UPDATE No 11

DEVONSHIRE HILL LANE (CLAY HILL)

Update No 4 included an illustration of the area encompassed by the River House deeds and superimposed on the present  road plan. The layout could have been significantly different. The Indenture of Mortgage of 26 March 1900 conveying the land  from Henry Kerby to John Edward Ford incorporated the plan below dividing the site into a grid of eighteen plots. In the event, the site, with adjoining land, was developed by Tottenham Borough Council in the late 1930's with an estate comprising 762 houses, 25 flats, 25 shops and 4 garages! Small wonder that on street parking is now a major problem. The plan shows the straightened route of White Hart Lane, initially designated Devonshire Parade. The previous route (at the plan bottom) was renamed Compton Crescent. The estate was bisected by the Cambridge Arterial Road (A10)   consructed on a north-south axis to the right of the plan.

SAMUEL(1)

Report in the Tottenham & Edmonton Weekly Herald Friday 10 January 1919. DEATH OF MR S SOUTH We regret to record the death of Mr. Samuel South[1], of Langhedge House, 43, Snells-park, Edmonton, which occurred on Thursday in last week. An inquest upon the deceased was held at the Edmonton Town Hall on Monday. Samuel South[2], of River House, Devonshire Hill, his son, said that the deceased had been generally in good health and was robust. Deceased had been a flower pot and brick manufacturer. He came to see witness on Wednesday morning, when the latter noticed that he looked unwell and passed a remark to that effect. Deceased replied casually "I don't feel quite up to it, boy". During witness' absence from the office the deceased became ill, and was taken home in a trap. He went to bed in the afternoon and on the following day was found dead by his wife. Thompson, said that he did not see the deceased alive. A post mortem examination showed that the heart was greatlyDr. Davis, locum tenens for Dr, Gurney  enlarged and there was rupture of the right side of the heart which evidently pointed to an aneurism. Dr. Thompson had attended the deceased, but witness had been unable to get to the records which were locked up. Mr. South[2] volunteered the information that seven years ago the deceased had been to a specialist for a rupture of a vein in the head.  The Coroner, who sat without a jury, said that he found that death was due to the rupture of an aneurism at the right ventricle, and entered a verdict of "Death from natural causes. The funeral will take place today (Friday).  Samuel(1) passed away in his sleep on Thursday 2 January 1919 at the age of 66. He was the third son of Joseph(1) and had been 15 when his mother, Emma Bright, died. At the age of 21 his father and step-mother, Mary-Ann Dutton, emigrated to New Zealand with his younger brothers and sisters. His elder brother Joseph(2) died as a result of an accident in 1897 when he was 43. There were ten children from his marriage to Alice Barnard, all of whom survived. The Pottery business, which he had bought from his father in 1874, was relocated to White Hart Lane and prospered under his ownership.

MOSES SOUTH

Judith Cranefield(NZ) has completed a detailed and fascinating biography of Moses South, the youngest child of Joseph(1) and Emma Bright. Moses was born in 1867 and his mother died the following year. In 1874 Moses, aged, 7, accompanied his father and step mother, Mary-Ann Dutton, on their journey to New Zealand together with his two elder brothers and sister and younger step sister. He later recalled being very sea sick on the voyage and that his family feared for his life. The immigrants settled in the Anderson's Bay and Fairfields areas of Dunedin, South Island, where Moses went to school. He later attended Dunedin Teachers' Training College and in 1887 was appointed to teach in Waikoikoi School, Southland, later moving to Nevis in Otago Central. Moses was a keen sportsman and musician although teetotal. Nevis seems to have resembled a frontier settlement. Judith's narrative describes the miners leaving some of the proceeds of their gold sales with Moses for safekeeping, which he recorded in an account book, so that they had sufficient funds to return to the gold fields after their revelries. In 1901 Moses married Emma Dodd and in 1903 was appointed to the Whangape Native School, North Aukland, later moving to Nuhaka, Hawkes Bay, where he taught for 23 years. From that time, Moses dedicated himself to the education of the children of the Maori population. His musical expertise and ability as a story teller, which enriched his family and social life, were important assets of his vocation. After Moses retired in 1932, he became an Elder of the Presbyterian Church. Moses died in 1949 survived by his wife and four children, Laurie, Les, Joyce and Muriel.

POTTERIES

The last of the postcards ilustrating scenes from the Potteries.   KLB 2/98