Wellington Road in Edwardian
Times
The
designations of most of Oxton’s oldest roads and byways are probably easy to
explain. Typically, they record either their general and ancient use – as in
Village Road (ever, perhaps, the well trodden path leading to Oxton’s original
village centre). The ownership of the land across which Oxton’s new roads were
laid down in the 19th century often resulted in their naming. Fairclough Lane and Bennetts Hill are
good examples of this process – Messrs Fairclough and Bennett were Oxton
land-owners in the mid 19th century. Other roads were given more
descriptive names as Oxton was developed into a residential area for the
wealthy families who came to live here from Birkenhead and Liverpool. Fairview
Road and Rich View both say something about the place as it was then
perceived. Perhaps the name Rose Mount might always be enigmatic, however.
Wellington
Road was surely named after the great man
himself – the Duke of Wellington - but given that it was known by that name
before his death in 1852, it must be concluded that it was named in his honour
rather than in his memory although at the time of the 1851 Census there were
only two houses recorded there.
One was the home of Richard Scolefield
(a Wool Broker) and his family, and the
other of the family of William Tyson (described as a Share holder in
joint stock). Not much had changed ten
years later (still just two houses, but with different owners), but by 1871 the
two houses were named as Apsley Villa, and Field House. It is not surprising
that on a road named Wellington
there should be a house named Apsley:
Apsley House was the London home of the Duke of Wellington (and
its postal address was then often referred to as “No. 1, London”). Apsley Villa is still standing (at the junction of
Wellington Road and Gerald Road – but now numbered 10 Gerald Road), but Field
House, which stood near to the
junction with Silverdale Road, was
destroyed by the WW2 bombing raid (March 1941) that also destroyed the old Caernarvon
Castle pub and damaged St Saviour’s church.
There was little else
along Wellington Road in those times other than Mr. Caton’s rope-walk (a long stretch of land where fibres were twisted to
make great lengths of rope). In a work by F. R. Beazley, he refers to a memoir
of an Oxton man who knew it then, and who described Wellington Road as being “dirtier
than the fields”, but from the 1870’s
onwards, that whole area began to be developed, and what was seen as
appropriate houses were built there for people of a certain middle class
standing. One of the residents of Wellington Road’s new houses was Rev.
Percival Carteret Robin. He was the vicar of St Saviour’s from 1884 to 1897, so
he had the privilege of serving the congregations of both the first and the new
church (consecrated in 1891). The Robin family (and the King family before
them, and into which the Robin family married) had for generations held the advowson
of Woodchurch – and, therefore of Oxton. There also grew up a small but
convenient row of shops in Wellington Road to provide for its residents’
immediate needs A Post Office of course, and at various times a grocer, a
chemist, a draper, a confectioner (described in 1899 as a high class confectioner, of course), a dairy, a butcher and a
stationer & tobacconist.
There is a
very interesting entry on the Census returns for 1911. At No. 48 Wellington
Road, Laura and Jane Willmer are given as its residents (with two female
servants).They were the daughters of Charles Willmer, whose family printing
business was a feature of down town
Birkenhead until well into the 20th century. The family were
staunchly Liberal, and it was one of Charles’ sons, Frederick, who came up with
the idea of publishing a Liberal
newspaper – to be called The Birkenhead News – to counter the perceived Tory voice of
Birkenhead’s first newspaper, The Birkenhead Advertiser. Laura and Jane (Jeanie as she was known) were truly
remarkable women. Following the death of their father and three of their five
brothers they decided, in 1903, to manage and edit the newspaper themselves –
quite a thing for them to do given the male dominated business world of those
times, and probably unequalled through the land! But they also held quite
deeply felt political views. Especially, they were dedicated to the cause of women’s
suffrage. On their 1911 Census Return, Laura gave as her occupation “Editor
& Managing Director”, and Jeanie gave
hers as “Editor & Secretary”.
There is an additional written note on this return which reads “All
constitutional Suffragettes. Census paper filled in under protest as
disfranchised citizens”. Jeanie died in
1933, and Laura in 1936 thus bringing to an end a truly remarkable story.
