The Bath Inn, Handle Street, Sneinton Market. Photo: Louise Hunter
I touched on the history of The Bath Inn when I looked at Nottingham’s Art Deco Pubs, but since then I met a descendant of Thomas Losco Bradley (the owner of the Midland Brewery, originally responsible for refurbishing the pub in Egyptian style), so I thought I’d delve a little more deeply into the story.
There is an older building, originally built in the 1820s, beneath the 1928 refaced exterior of The Bath Inn, which itself has been restored and reinvigorated by the present publican, Piers Wheatcroft Baker.
Before it was refurbished in the 1920s, the landlord was Frederick Knibb (possibly seen in the photo above). The name above the door is a previous landlord, Thomas Bagshaw (c.1885). By the time the work was done on the exterior, the landlord was Tom Hollingworth, who had previously been a tobacconist. His wife Annie carried on running the pub after his death in 1934 until at least 1939.
The pub is a Listed Building described as stucco with a faience pubfront (the glazed tiles are typical of those used in many 1920s and 1930s buildings). It has a rebated, rounded corner and on both sides, the now-rare Egyptian stylings are visible in the ornamented cornice and the columns with bunched reeds as capitals around the doors. There are giant Egyptian pilasters with decorated capitals down the length of the building, now partly hidden behind the hanging baskets.
Ancient Egypt was all the rage in the 1920s thanks to the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922. Read more about it on Historic England’s blog.
In the 1920s, The Bath Inn was one of the tied houses belonging to The Midland Brewery, owned by Thomas Losco Bradley. The Midland Brewery was then based at 119 Northgate, New Basford, but had begun in the late 1890s when Bradley started brewing ales at the pub he kept on Raleigh Street, The Barleycorn (now demolished).
Thomas Losco Bradley was the son of Thomas Bradley, who had run another pub in Radford, The Cricketers Arms on Alfreton Road. They were at the Cricketers in 1881 but by the time of the census in 1891, the Bradleys had moved to The Barleycorn.
Thomas Losco Bradley took over The Barleycorn from his father and began brewing his own beers. He lived at Second Avenue, Sherwood Rise, with his wife Alice and son Thomas Losco Bradley Jr.
Football News, 1892 (BNA)
Around 1907 the business expanded and Thomas Losco Bradley purchased the brewery building on Northgate, New Basford from Madden & Dell. By now the company was called The Midland Brewery and their beers came to be known (in their advertising at least) as “Bradley’s Brilliant Ales.”
In 1928, Bradley’s Ales were awarded First Prize at the Brewers’ Exhibition in London. Perhaps The Bath Inn was refitted in celebration of this victory?
Thomas Losco Bradley was a well-known figure locally. He owned racehorses and as master of the Rufford Hunt, was often photographed in The Tatler mingling with the county set. His wife bred Fox Terriers at their home Munden House and was featured in The Ladies’ Field magazine in 1917 with her dogs, who all had the pedigree name ‘Cromwell’.
The Tatler 1928 (Archive.org)
At the time of his death in 1930, Thomas Losco Bradley Snr had moved to Holly Lodge, Oxton and he was buried in his pink hunting kit after a service at St Barnabas Cathedral. His ‘favourite lemon and white smooth haired Fox Terrier, “Nettle”, with a black bow round its neck attended the funeral’. (Granthan Journal, 5 April 1930).
The Brewery continued to be run by his son Thomas Losco Bradley Jr, with several tied houses, many of which are still Nottingham pubs today, including The Sir John Borlase Warren, The King William (aka The Billy), The Hand in Heart, and The Foresters (New Foresters), along with several outside the city.
Sir John Borlase Warren, Canning Circus, Nottingham, as a Bradley’s pub. (Photo: Brewery History)
In 1954, Shipstones purchased the brewery and its pubs, The Bath Inn and the others became Shipstones houses. In the 1990s, it was briefly a Greenall’s pub, and for a while it was part-pub, part-fish and chip shop.
