Endymion Road, Part 2: a tale of one house and its fascinating occupants

1. Postcard showing three ladies standing outside the front door of 15 Endymion Road, Harringay, c1905-1910

Introduction

Last week, in the first part of this tale of Endymion Road, I shared the history I'd discovered of how Endymion Road was born and its connection with the loss of the Harringay gate to Finsbury Park and the birth of the 'Harringay Highway'. This week, I'm turning to the postcard that started this wee foray into our local history and the stories that it revelaed about the occupants of just one house in Endymion Road.

The photo in Figure 1 shows three women standing outside the front door of 15 Endymion Road, a house four doors east of the junction with Alroy Road. Taking into account the fact that it was printed on a 'divided back' postcard, which cards were only introduced into the UK in 1902, and judging by the dress of the women, it seems probable that the photo was taken at a some point within a few years of 1910.

Having explored the likely candidates, I'm going to go out on a limb and plump for the women being from the household of Frank E. Barrett who lived at 15 Endymion Road from about 1909 to 1926. If I'm right, the central figure in the photo (and I don't mean the cat) is Parisian Marie Eugenie Barrett, a lady in her mid-late 40s. To her right, on the far left of the photo, is her mother Eugenie Bertin, in her 70s. To her left is general servant Annie Bennett, whose daughter Minnie worked alongside her but isn't shown in the photo.

Francis Barrett is worth some attention, but I was intrigued to note that his story is part of a probably coincidental chain of continuity with two earlier residents of interest: his father's role with the Church and St Paul's Cathedral links to number 15's first resident and his role working as a journalist and music critic of some note links to the man who is perhaps number 15's most noted occupant. So, I'll come back to Francis a little later and take a look at the earlier residents first.

15 Endymion Road

I was able to describe in some detail in Part One what sort of accommodation the Endymion Road houses offered. Number 15 was advertised for sale in 1909 (very probably the point a which Barrett bought it). From the sparse details given in the newspaper advertisement for the sale we can assume that the accommodation was very much the same as that provided by the house described in the estate agent's particulars reproduced in Part One.

2. Sale of 15 Endymion Road, Hornsey and Finsbury Park Journal, 12 March 1909.

The Residents

Number 15 is in the first group of houses to be built on Endymion Road, to the west of the New River. By 1882 it had its first occupant.

The first resident: Rev. Dr Peter Jarbo - in residence 1882 to 1896/7

The first resident of 15 Endymion Terrace was the Reverend Dr Peter Jarbo who took the house in 1881 or early 1882. Jarbo was a Church of England minister born in 1821. With long postings in both Tasmania and India, his story is inextricably linked with that of Empire.

His first overseas posting was to Tasmania and came as the result of an 1843 report on the education of convicts in Australia, the findings of which led the Secretary of State to determine that all convicts in Tasmania should be educated. Chosen for the role of educator, Jarbo travelled across the globe with his young wife Emma in the same year as the report's publication.

The couple arrived in the far-flung colony then known as Van Diemen's Land to meet a tough set of circumstances very much in flux. Transportation of convicts from Britain to nearby New South Wales had ended by this point which led to an increase in the number of convicts arriving in Tasmania. Alongside this, the colony was in the midst of an economic depression that had begun in 1840. Not deterred by adversity, the Jarbos braved it out for five years, even starting their family there before  returning to England in 1848.

Soon after their return, Peter Jarbo was posted to Madras as a missionary. Forced home by illness in 1856, he became Curate of Epsom and later Chaplain of the Tyne Sailors Home. In 1860, he was again posted to India. He chose to travel there overland to Suez and from there by steamer to Calcutta. It must have been an exciting and challenging journey. Jarbo wrote about it in Brief Notes of an Overland Journey Through France, Switzerland and Italy To Calcutta.¹ The book was not well received in all parts. In a scathing review in the Calcutta Review, the reviewer did not mince his words:

"It is not often that Bengal Chaplains rush into print, and this proves them to be more angelic than foolish. The Rev. Dr. Jarbo has however tried his hand, and certainly proved himself to be more foolish than angelic. ... we came to the conclusion that it would be difficult to find in any book professing to come from the mind of a gentleman an equal number of pages so thoroughly saturated with bigotry and slang, vulgarity and conceit, pedantry and plagiarism."²

Arriving just three years after the so-called 'Indian Mutiny', Jarbo served in Calcutta as part of the Bengal Ecclesiastical Establishment. He became Curate of St James's Church, a post he continued to hold for almost 20 years. When he eventually returned to England for good, he arrived shortly before the death of his wife. Just over two weeks later, Jarbo married Ellen Porter who, it was said by family descendants, had been the housekeeper for Jarbo and his fist wife.

