Help with an old English address

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 12:49 am

My sister found an envelope postmarked 1940 to our great aunt Mary C. Munro in Detroit, MI from her sister Annie who we think was visiting their brother near London.

The return address in England is:

Torquay Villa
Arlington Park
Chiswick
London W.4

I'm guessing that Torquay Villa was a hotel of some kind. My question about the address is where would the Villa be located. When I googled Arlington Park and Chiswick, both came up as suburbs of London.

Is Chiswick in Arlington Park?

Carol

Post by **AndrewP** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 1:14 am

Hi Carol,

Try googling for "Arlington Park" Chiswick and you will get a number of houses for sale or rent. It leads to a building called Arlington Park Mansions. I would suggest that Torquay Villa is/was in this immediate area.

There is a street round the corner from there, Arlington Gardens, but no sign of an Arlington Park.

See current streetmap of Chiswick, showing Arlington Gardens.

All the best,

AndrewP

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 2:14 am

Thanks Andrew,

It didn't occur to me that Arlington Park might be the street after the google site showed it as a suburb.

We are still hunting for my great aunts oldest brother William Munro. We know he moved to London aroung 1900 and stayed there except for visits. We also know that he married and had at least two children. The problem is we haven't found an address for him after 1914 and the English records being pure slog when it comes to finding anything have really stopped us. Of course, a name like William Munro with no middle name is a real help too!

Anyway the Chiswick address is a clue and he was mentioned in his sister Mary's obit in 1948 when he would have been 77 so I figure that leaves me maybe 33 more years of records to check! He'll turn up someday!

Carol

mean_genie · Post by **mean_genie** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 2:16 am

Carol

Torquay Villa would have been a private house, not an hotel, and Arlington Park was a street in 1901, in approximately the same location as the present Arlington Gardens, although I haven't been able to tell if is exactly the same street.

Quite a few houses in Arlington Park did not have numbers in 1901, but had names like Stanley Villa, Ventnor Villa etc. Probably rather a nice place to live, and Chiswick is still a very desirable area.

Hope this helps

Audrey

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 2:24 am

Audrey,

Now I'm really excited. Maybe that was their brother's house! He was a jeweler. Or maybe one of his kids lived there. Which makes for another problem if it was his daughter because I don't know if she married or not.

Now I need to find a directory for Chiswick for 1940! Oh, and a winning lottery ticket too!

Thanks Audrey!

Carol

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 3:26 pm

Hello Carol,

Not really the period you’re asking about but you’ll find a great many English Directories 1750-1919 at this site. Something’s incredibly slow tonight and I couldn’t really check the site. http://www.historicaldirectories.org/

Have you had a fossick around in the London Times for the jeweller?

If you feel like a bit of exploring you can go to the free index on Ancestry England Census 1881. http://content.ancestry.co.uk/iexec/?ht ... 3a7858%3a0

Type only Torquay Villa Arlington in the address box and you’ll get 6 people, a family of Simpson’s and Servants Markham and Parkes. I don’t think you can do a house-to-house on that one so go to 1881 England Census on FamilySearch http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/ ... census.asp

Search and find one of those individuals then do a house-to-house there. You might be able to pin down where it is/was in relation to other maybe surviving buildings.

The residences are in this order (assuming no street disruption).
Ventnor Villa, Kendal Villa, Stanley Villa, Torquay Villa, Ath Garden?, Crockley House, 1 Arlington Park Gardens, 2 ditto, 3 ditto. You could probably extend on that.

Broadband almost asleep, hope this helps,
Alan

LATER: “Ath Garden” is probably “Athgarvan”. Do a London Times search for "arlington park chiswick" (including the quotes) and you'll find an advert. on 7th and 8th November, 1930, inserted by the “Young Lady” next-door.

Post by **Tracey** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 3:48 pm

Maybe someone could look them up in the Phone Directory that is on Ancestry ? - might give you further answers. I would do it for you but i dont have a sub

PaulaD · Post by **PaulaD** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 4:28 pm

Hi Carol,

Had a look in the phone book but no Munro in Chiswick in the 1940s

Unfortunately you can't search by address alone, you need a surname otherwise we could find who was living there.
Will have a think and see if I can figure a way round that.

Paula

mean_genie · Post by **mean_genie** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 6:50 pm

Carol

I looked at the 1938 Directory for Chiswick, and all the villas, including Torquay Villa, that were listed in Arlington Park in 1901 are shown as being in Sutton Lane in 1938. If you look on a modern map, Torquay Villa and its neighbours were between Arlington Gardens and Walpole Gardens, on the West side of the street. It was occupied by Thomas Limes Butler. He seems to have been there since at least 1901, or more correctly someone of the same name was there in 1901. The neighbours in 1938 included a doctor and two dentists, and the Mr Butler who was at Torquay Villa in 1901 was a commercial traveller.

Thomas L Butler was listed at Torquay Villa in the 1940 phone directory, but not in 1941.

Audrey

PaulaD · Post by **PaulaD** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 6:56 pm

Hi again Carol,

Have just found a George C Munro who lived at 1 Belgrave Court, Sutton Lane Chiswick in 1942. Arlington Gardens is a road off Sutton Lane.
Its probably just a co-incidence but might be a connection.

Paula