Abraham Cowley was born in London in 1618. He was educated at Cambridge University, but was expelled after refusing to sign the Solemn League and Covenant. In 1644 he joined the exiled English court in France where he was appointed…
Agnew Nicholson was the son of a ship’s broker, born in Greenwich, London in 1876. He was educated at the Annan and Dumfries Academies and qualified as a chemist, before enlisting for service in the Boer War. On his return…
Albert Smith was born in 1816, the son of a Chertsey doctor. He initially followed in his father’s footsteps, but soon abandoned medicine in preference of his real passion, drama and literature. Between 1843 and 1851 he wrote at least…
Charles James Fox was born in 1749, the third and favourite son of Henry Fox, later Lord Holland. From an early age Fox became infatuated with gambling, losing small fortunes at cards, such debts were always settled by his father.…
Edward Stevens was born in Send and became a semi-professional cricketer. He worked as a gardener on the riverside estate of his patron, Lord Tankerville, at Mount Felix in Walton. It was Tankerville that introduced Stevens to cricket. He gained…
Two generations of the Eldridge family of bell-founders worked in Chertsey from about 1619 until 1716. Bryan Eldridge was the son and grandson of bell founders of Wokingham. He died in 1640, leaving his bell house and all his working…
Frank Galsworthy lived and worked as an artist in Chertsey for most of his adult life, almost 70 years. He is known mainly for his paintings of flowers and plants, though he also produced a number of idyllic landscapes. Galsworthy…
The history of James Douglass, the clock-maker is complicated by the fact there must have been a succession of clock-makers of the same name. The Douglass whose clocks are shown in the Museum is recorded in local directories as having…
John Augustus Tulk was born in Addlestone in August, 1882. He was the last in line to a distinguished local family, and lived at Ruxbury House, St. Ann’s Hill, Chertsey. After reading law, John became a solicitor, but ceased practice…
Keith Moon was born in Wembley, London on 23 August 1946. At the age of 12, he joined his local Sea Cadet Corps where he was soon promoted from bugle player to drummer. By the time he was 17, he…
Henry VI was born in 1421, the only child of Henry V and Catherine of Valois. Henry came to the throne as an infant after the early death of his father. In name he was King of both England and…
Manwaring Shurlock wrote `Tiles from Chertsey Abbey Surrey representing early romance subjects’, published in 1885. The book followed the accidental discovery of Medieval tiles on Chertsey Abbey Estate in 1852. Shurlock had been studying encaustic tiles in Eynsham, Oxfordshire, but…
Mary Ann was born in Lyne and lived in the district all her life. She married Mr. Albert Blaker, and took over his job as Chertsey Town Crier in 1914, when he was called up for service in the First…
Elizabeth I was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. She became the Queen in 1558 and reigned for 44 years. She was the last of the Tudors, having entertained many marriage proposals but she never married or had…
George Ayscue came from a distinguished Lincolnshire family, and was knighted by King Charles I in 1641. However during the English Civil War he supported the Parliamentarians and served as a captain in their navy. After serving as governor of…
Thomas was the son of John Sheppard Daniell, the lessee of the Swan Inn at Chertsey. In 1763 he was apprenticed to a coach-builder, a Mr Maxwell, where he learnt the elementary skills of painting. After completing his apprenticeship in…
Thomas Love Peacock is one the most unusual and little known authors of the 19th century. Peacock was born in Weymouth in 1785, his father died when he was very young and consequently he grew up at his grandfather’s house…
William Anthony Herring was the third generation of the Herring family to run their successful ironmonger and foundry business in Chertsey. His grandfather Anthony Herring founded the business by 1814 and his father, William, expanded the firm in its Gogmore…
