Who lived in your house in 1935?

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Permalink Reply by Teresa Wilson 15 hours ago

Thank you 😊 

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Permalink Reply by Hugh 13 hours ago

Not at all surprised about that spelling, Michael. With the unexplained exception of the 1873 Ordnance Survey map, Harringay House had pretty much without exception always been spelt Harringay.  Despite the best efforts of Hornsey Council, that was carried on with pretty much everything in the neighbourhood as it developed, both sides of Green Lanes.

There was no question about what the area was called and how it was spelt. No question, EXCEPT for a few staff at Hornsey Council who in the late nineteenth century took it on to themselves to promote the -ey spelling for the Passage and for the electoral wards of North Haringey and South Haringey. On the other side of Green Lanes, Tottenham Council followed local usage and spelt their two wards in this part of that borough with the -ay form.

Further west, although Kelly's Directories towed the Hornsey Council line on spelling road names, on the 1890s Ordnance Survey maps, we had Harringay Park, off Crouch Hill,  Harringay Road off Middle Lane and Harringay Grove off Turnpike Lane. By the time the Ordnance Survey (OS) published the 1915 maps, they too had been whipped into line by the burghers of Hornsey and all three roads had been changed to the -ey spelling. However, Harringay Great Northern line station has always been Harringay (or Harringay West) and the one on Green Lanes, despite its four name changes always included Harringay in the name. Tram and bus companies made the same choice and the London North Mercury and Crouch End Observer newspaper even had a section called "The Harringay Mercury". Like many local newspapers at the time the well known Holloway Press had a short title and a full one. It's full title was the rather cumbersome Hollway & Hornsey & Harringay & Muswell Hill Press (no wonder only the shorter version was habitually used!). On the Tottenham side of Green Lanes, Kelly's and the OS used the -ay form for Harringay Road and Harringay Villas.

Local custom also almost universally stuck with the -ay from. As advertisements attest, all local businesses used it without exception and local newspapers and surviving letters and postcards show that local people almost universally made the same choice.

It's a mystery why Hornsey Council cared. I assume that one individual had a bee in his bonnet in the 1890s, bent the right committee member's ear and before long the organisation had taken a position, from which, it quickly decided it was not to be moved by anything so inconvenient as common usage or ratepayer opinion (despite the battles it would have to with our forebears on the issue). The organisational memory remained strong enough so that in 1965 we ended up with Haringey Borough. 

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Permalink Reply by Don 15 hours ago

Thanks, Michael, for a fascinating thread that seems to have unlocked a slew of local historical memories. 

I've used Kelly's directories for research on other parts of London and they're fascinating – I daresay Hugh has, too. In case it's useful and people don't already know, if anyone wants to follow up on addresses not covered by Michael's copy and is happy to pay, The Genealogy Store (http://www.thegenealogystore.co.uk ) may be worth a look. It has downloads of some complete 1930s and earlier Kelly's for the whole of London (and some smaller areas, though not Harringay/Hornsey as far as I can see) for £6.99 each, though the full London volumes are very, very big files that take ages to load and use quite a lot of disc space! However, if you've ever wanted to know Winston Churchill's phone number or the home address and clubs of Major-General Vernon Kell, founder and first Director of MI5, they're both in the 1938 edition if you dig into it.....

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