It closed down, but in 2021 was reopened by Piers Wheatcroft Baker, who has gone on to do great things. He has restored the exterior and added an Art Deco flavour to the inside of the pub, along with many characterful elements worthy of his pedigree – his father is Doctor Who actor Tom Baker and his mother was part of the Wheatcroft family of Sneinton rose growers, including her uncle, the flamboyant Harry Wheatcroft, who was born in Handel Street, just a stone’s throw from the pub. Read more about the regeneration of The Bath Inn in Nottingham’s own Left Lion or drop in for a pint (sadly not of Bradley’s Brilliant Ales).
On Saturday, 13 September I’m doing the second of my Nottingham Art Deco architecture tours for Art Deco Society UK. As I write, there are just 3 tickets remaining. I’d recommend joining ADSUK if you love all things Deco, and you will receive a discount on their events.
Since I’ve followed up my interest in Art Deco architecture, I’ve been looking for it everywhere I go. After taking note of Long Eaton’s Fothergill building, we headed to the other end of the High Street to find the former Burton shop. If you’ve been on any of my Art Deco walks in Nottingham, you’ll know that I am a bit obsessed with the shops built by Montague Burton The Tailor of Taste. The one in Long Eaton was opened in 1935 in a hail of hyperbolic publicity.
The Long Eaton Advertiser, Friday, December 6, 1935 waxed lyrical about the “mammoth building” which “stands like a crystal palace, glistening in the sunshine and adding dignity to Long Eaton’s shopping centre.”
“Montague Burton buildings are easily recognisable throughout the country by the originality and beauty of their design, but now the palace is stamped and sealed with Neon Sign Lettering, telling the world that it belongs to Montague Burton, Ltd.”
Burton Long Eaton, 1935. British Newspaper Archive.
“A magnificent structure, noble in conception, graceful in design, and occupying a prominent position in the centre of town. Impressive in appearance, and commanding the admiration of the general public, this triumph of the building profession should form an enduring monument to the vision and enterprise of Montague Burton, whose ever-increasing chain of tailoring establishments throughout Great Britain and Ireland forms one of the most interesting romances of trade.”
“The building and its two lofty storeys, with stately columns rising to the top, and crowned with a massive pediment bearing the firm’s name, which at night is illuminated, suggests solidity of construction enhanced by artistic ensemble.”
You get the gist… this was a showpiece of the Burton empire, so much so that not only did it feature The Chain of Merit Windows but also five foundation stones with the names of members of the Burton family.
However, these days, since Burton closed down in 2021, the shop is not in a great state. It’s currently on the market, and it retains part of its original shop front. So we had a close look…
Former Burton shop, High Street, Long Eaton (2025). (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)Montague Burton The Tailor of Taste, Long Eaton (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
Foundation stones laid by Lady Montague Burton (Sophie Amelia Marks Burton (1887-1957) born Worksop, wife of Montague Maurice Burton (1885-1952) (born Meshe David Osinsky, in Lithuania). Their twin sons, Raymond Montague Burton and Stanley Howard Burton (stone covered), their younger son Arnold James Burton, and Austin Stephen Burton (a nephew or cousin or possibly an infant grandchild at the time?).
An original Burton grate at street level. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)Curved plate glass windows on the side of the shop were most recently in use as a Burton. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
Upstairs, a snooker club – I wonder if this was the original use, as often Burton’s upstairs floors were used for billiard rooms.
It would be wonderful if this shop could regain some of its former glory. Fingers crossed.
Back at the Market Place, another building caught my eye, The Oxford pub, this had the words “Therm House” on the parapet. I immediately guessed it must have been a gas showroom, lo and behold, I was right.