Newly married, Jarbo briefly took up appointments in Scotland and Wales before moving to Endymion Terrace by 1882. At the same time, he took up a final church appointment as Lecturer of Stoke Newington. He and Ellen stayed in the house till 1896 or 1897, when they moved to 108 Mount View Road where they lived until Jarbo's death in 1906.

The second resident: Alfred Bryan - 1898 to 1899

Born Charles Grineau in 1852, Alfred Bryan was the nomme de plume of a renowned sketch artist whose cartoons and sketches appeared in the British press for thirty years until his early death at Endymion Road in 1899, aged just 47.

3 and 4. Two images of Alfred Bryan. On the left is an undated self-portrait in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, perhaps from the 1880s. On the right is a photo that appeared in The Temple Magazine alongside an interview conducted in Endymion Road in 1898, a year before Bryan died. The photo, credited to The London Stereoscopic Company, may not be exactly contemporary with the interview.

Bryan's family arrived locally in the 1860s when they moved from Paddington to Wood Green. Born a baker's son, Bryan's first job was as a wood engraver. He had no formal training in drawing, but clearly had an artistic inclination. From the age of 17 in his spare time he started sketching for paper called The Hornet.³ By the time he was in his twenties, Bryan was becoming a sought-after sketch artist. Some years later he explained in an interview that he had, "... drifted into the caricature line."⁴

Bryan developed a particular interest in theatrical and political subjects. He became a gifted and prolific cartoonist renowned for his caricatures. His works appeared in a range of publications, in particular in the theatrical weekly Entr'acte, Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News and for the conservative satirical weeklies Judy and Moonshine.

Speaking to The Temple about how he drew his theatrical sketches, he explained:

"I don't make sketches in the theatre during the progress of the play, but after returning home I jot down rough notes, and elaborate them next morning. Fortunately, my memory of features is good; and if I have once seen anyone I find no difficulty usually in recalling the face."

Explaining the process of creating his political skteches for magazines, he said:

"... the idea of the cartoon is ' talked out' and settled, then I proceed to draw a rough sketch of it, and fill in details as I go on. ... there (are) many modifications ... With cartoons I think the chief point should be the clear directness with which they tell their intended story. Everything which is non-essential must be omitted."

Bryan was popular with the public and well-regarded by his peers. Contemporary art critic Walter Sickert described him as 'the complete draughtsman', praising his illustrations as "... unfaltering in their mastery of line, their perfect style, their elegance and wit."⁵

Frank Forbes who interviewed Bryan for The Temple in 1898, wrote that, "... among the many artists whom I have met, no one impressed me more pleasantly than Mr. Bryan."

Bryan was a family man and in 1882 married omnibus proprietor's daughter Mary Newman. The couple took a house at 19 Connaught Road in Stroud Green and went on to have four children there before moving to Endymion Road in 1898. Apparently he was then ill for some time prior to his death the following year.

One of Bryan's colleagues at the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, probably the editor, wrote the following warm obituary to Bryan in the paper on 20th May:

"In Charles Grineau, better known as Alfred Bryan, all at this office have lost a dear friend as well as a valued fellow worker. To every member of the staff "A. B." was as a brother; nothing gave him more delight than the good fortune of others, no one was more sympathetic in their distresses. And it was not alone his intimates who had cause to love and esteem him. Never a rich man, his great heart responded to every appeal; he was almost reckless in his generosity, and far too large a portion of his income so laboriously earned was expended - the cynic would say wasted - in charity. Reserving for a future occasion a longer reference to his association with this paper it may be said that he joined us twenty years ago, and never in one instance, either from sickness or absence, failed in his weekly contribution. He was as modest and appreciative of the talents of others as he was loyal to the publications to which he had once become attached. It is certain that he resisted many tempting offers which might have added to his fame, in order to keep with his old collaborators. He had been ailing for some time but so late as Monday last, when he attended with his colleague of the "Captious Critic," at the Lyric Theatre, was apparently comparatively well. He died at two o'clock on Wednesday, and his son writes me that he had practically completed the sketches of the performance of L'Amour Mouillé - brave to the last, dying with pen in hand. He leaves a widow and four children, to whom the gentle domestic life which he lived will make His loss all the more grievous."

