"Haringey or Harringay: Who Decides? Five Centuries of Uncertainty" Talk recorded and available on YouTube

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Permalink Reply by Dick Harris 13 hours ago

I was very sorry to miss the talk itself so it's great to have this video.  Thanks very much Hugh.

I notice that on one slide, John Davis living at my address, is listed for North Haringey Ward.  He was, as you know, the builder who built the house and became its first occupant.  Do you know whether he was a representative of some kind?  The equivalent of a councillor perhaps and, if so, whether he was elected on party lines?

One aspect that you didn't pursue in the talk was postal addresses.  When my house was built, it was in Middlesex and that was the postal address even though the southern (N4) part of Wightman Road was already in the London Postal Area (LPA).  At some point, the LPA was widened to include much of Middlesex and the postal districts ended up being numbered in alphabetical order. Just imagine, if our postal area had used any of the Ha spellings instead of Hornsey, you and I would today be living in N5.  Highbury would be N6, Highgate N7 and Holloway N8.

However much, the custodians of the London Borough of Haringey might wish to glorify its name, the fact is that it will never be useful as a geographical marker.  Nobody gives directions by reference to the borough and nobody refers to Haringey town centre.  If you need to explain where the Haringey Council offices are you have to refer to Wood Green.  Harringay, on the other hand, is actually quite useful when giving directions.

Given that the previous local government organisation lasted only from 1894 until 1963, it wouldn't be very much of a surprise to see the London Borough of Haringey disappear in another reorganisation in your own lifetime.  We can be quite sure, however, that Harringay will still be here and in daily use. Moreover, the name Hugh Flouch will be cited by future historians of these parts.

Admin for testingPermalink Reply by Hugh 11 hours ago

Thanks, Dick. That image shows the candidates who stood for election as councillors for Hornsey Council in 1896.

Actually I left off the votes made column on the far right so as to focus on the names part. Davis narrowly missed out to his near neighbour Faulds. A lot of builders seemed to go into politics. In my Abyssinia book, I tell stories about several builders who stood for or sat on the council and share a very public spat about the issue of builders on the Council that played out in the letters page of the local press. 

At a quick glance, it seems astonishing how few people voted in this 1896 election. However, the same book shows that by the end of the period, the ward had 1,179 houses. I assume only the males householders voted. So, with 778 votes made, the turnout was pretty good.

You're quite right to point out my omission of the postal areas. I probably should have included at least a reference to it. As I write, I haven't researched its history, either more widely or at a local level. It sounds like you might have something to add here?

As I understand it, both your house and mine were postally in Hornsey, a fact which added another layer of complexity. I'm not sure if that classification covered the whole Ladder or, as was probably the case, only those properties down to the Tottenham boundary - and I'm not sure what postal area the rest of Harringay was in; the south-eastern part of it in Finsbury Park perhaps?