Therm House, High Street, Long Eaton (Now The Oxford). (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
Therm House was announced in November 1938 in the Long Eaton Advertiser:
“A building which will add dignity to the Long Eaton Market Place will be “Therm House,” which Messrs F. Perks and Son will commence erecting within the next few days. The Long Eaton Gas Company have certainly planned through Mr. J E. Dodd, the well-known architect, attractive and commodious premises which will occupy the site… On the ground floor there will be showrooms and offices. The first floor provides for a demonstration room to accommodate 300 people, along with a projector room and accommodation for a cafe.”
Indeed, the Oxford Cafe was in the building for a period (and the name remains today on the pub).
“Therm House” will radiate “light and power” in the old market.”
Mr Therm was an anthropomorphic flame character used by Gas companies in the UK to advertise the convenience of their power and household appliances, appearing from the early 1930s to around the 1960s. The Mr Therm logo was originally at the top of the building between the two words on the parapet.
Mr Therm even had his own swinging theme song…”Meet Mr Therm”. With some choice lyrics:
“Meet Mr Therm, he’ll make your life more easy and very much less greasy, so meet Mr Therm…”
Mr Therm, in the guise of Sherlock Therm, appeared in a series of adverts in the press in the 1930s. British Newspaper Archive.
Finally, for now, Long Eaton has recently lost its Art Deco Cinema. This is all that’s left of the Galaxy Cinema on Derby Road, Long Eaton.
Site where The Galaxy Cinema once stood, Derby Road, Long Eaton. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer/ Louise Hunter)
I finally made it to Long Eaton to see the building Fothergill designed for Samuel Smith’s Bank. Just over the border into Derbyshire, Long Eaton is a half-hour bus ride away from the centre of Nottingham (I caught the Sky Link airport bus and met up with my friend Louise on the way).
The Halifax (former Samuel Smith & Co, Bank), 24 Market Place, Long Eaton. Architect: Fothergill Watson, 1889. (Photo: Louise Hunter).
Halifax are closing this branch in September 2025, so we wanted to visit while it was still possible to go inside. However, the interior was fairly modern with the only evidence of the original detail being the coffered wooden ceiling. I didn’t take a photo, as by then the counter assistants were wondering if I was casing the joint.
In March 1889, Fothergill Watson (pre-name change) submitted plans, commissioned by Messrs Samuel Smith & Co, Bankers, but these do not survive in archives. There are several other Fothergill buildings linked to this association with Smiths Bank, including alterations to a house on Cator Lane, Chilwell, for Mr F.C. Smith (see blogs passim), Hucknall Institute & Coffee Tavern (memorial stone laid by Mrs F. C. Smith), and a branch in Bullwell (now demolished).
The Grade II Listed bank makes good use of its location, with both side elevations projecting into the street; there is a porch on the south corner with a typical polished granite column.
Smith’s Bank, Long Eaton. South Elevation. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
The building uses Fothergill’s favoured red brick with blue brick bands, stone dressing the terracotta dressings. Elaborately moulded chimneys and a slate roof are also typical.
The front has five moulded Caernarvon arched windows with polished granite columns with foliage capitals. (Caernarvon arch is a term often used by Historic England and refers to an arch comprising a wide keystone resting on two corbels shaped to fit the keystone.)
Caernarvon arched window. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
Below the windows is a continuous moulded sill band and above a moulded terracotta frieze (now mostly visible thanks to a smaller Halifax signboard).
Close up of the terracotta moulding. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
The porch has semi-circular headed stone arches supported by a large polished granite column with foliage capital. There is wrought ironwork in the tympanums and grid iron work below (it looks like originally there would have been another grid gate to close off the entrance).
Porch with wrought ironwork. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
The date stone overlaps 1889 and is rather discreetly placed in the stone arch of the window.
Date stone in window arch. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
On the north corner, a canted oriel mullioned and transomed window with terracotta panels to the base and coloured brick corbels below.
Canted Oriel window. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
On the north side, facing into the church yard, a grand stair window with a stepped base and below a large moulded arch with a door and window.
