Chettle Court
Chettle Court, between Ridge Road and the railway line, Hornsey, N8.
I must start by acknowledging the information supplied by Valerie Crosby at Haringey archives, who has been very helpful.
This is family rather than local history, but if anyone wonders about the name Chettle Court there may be some clues here.
There was a family named Chettle living at 76 Ridge Road at the time of the 1939 survey. There is no record in the Haringey archives to confirm that this family had anything to do with the name, but given their status, it seems quite possible. Here are the four residents at no 76 from the 1939 survey, I have added some details:
[1] Henry F[rancis] Chettle (born 23 December 1882, died 5 February 1958, buried in Christ Church Churchyard, Crouch End) a civil servant working for the Imperial War Graves Commission, since renamed the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), Their web site adds the information that he was born in Toxteth, Liverpool and married Mary M. Morris in 1914. She died in 1919 from Spanish flu, of which there was an epidemic in that year. He remarried, in 1921, with
[2] Louisa Chettle (nee Saunders) born 27 Jun 1884, for whom the 1939 entry reads ‘unpaid domestic duties’.
[3] George H[ulbert] Chettle, born 4 September 1886, a civil service ‘Inspector of Monuments’, and brother of Henry. He was baptised in Holborn on 12 November that year, son of Henry and Margaret.
[4] There is also John Charlton, born 7 June 1909 another civil servant: I have not found any evidence of a family link to the Chettles, is it possible he met the them through his work, and took lodgings with them?
The CWGC entry for the first of the above, in full Lieutenant Colonel Henry Francis Chettle CMG OBE (on-line at http://archive.cwgc.org/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Persons&id=DS%...), has a picture of him (not copied here for copyright reasons) adds the following information.
He was a the commission’s Director of Records and Deputy Controller from 1919.
Although born in Toxteth, in April 1883 his family moved to Hampstead. He studied at Oxford from 1901 to 1905 (BA course at Corpus Christi), and then went on to read law in London (1907 to 1911) where he also served as a private in the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps. In 1914 he joined the Army Service Corps and was sent to France. Early duties include running a field bakery at Le Mons and railway supply work, where his knowledge of French proved very useful. His promotions were to captain in 1916, when he was attached to the Graves Registration Commission. and then to Temporary Major in 1918, when he was awarded the OBE. Lastly in 1932, Chettle was as a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG) for his outstanding services in establishing the Commission’s Overseas Joint Committees. He was appointed Deputy Controller in 1943 and then retired from the IWGC in 1947.
The Chettles lived at 76 Ridge Road for several years: Henry Francis was there at the time of both the 1901 and 1911 censuses with his brother George Hulbert and his father Henry Chettle, the last a widowed school master from Manchester whose older sister Eliza was born in Stockport. Henry senior remained at that address and can be traced there through the electoral registers, although in 1920 Henry Francis had moved to an address in Great Woodstock Street, London W.1. However, in 1928 he rejoined his father at 76 Ridge Road. He was an architect, an as his father was a barrister they were probably well-to-do: in both census returns there are two live-in servant listed. Valerie, the archivist, opined that ‘They would have been well-educated, with a knowledge of Latin.’
Going back further we lose London connections: of Henry Chettle, the father, is found in the 1851 census for 1 South Parade, Halifax, aged 42 (i.e. born c.1809) Wesleyan Minister born Burton, Staffordshire, his wife Jane M Chettle aged 31 (i.e. born c.1820; Ireland). There are 4 daughters of this couple, the elder 2 born Stockport and younger 2 born Lincoln: son Henry is younger than all 4, he is aged 3, and born Manchester, and has a younger brother aged 1 who was born in Halifax, where the family is residing in 1851: there are also 2 servants. So I would guess this is a relatively well-to-do family, but itinerant, and his may be because, as a minister of a church, the father was ‘posted’ wherever there was a vacancy; and I doubt that Henry Chettle (the son) had a strong link to Manchester, where he was born.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lesley Ramm on
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A Henry Chettle was headmaster of Stationers School 1891 to 1913
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Thanks for adding this.
Some while back, I also found the following. George and Henry sound like the prime candidates:
George Hulbert CHETTLE 1887-1960
George was the younger son of Margaret and Henry Chettle; the latter being Headteacher of the Stationers’ School in Crouch End, from 1881 to 1913. His mother died when George was about 9 and he and his brother were brought up by their father and his elder sister. The family lived at 76 Ridge Road, Stroud Green, Hornsey, very near to the School.
George became an architect and designer. Later in life he became quite well-known as the author of Government pamphlets on buildings of national importance, like Hampton Court.
The Chettle name is still known in the area where he lived – a housing estate built near to 76 Ridge Road and the site of the former Stationers School is named Chettle Court after his father.
George died in 1960 at the age of 73.
PS: When conscription came in George applied to Hornsey Tribunal on 23rd March for absolute exemption from military service on religious grounds. Although some branches of the Chettle family were Quakers, George’s immediate family seem to have been Church of England, as that is where they were married and baptised.
His application was refused, but the Middlesex Appeal Tribunal granted exemption from combatant service on grounds of conscience. He was referred to Mill Hill Barracks and asked to be put in the Royal Army Medical Corps, but they enrolled him in the Royal Fusiliers. It was not uncommon for Conscientious Objectors to be placed in combatant regiments – whether by accident or deliberately – but this was, as in George’s case, usually corrected later. He was transferred to the Non Combatant Corps where he remained until 1919.
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To add to my last, this from the Old Stationer's Magazine sounds pretty conclusive.
It sounds like there's a portrait of the old boy still in existence:
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.......and of course, one can't help wondering if the Elizabethan playwright and Stationer Henry Chettle was a forebear of the Ridge Road family.
PS: Here are some old photos of the houses that once stood on the site of Chettle Court.
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Here are a couple of reports of Chettle's progress, including a local link prior to Stationer's:
Southern Reporter - Thursday 28 December 1876
West Somerset Free Press - Saturday 13 November 1880
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Permalink Reply by Joanna Bornat on
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Yes George Hulbert Chettle was a conscientious objector in World War One as the quote from the Haringey First World War Peace Forum shows but it would be good if, using the text from the site, it was quoted accurately. For some reason which I don't understand, it's been reorganised and a 'PS' inserted. This appends his commitment rather than centering it. People who are interested in Haringey's First World War CO's can find the full list of 350 men at https://hfwwpf.wordpress.com and may also know that there is a plaque commemorating their resistance to war outside the Salisbury Hotel.
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Permalink Reply by Richard Woods on
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Fascinating. It is an old Anglo Saxon name I believe and is comparable with Cheadle - places in Cheshire and Staffs; and that may be significant from what you find. There is also a village in Dorset called Chettle.
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