Many similar tributes appeared elsewhere in the press. As an interesting postscript to the above obituary, a month later, another short article appeared in the same paper which referred to Bryan having been able to make only "...partial provision for his family." In a sign of the affection in which the artist was clearly held, the paper started a fund, "... to complete the education of his four children, all under the age of sixteen." At the time of publication they had raised £200 (£22,000 at today's values according to the Bank of England's inflation calculator).

Below I've reproduced a tiny selection of Bryan's works which are today held in many important collections including those of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.

5. Caricature of J. L. Toole as Professor Muddle in A Spelling Bee as performed at the Gaiety Theatre in 1876, by Alfred Bryan.
(Image: V & A, non-commercial licence).

6. A cartoon by Bryan relating to the controversy caused by Charles Darwin's discoveries. The joke here is Darwin introducing politicians to their "family"- apes. There are apparently quite complicated layers of satire which rely on recognition of the characters depicted and an understanding of the related political issues of the day
(Original image from Darwin Online).

7. "Waiting for the Verdict", by Alfred Bryan. William Gladstone, standing behind a pillar outside the House of Lords in a shabby top hat and biting his nails in his anxiety. Whilst no date is recorded for the image it possibly dates from 1893 when Gladstone's second attempt to introduce Home Rule for Ireland was defeated by the House of Lords. In his Interview with The Temple, Bryan shared his particular fondness for Gladstone as a subject, "What a loss to the caricaturist the death of Mr. Gladstone is! I was always interested in watching him; his expression was so changeable."
(Image: Morgan Museum & Library, non-commercial use licence, Accession No. 308994)

8. Lord Salisbury and The Hon. Schomberg McDonnell, 1890s(?) by Alfred Brayn. In his interview with The Temple, Bryan said of Salisbury, "I must confess Lord Salisbury interests me greatly, all the more because he is so averse to conventional ways. ... He is a capital subject for a sketch, although few artists realise how tall he is. His corpulence dwarfs his height to some extent."
(Image: Morgan Museum Library, non-commercial use licence, Accession No. 309274)

9. Actor/manager Sir Henry Irving as Richard II by Alfred BryanI. Irving first played the role of Richard III in January 1877 and was knighted in 1895. The image therefore very probably dates from between those two dates.
(Image: V&A, non-commercial licence).

Third resident: George Herbert Bond: 1901 to 1908

Born in 1859 'above the shop' in Gravesend to oil and colour man⁶ Alfred Bond and his wife Sarah, third resident George Bond started his working life in his father's shop. In 1889 he and his wife moved up to 30 Lothair Road in Harringay. Bond was initially employed as a stationer's clerk. By 1901, the couple had moved to 15 Endymion Road when he was working as a 'printer's manager'. After leaving Harringay, they moved to a a large semi-detatched house called 'Rothermere' on the south side of the private road Holly Park off Crouch Hill. Something was clearly going right in the Bonds' lives!

Fourth resident: Francis Ernest Horace Barrett: 1910 to1925

15 Endymion was put up for sale in 1909, suggesting that that the fourth resident Francis Barrett may have bought the freehold rather than leased the house.

Francis Barrett was a journalist and music critic for The Morning Post⁷ who lived at 15 Endymion Road with his wife between 1910 and 1926. It is members of this household who I am guessing are in the photo in Figure 1.

Barrett's father, architect's son William Alexander Barrett was a highly accomplished writer and academic in music. He is worth a paragraph of our time before moving on to Francis. Born in Hackney in 1836, William sang as a chorister at St. Paul's Cathedral. When his voice broke he was apprenticed to a wood-engraver, but soon returned to a career in music as a choirmaster, solo singer, writer and critic. After gaining a music degree from Oxford, he returned to London where he was appointed as a Vicar-choral for St Paul's Cathedral.⁸ The following year he started working as a journalist for the Morning Post and Penny Post. In 1869 he was appointed as chief music critic for the Morning Post 1869, a role he held until his death in 1891. He was also editor of Musical Times (the longest running English-language music journal) from 1887–1891 and for brief periods editor of the Monthly Musical Record and the Orchestra. He was an accomplished organist and in 1888 was appointed by the Prince of Wales as Grand Organist of the United Grand Lodge of Freemasons in succession to Sir Arthur Sullivan. He also managed to find the time to be a published author on English church music, English folk music and various church-related themes. His works English Church Composers and Flowers and Festivals or Directions for Floral Decoration of Churches and English Glees and Part-songs are still being sold as reprints today by Waterstones, Amazon and other booksellers. Quite an act for Francis to follow!