North side door. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
While we were exploring Long Eaton, I was pleasantly surprised to discover there were several other buildings of note. More coming up…
If you’d like to learn more about the architect Watson Fothergill, why is swapped his names around, how to spot his buildings, and much more, then join me for The Watson Fothergill Walk, an architectural walking tour of Nottingham City Centre. Next date 7 September 2025.
A couple of small flats are for sale in another Fothergill building, the former Marhill Brewery building at Carlton, to the north of the city centre.
The former Marhill Brewery, Carlton from the listing for a flat in the upper floor on Rightmove
Originally built for Mr Vickers in 1899, it was converted to residential use around 2005. It seems that the Brewery was quite a short-lived enterprise, The Vickers family held the licence at The Black’s Head pub close by in Carlton in the late 1800s.
I’ve been trying to create a tour that people could do without me being physically present. I put a lot into presenting my tours and it takes a lot out of me…
A sunny day in St Peter’s Square, Nottingham. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
I’ve tested a few options including audio tour apps (hit and miss quality-wise), printed tours (where’s my reading glasses?) and dragging guidebooks with me onto the street (haphazard and increasingly heavy to lug around – the updated Nottinghamshire Pevsner guide weighs almost 1kg).
One of my ideas for an audio tour was for an in-depth look at some of Nottingham’s public artworks and commemorative plaques. Now come on, don’t yawn…
Who doesn’t love a statue selfie? Me with one of the Lions from the demolished Black Boy Hotel, now in the grounds of Nottingham Castle.
So while the sun was out I popped down to the centre of town to walk a route I had in mind, I wanted to include the new Standing In This Place sculpture in this survey of statues, so I headed down towards the Broadmarsh.
On the way, at St Peter’s Square (outside M&S) there is a sculptural work, placed in the 1980s by the well-meaning City Council, back when it had money to spend on the Public Realm. I snapped a photo and as I went by something caught my eye. There was something written in felt tip pen on the marble.
WTF? Photo: Lucy Brouwer
Now, I’m always on the lookout for stuff to put on the Watson Fothergill Walk Instagram, so a little later I launched this photo of Leaf Stem with brief information about the artwork, I was a bit peeved but not massively so, it’s rather neglected and hardly anyone notices it these days. I didn’t think much more about it.
It auto-posted to Facebook and there were a few comments – the usual mild outrage that I’d suggested “LOCAL PEOPLE” might have committed vandalism, a few tales about how people thought it looked like a certain anatomical shape and the names they used to call it when they arranged to meet their friends by it, that sort of thing.
What I hadn’t really considered was that the algorithms love a bit of rage. The post started to get a bit more traction than my usual photos of buildings with names and dates. However, the next morning I awoke to a text from a friend – Saw this Notts Post headline and thought “I know her!”
It even made the print edition! Modern journalism, eh?
A little late notoriety for Paul Mason’s Leaf Stem – here’s a blog telling the story of the work in more depth.
So I suppose I should put something together, possibly with all the slightly rude names that this sculpture has collected over the years…
Nottingham has some great sculptures – Robin Hood, Brian Clough, Rachel Carter’s fantastic new Standing In This Place, not to mention the Left and Right Lions. They all have stories to tell. Would you like a self-guided public art trail? Do let me know…
As promised, more walks are coming up. There are still tickets available for both parts of Deco in the Details in February. March sees the return of the Carrington Crawl, plus more chances to join me for the Watson Fothergill Walk and Hine Hike in Nottingham city centre. I can also take private bookings for groups of 5 or more on weekdays and I can present illustrated talks to groups, so please drop me a line if you’d like to organise an event. Terms and conditions apply.
Valid gift vouchers purchased before the end of 2024 will be honoured – please send an email if you have any difficulty redeeming vouchers.
*This now includes ALL FEES and is the same price across all platforms (Eventbrite, Yuup and TripAdvisor) whose fees vary. This helps my small business to reach a larger audience.
Thanks to Jane for the photo!
Hire a House Historian
Lucy Brouwer (seen here with her mate the Left Lion) is a tour guide, art historian and researcher who likes to look at things differently. If you’d like to hire a researcher to look into the history of your house, business premises or other pre-1940 building then send an email via this form. Rates start at £57 for a preliminary investigation into each property. More details here.
I am now available to carry out research on the history of houses and the people who lived in them, in Nottingham and the surrounding area. I’m particularly interested in Victorian properties but will branch out where appropriate resources are available.
If you’d like to see who lived in your house* through time or maybe you want to discover if a renowned architect was involved in designing your property, then please contact me to arrange a research package.
For more details see the Hire a House Historian page here.
*or shop!
Have a look at some research I did last year on a house in Elm Bank, Mapperley Park… Inside Elm Bank
And here’s another house, this time in Chilwell, with Watson Fothergill connections that I looked into in 2021.
I’m not only interested in Fothergill houses… Nottingham has a lot of Victorian architecture and I’m always interested to find out more.
I’m busy researching buildings for what I hope will be at least one new tour in Nottingham and maybe something else for extra-keen Fothergill-spotters (all very exciting and I will share this properly with you when things are closer to being ready!)
Research!
Meanwhile, there are some of my walks coming up, including Watson Fothergill Walk and Hine Hike.
Lucy, your tour guide, being over excited about a Watson Fothergill building – in this case The Simons and Pickard Paper Warehouse 1894, now Castle Court, Nottingham.
Please check out some of the lovely reviews people have been leaving on TripAdvisor (thank you so much if you’ve taken the time to write one.) (Booking directly through me or Eventbrite is the best value option for tickets).
It’s getting harder and harder to reach new people on social media… so if you’ve enjoyed Watson Fothergill Walk please tell your friends!
So, if you live in or around Nottingham or just visiting, you’re interested in History, architecture, and eccentricity (me? the architect?) you might enjoy my tour. Plus you get your steps in & there’s a pub at the end!
Dates in June with tickets available – all details and links to tickets here or sign up to the mailing list to hear about new dates each month. Thank you everyone!
Earlier this year, the former Lord Mayor of Nottingham Wendy Smith accompanied me on the Watson Fothergill Walk… this week she invited me to take a tour of the interior of the Council House with her. As a former mayor, she knows more than most about this historic building. Completed in 1929, it was designed by architect Thomas Cecil Howitt. Inside there are lots of beautiful original details, domes, stained glass, walnut wood panelling and made-to-measure furniture. Here are some photos from my visit.
Council Chamber ceiling and frieze by sculptor Joseph Else
The author takes a turn in the Mayor’s chair in the Council Chamber. (It’s on rails so you can hutch up!)
The Ballroom (being made ready for a Citizenship Ceremony) view from the minstrel’s gallery.
Beautiful original Electroliers in The Ballroom (electric light chandeliers).
The view out over the Exchange Arcade (Murals by Noel Denholm Davis just visible) The rents from the shops help pay for the upkeep of the building. The Exchange Arcade was inspired by Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan.
The architect of Nottingham’s Council House Thomas Cecil Howitt (photo displayed in the Lord Mayor’s parlour) – he also built some of Nottingham Council Housing in the post WW1 period, the Home Brewery and Raleigh’s HQ.
Stained Glass from the original Exchange Building which was demolished in 1926 to make way for this building. , representing architecture. (Lord Mayor’s Parlour)
Telephone Booth in the entrance of The Council House (one of a pair with the Enquiries booth).
All photos taken by Lucy Brouwer.
If you’d like to book a tour of the Council House please contact Nottingham City Council via this link. (Please don’t contact me – only special volunteers can lead the free tours!) You can also hire rooms in The Council House for weddings and special occasions.
Huge thanks to Wendy for showing me around and telling me all about the rooms, their functions and the history of the building.