Youngest child Francis was no doubt influenced by his father's passion for music as he grew up in Notting Hill and Brixton. He followed in some of his father's many footsteps and chose music at the heart of his life. He was educated Dulwich College and Durham University and studied singing under Manuel Garcia, the violin under John Tiplady Carrodus, the violoncello under Edward Howell, and composition under his father and ProfessorHenry Gadsby of Queen's College London.

In addition to taking up his father's mantle as music critic for The Morning Post, he wrote for other journals, including the The Musical Times and The Musician. He seems to have had a particular interest for opera.

In 1901 living at 31 Rathcoole Avenue in Hornsey, Francis described himself as a teacher of singing. Like his father he had more than one string to his bow however. Amongst his accomplishments he was a composer. In 1903, Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper said of his work, "A Song of Hope" that, "Its merits will be recognised by all who appreciate a really superior song".⁹ At the end of the first decade of the twentieth century, he worked with Sir Inigo Thomas, G.C.B., the permanent Secretary of the Admiralty to write the music for an original comic opera "Natalie."¹⁰

Perhaps as a result of this collaboration, his wife Marie (probably the lady in Fig. 1) and Sir Inigo's wife became acquainted. During the First World War, Marie was the Honourable Secretary for a society set up by Lady Emma Thomas to raise funds to buy parcels for soldiers at the front line and send them direct to the individual men.

Francis apparently freely gave of his time to help others. Amongst his charitable works, he instituted a Barrett Prize for advanced music observation, which was, according to celebrated conductor-composer Howard Ellis Carr, "...peculiarly attractive to music-teachers and children".¹¹

In a letter to The Musician after Barrett's death in 1925, Carr also wrote:

"To know him only in print was a musician's loss. The generous flow of wisdom, deep knowledge, and charming boyish gaiety of this kindly man could not but endear him to his friends.

"Besides being a critic, he was a composer of gifts. He has left behind him a score of genuine value and appeal."

Soon after Barrett died, Marie moved move out of the house at number 15, dying in Hampstead in 1931.

Fifth resident: The Brezzo family: 1927 to 1975 (or later)

After a short residence by insurance clerk Percy Willats and his family, the last family I'm covering in this article arrived at number 15 in 1927.

The son of Italian immigrant chef Carlo Brezzo¹² and Chelsea-born mother Helen, Richard Alsibiatti William Brezzo and his descendants lived at 15 Endymion Road for at least a half-century.

Richard's mother Helen was left to fend for the family after her husband emigrated to Australia when Richard was quite young. She moved the family to Brentford and then to Hastings where she ran boarding houses.

After leaving school in Hastings, Richard got a job in the Hastings Picture Palace. When he signed up for the Army in 1914 he described himself as a cinematograph film producer's assistant. First joining the Royal Sussex regiment, he was later posted to the London Electrical Engineers Division of the Royal Engineers. 

In 1926 Richard married Hackney girl Dora Gardener and by 1927 the couple had arrived at Endymion Road. That same year Dora gave birth to the couple's only child, Derek Brezzo. Richard used the skills he had learned in the cinema and no doubt in the Army and set himself up as an electrician based at number 15 and in Chapel Street, Islington (now Chapel Market).

10. Advertisement posted by Richard Brezzo in the Holloway Press 29 October, 1927.

By the mid 1930s the house at number 15 seems to have become home to two other families in addition to Richard and Dora's, one of whom was Dora's parents Fred and Edith Gardener.

Sadly for Dora, Richard died in 1936 at just 40 years of age. She continued to live in the house running it as a bed and breakfast establishment. 

11. Advertisement for B&B Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 12 October 1975.

Dora managed to buy the house from her landlord's executor in 1956 and continued to run her business there until her death there in 1976. Her son Derek stayed at Endymion Road  until 1972 when he followed in his grandfather's footsteps and emigrated to Australia.