I still have a few copies of Nottingham Civic Society’s book on the Council House with some excellent colour photos by Martine Hamilton Knight – available for sale in the webshop.
An earlier photo of the Council House by Lucy Brouwer
Remember to look up next time you’re in town and notice the decorations (sculptures by Joseph Else and his students outside and Noel Denholm Davis inside the Exchange Arcade) on Nottingham’s magnificent Council House!
Over on Instagram you might have seen an account called Inside Elm Bank, here the new owners of a Victorian villa in Mapperley Park are documenting their efforts to restore it to something of its original character. The house has some distinctive features that might be familiar to Fothergill-spotters. However, in this case, the alterations to the front of the house, the addition of a breakfast room, kitchen and scullery with bedroom over, were carried out by Watson Fothergill’s chief assistant, Lawrence George Summers.
Evidence of this work was identified by Darren Turner in his Fothergill; A Catalogue of the Works of Watson Fothergill, Architect, in the section on work signed off by L.G. Summers. The house at 9 Elm Bank, which for many years was known as Elm Bank Lodge, was already in existence before it was altered in 1893.
I’ve had a look at the evidence to see if I could find more information on who built the house, who lived there and who commissioned the alterations.
Thanks to the new owners for a few new clues… here’s my attempt at A House Through Time…
9 Elm Bank (centre) when it was on the Market in 2021 (archived photos from Estate Agent listing).
1875. The land that the house was built on was part of land owned and sold by Edwin Patchitt (1808-1888). Patchitt was a solicitor, clerk and land owner (and Mayor of Nottingham in 1852) who was responsible for laying out the Church (Rock) Cemetery (in 1851). Patchitt’s land also included the plot sold to Fothergill Watson in 1870, where he built his own house at 7 Mapperley Road (now Fothergill Court). Patchitt lived at Forest House, which was adjacent (later owned by Thomas Birkin, it was donated to become the Children’s Hospital 1899-1978). Leonard Lindley (1835-95), mentioned in the conveyance deeds was also a JP (Justice of the Peace)like Patchitt, he lived on Mapperley Road (in 1885 at Redcliffe House). I have not been able to trace the William Ellis who was also mentioned in the documents.
1880. The land was again conveyed between William Ellis, James Bingham, Joseph James Acton & John Eley Bryan.
It appears the original house was built some time between this point and the 1881 census when Joseph James Acton and his family were listed as being in residence. Taken in April 1881, the census listed Joseph James Acton (1837-1887) Building Surveyor to the corporation of Nottingham, his wife Sarah E Acton, their baby daughter Ethel, along with a cook, housemaid and groom. (Acton was brother of Frederick Acton, solicitor who lived at Elm House.)
The rear of 9 Elm Bank does not show the typical markers of the Fothergill Style that Summers employed on the front. Photo archived from Estate Agent listing.
John Eley Bryan (1851-1918) was also listed as living on Elm Bank, but not in a census year and the number of the house is not mentioned, which leads me to believe that the original plot may have been split. There are now 3 houses quite close together on the site. John Eley Bryan was Accountant to the Corporation of Nottingham (aka The Boro Accountant). His wife Mary died in 1882 and shortly afterward there was an advertisement for the Freehold of his villa on Elm Bank but the number was not mentioned, it had three floors which makes me think it was the house next door.
Elm Bank circa 1899 https://maps.nls.uk
I have found conflicting information from newspapers and trade directories which point to other names who might have lived at 9 Elm Bank – in 1883 there was mention of Stephen Waine (1837-1889) of Barker and Waine Lace Dressers (but other evidence – in newspaper announcements – points to Mr Waine living around the corner at Claremont on Redcliffe Road.) Another name mentioned by trade directories in 1885 was William Henry Butler. The only evidence I can find for him was a report of a boot and shoe maker of that name being sued by the Nottingham Patent Brick Company to recover the deposit they had payed to him for the sale of a villa and grounds at Mapperley. As the NPBC could not use the land as a brickfield they wished to cancel the sale. I don’t believe this refers to Elm Bank, but no address is mentioned.
The next piece of solid evidence was a newspaper advertisement from 1887 “Good general servant who can cook nicely: two others kept; six in family; first-class character required. – Mrs Willatt, 9 Elm Bank Mapperley Road.” Mrs Willatt was Mary Jane (nee Attenborough) wife of John Willatt (1849-1901), Wine and Spirit Merchant of J Willatt & Co, 17 Chapel Bar. (He had recently taken over the firm from his father Issac Willatt). By 1891 and the census, the Willatts were living at Pelham Road.
The 1891 census offers the residents of 9 Elm Bank to have been the Holland family. William Holland (1835- 1907?) an accountant born in Lancashire, his wife Hannah and their children Arthur aged 18 working in a Lace Warehouse, Jessie aged 15, Edwin aged 12 and Elizabeth Newbitt a 16 year old servant. By 1901 William had become a school teacher and the Hollands were living at 17 Private Road, Mapperley Park.
In 1893 the plans were submitted for the alterations to the house. Lawrence George Summers, FRIBA signed as architect. Summers worked as Fothergill’s chief assistant. Of all the works signed as solely by LG Summers, the additions to this house are closest to the work of Fothergill in appearance. The builder was listed as R. Howitt and the client was Mr Thomas Jopling.
Thomas Jopling (1837-1897) was resident in the house 1895-1897. He was a Draper from Sunderland. A little searching turns up evidence that his firm was Jopling and Tuer, a well known Sunderland firm with a large shop. What was he doing in Nottingham? He writes to the Newcastle Journal in February 1895 to remark that the birds in Nottingham are showing signs of spring… “The rooks are now assembling on the trees, and we soon will see those sable gentlemen in full swing reconstructing their rookeries.”
From: Newcastle Chronicle, 9 March 1895, British Newspaper Archive.
Thomas Jopling died while residing at 9 Elm Bank in 1897. He left his widow Jane Jopling, eldest son Hugh, daughters Jennie, Emily, Kathleen, Marion, Eliza, Margery, and younger sons Tom & Mark. They -return to Sunderland after the death of Thomas. Hugh was already married and had moved to Leeds. In 1899 Emily married a farmer, Stanley Beardall and they lived at Stanford on Soar, Notts. with her mother Jane and her brother Tom. They later moved to Yorkshire.
From Northern Guardian, 13 March 1897, British Newspaper Archive.
From 1898, the house at 9 Elm Bank was occupied by Arthur Ernest Blake (1866-1935) and his family. Arthur E Blake (from 1920 Sir Arthur E Blake KBE) was a stockbroker and some-time estate agent. His place of business was briefly 2 Victoria Street (he was working from The Nottingham Club, or at least using it as an address) and then from 1897 he worked in Prudential Buildings (Alfred Waterhouse’s impressive building at the intersection of King and Queen Streets in the centre of Nottingham). He was a member of not only the Nottingham Club, but also the Borough and Constitutional Clubs. He had a long association with Nottingham Rowing Club and the Conservative Association.
In 1895 he had married his wife Florence Emily Blake (1870-1942), her father John Angrave Howitt(1829-1899) had been a Lace Manufacturer and was possibly later the publican of the Albert Hotel. Florence had at least 3 sisters and a brother. They were mentioned in newspaper reports of the sister’s marriages and wedding receptions held at Elm Bank in 1905 (Hilda Constance Howitt and Edgar Horne), 1908 (Maud Howitt and Henry White Thompson) and 1909 (Dorothy Howitt and Thomas Chambers Dawson). In all three of these reports the house was called “Thornhill”.
In 1911 the census records the residents of 9 Elm Bank to be Arthur Ernest Blake, Florence Emily Blake, their children Majorie, Olive Joan and Kenneth Arthur (their elder sons Geoffrey and Robert having already left home), the servants at this time were a cook and two house maids.