Afterthought

It's surprisingly common when I focus on researching the residents of one particular property or street that I come up with a bunch of folk who are rather more interesting than I'd have imagined. That was certainly the case with 15 Endymion Road. I was delighted to have met the five families who lived in the house. As a group they help tell the story of Harringay and there are always bonus forays into unconnected elements of our nation's development.

Notes

1. With many thanks to the Families in British India Society who put me in touch with Michael Quin-Conroy. Michael has managed to track down a poor photocopy of the journal froma a family member and transcribe it. I am most grateful to him for sending me a copy.

2. "Critical Notices: Brief Notes of an Overland Journey through France, Switzerland and Italy to Calcutta, by the Rev. Dr. Jarbo, Chaplain, H. M. Indian Government. Calcutta,1860", Calcutta Review, Vol XXXIV, January - June 1860, A. B. Goodall & Co Calcutta. From Harvard Library via Google Books.

3. The Hornet was a satirical paper that originated locally as The Hornsey Hornet and ran from 1866 to 1867. It then moved out of the area and ran under its new name until 1880. The paper apparently attracted a number of talented individuals. Among them was George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), one of the twentieth century's foremost dramatists. Also a music critic, in 1876 and 1877 Shaw wrote his first reviews for The Hornet.

4. Forbes, Frank, "Our Leading Cartoonists I. - A Chat with Mr. Alfred Bryan’', The Temple Magazine, v3, 1898: 53-57.

5. Walter Sickert, The Complete Writings on Art, Oxford, 2003.

6. An oil man who sold oil for lamps. A colour man prepared and sold artists' and decorators' paints.

7. The Morning Post was a Conservative Newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by and absorbed into The Daily Telegraph.

8. A recent role description published by St Paul's Cathedral tells us that there are currently 12 Vicars Choral in the Cathedral Choir at St Paul’s – four altos, four tenors and four basses. At present their key responsibilities are to being a member of a world-renowned Cathedral Choir, helping to maintain its vocal standards required. This involves singing at 60% of the statutory services throughout term time. "Appointment of a Vicar Choral", St Paul's Cathedral, 2019.

9. Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper , 14 June 1903.

10. Daily Express, 2 October 1928.

11. Globe, 16 October 1915.

12. Carlo Brezzo was apparently a man with more about him than only cooking. In 1897 he filed a patent for the invention of equipment for "Improvements in the Preservation of Fish, Crustacea, and the like".

13. "If a man had a disability rating of less than 100% because it was believed he could earn a wage, his total earnings would be topped up to the rates shown above by the payment of pension. For example, a man might be rated as 30% disabled would be deemed capable of earning X Shillings per week in his given trade, and the total brought up to the rate shown in the table by the addition of pension.", The Long, Long Trail website

Sources

Many reports in the contemporary press via British Newspaper Archive in particular the North Middlesex Chronicle, the Islington Gazette, the Holloway Press.

Jarbo

Michael Quinn-Conroy, "The Man who built St. James’, Calcutta", Families in British India Journal 5, 2001.

"Critical Notices: Brief Notes of an Overland Journey through France, Switzerland and Italy to Calcutta, by the Rev. Dr. Jarbo, Chaplain, H. M. Indian Government. Calcutta,1860", Calcutta Review, Vol XXXIV, January - June 1860, A. B. Goodall & Co Calcutta. From Harvard Library via Google Book

"Obituary: The Rev. Peter John Jarbo, The Times, August 20 1906. (Via The Times Archive).

Censuses, electoral registers and Post Office Directories.

The New Annual Army List, Militia List, and Indian Civil Service List, For 1877, John Murray, London;1877.

Alfred Bryan

Forbes, Frank, "Our Leading Cartoonists I. - A Chat with Mr. Alfred Bryan’', The Temple Magazine, v3, 1898: 53-57

Collection of Alfred Bryan drawings at The Morgan Museum and Library

Collection of Alfred Bryan drawings at The Victoria and Albert Museum

Francis Barrett

James D. Brown and Stephen S. Stratton, British Musical Biography: a dictionary of musical artists, authors and composers, born in Britain and its colonies, S.S. Stratton, 1897.

Ruairidh Greig, "William Alexander Barrett - A Neglected Pioneer", published online via Traditional Song Forum.

Timothy Charles Storey, "The Music of St Paul's Cathedral 1872-1972: The Origins and Development of the Modern Cathedral Choir", thesis at University of Durham, Department of Music, 1998.

"William Alexander Barrett" on Folkopaedia.