Sir Arthur was knighted in 1920 and was the Hon President of the Nottingham Savings Bank. His portrait is held in the Lloyds TSB archives and the National Portrait Gallery.
Sir Arthur Blake was High Sheriff of Nottingham in 1924 and by this time the family had moved out to West Leake manor (from 1915). The Blake’s eldest son, Geoffrey Stuart Blake (1896-1917) was killed in action in WW1. In 1925 their second son Robert Anthony Blake (1897-1928) married Annie Isobel Boobbyer – Annie Isobel was the daughter of Annie Forbes Watson Fothergill Boobbyer and Dr Phillip Boobbyer, Medical Officer of Health for Nottingham – making her Watson Fothergill’s granddaughter. Fothergill’s own house on Mapperley Road was a stone’s throw from Elm Bank. In 1928 Robert was killed in an aeroplane accident when flying with Nottingham Aero Club. They had one son, Philip Anthony Blake, born 1926. The wedding in 1925 had been quite an event – this photo captures some of the glamour.
Daily Mirror 7 August 1925, Marriage of Robert Anthony Blake and (Annie) Isobel Boobbyer (Watson Fothergill’s Granddaughter) in London. From British Newspaper Archive.
The Blake family were commemorated in the church at West Leake with stained glass and plaques. Lady Florence Blake went to live in the Park Estate at Fairholme, 13 Lenton Road after Sir Arthur’s death in 1935 while on a voyage to Durban South Africa. She died in 1942.
After the Blakes, 9 Elm Bank was home to James Allan Battersby (1871-1931) his wife Lois Allen Battersby and their 5 daughters – Edith Mary, Marguerite, Kathleen Ada, Joyce Allen and Helen Houghton Battersby. J. Allan Battersby OBE was a barrister who had been a famous Poor Law Officer in London, who came to Nottingham to work as Clerk to the Guardians of Bagthorpe Infirmary, he died suddenly in 1931 having become Superintendent Registrar of Births and Deaths for the City and Clerk to the Public Assessment Committee. The family had already moved out of Elm Bank to Magdala Road some time after 1927.
James Allan Battersby, from Nottingham Evening Post 9 July 1931, British Newspaper Archive.
In 1936 the house was briefly empty (there was a report of a burglary from the empty house of a sideboard top). Then in 1937 the next known residents were Bernard Savage (b.1888) and his wife Marian, nee Walton (b.1894). They married in Halifax, where they were from, in 1916. Bernard Savage had come to Nottingham to be manager of the new Halifax Building Society branch opened in June 1937 at Halifax House, Milton Street in Nottingham (the building is now home to 200 Degrees Coffee’s 3rd Nottingham Branch). Bernard was in Nottingham until at least 1947 as district manager of the Halifax.
Halifax House, Milton Street, Nottingham. Formerly Halifax Building Society 1937, (Remodelled by Cyril FW Hazeldine FRIBA) Photo: Lucy Brouwer
The next trade directory I was able to find was from 1950 and it appears that 9 Elm Bank had been turned into 3 flats with the residents listed as at number 9 Cyril E Langford, at 9A Arthur Gosling and at 9B Hugh S McAllister. Later, into the present decade, Elm Bank Lodge was run as a Bed and Breakfast when the owner was the late Mr Andrew Stewart.
9 Elm Bank 2021. Photo archived from Estate Agent’s listing. The brick nogging and decorative woodwork on the upper floor, along with the metal finial and canted oriel window to the side are redolent of the work carried out by the office of Watson Fothergill in the 1890s.
Not much of the original interior of the building has survived, but it’s possible that the copper fireplace in the Breakfast room could be part of LG Summers’ decorative scheme.
The Breakfast Room. Possibly some original period features remain? Photo: archived Estate Agent’s listing.
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