Woolverton & Co, New Cross

Woolverton & Co was only one of the businesses set up by wine merchant Charles Frederick Forbes Buckingham. In all likelihood Buckingham was born in 1870 and baptised on the 28th July of that year at St Mary's Church, Lewisham. He died on 19th September 1939. A few weeks later, on 24th November, The London Gazette published the following notice:

CHARLES FREDERICK FORBES BUCKINGHAM,
Deceased.
Pursuant to the Trustee Act, 1925.
NOTICE is hereby given that all persons having any debts claims or demands against the estate of Charles Frederick Forbes Buckingham late of 25 Sydenham Hill London Wine Merchant and lately carrying on business under the style of Woolverton & Co. at 183 Lewisham High Road London and under the style of the Anchor Stores at 282 High Road Wood Green London who died intestate on the 19th September 1939 and of whose estate letters of administration were on the 7th November 1939 granted to Katie Evelyn Buckingham and John Villiers Forbes Buckingham out of the Principal Probate Registry are hereby required to send written particulars thereof to the undersigned on or before the 3rd February 1940 after which date the said estate will be distributed having regard only to the claims then notified.—Dated this
16th day of November 1939.
SANDOM KERSEY and TILLEARDS, 12, Deptford High Street, S.E.8, Solicitors (089) for the said Administrators.

What happened to Woolverton & Co following Buckingham's death? The name suggests he had some partners but whether they kept the business going is unknown.

Wollverton & Co
Wine & Spirit
Merchants
Location: Lewisham Way / Picture taken on: 23/07/2009

Nestlé, Criterion, Redfern, and more; New Cross

Like yesterday, here is another palimpsest but at least this one is a bit easier to read.


The most recent sign advertises: Nestlé
Milk
Richest in Cream

Prior to Nestlé, this wall carried an advert for Redfern's, a company far less known that the Swiss multinational but whose painted signs can still be seen in several locations across London. Here only 'Redfern's', slightly above 'Nestlé' has survived. Whether it was rubber heels, mats, or another of the company's rubber goods that was advertised here I don't know.
I shall write a bit about Redfern's Rubber Works tomorrow.

It seems Redfern's used the blue background of the previous sign for: Criterion
MatchesWith the open box of matches, it is similar to those found in Stoke Newington and Kilburn (this one will be for a later post).

That's it for the easy part. Several other signs were painted over time on this wall and I wonder whether one wasn't for Gillette. After all signs for Criterion and Gillette are often found together.
Then just below the 'N' of 'Nestlé' are some words written diagonally. They seem to be: Greetings ...
School ...
Partly hidden by the 'ILK' of 'Milk' is:B...e &
Between 'Milk' and 'Richest in Cream' are:...te and S...
Finally at the same level as 'Richest in Cream' is:... Talking [?] ...
Location: New Cross Road / Picture taken on: 23/07/2009

Brymay, New Cross

That's it! After roughly eight months, this is my 100th post. I hope you've enjoyed all those painted signs and mosaics shown on this blog so far. Today's sign is well-known (I can already tell you the next one isn't. Wait and see...) but I needed something to light the candles on the celebration cake.


Fading adverts for Bryant & May, the country's leading manufacturer of matches for more than a century, can be still seen in many places. These were painted after the Second World War. Their design is simple, the only 'extravagance' being the oval in which the company's name, in its shortened form, is written. It seems the company preferred to promote itself rather than the specific brands under which it sold its matches, be they Captain Webb, Puck or Swan Vestas (elaborate and colourful signs for the latter would certainly have been much more expensive to produce).

British Matches
For
British Homes
Brymay
Safety
Matches
Save the Panels
As I have little time today I'll post more information about Bryant & May in a later post. After all, there is no lack of Brymay painted signs!

Location: Alpha Road / Pictures taken on: 23/07/2009

Printers' ghost signs

Printers' signs, part 1 (Go to part 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

On Saturday I returned to the British Museum to have a second look at the current exhibition of Mexican prints, a worthy follow-up to last year’s American Scene (although I don’t agree with the legend that accompanies the poster for the 1952 meeting of the Confederación de Trabajadores de América Latina...). Some of the prints on show are absolutely superb and testify not only to the talent of the artists but also to the skills of the printers.
Obviously not all printers would have been able to master the techniques required for fine art printing, and in any case many wouldn’t even have needed them to honour the orders placed by their customers. But did the painted signs some printers paid for reflect their versatility? Below are a few examples of such signs, ranging from simple to more elaborate ones, from bare to pretty descriptive ones.

Clutten, Swan & Co, New Cross

Printers' ghost signs, part 5 (Go to part 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7)

In another part of London, one of Pring & Rose's competitors used a more elaborate typeface, if not for its name, at least to describe the nature of its business to the passing public.

Clutten, Swan & Co.
Artistic Ticket-Writers
This sign was painted over an earlier one. I can't make out a name, but the business they were in is still clear: Sanitry Engineers
Inspectors of General Repairs
Location: Amersham Road / Picture taken on: 23/07/2009

Midland Bank, New Cross

Mervyn King's very good speech in Edinburgh calling for a reform of the banking sector was the perfect opportunity I was waiting for to post a painted sign signalling to the passing public the local branch of one of Britain's Big Four. And this sign isn't for any bank but the one where I opened my first account in the UK (although that was up north and not in New Cross), when I came as an Erasmus student in 1993: the Midland Bank. Even though HSBC Holdings had acquired full ownership of the Midland in 1992, the golden griffin surrounded by a circle of golden dots on a dark blue background still adorned my first chequebooks, statements, cards, etc. A few years later Midland adopted the HSBC logo and colours in place of its griffin. Then in 1999 the name itself was dropped and replaced by HSBC.

The origins of the Midland Bank date back to 1836. It was the brainchild of Charles Geach, a former clerck at the Bank of England's Birmingham branch, who obtained the support of prominent merchants and manufacturers from the city. Through acquisitions and mergers, and the opening of new branches across the UK, the Midland rapidly became one of the country's leading banks. In their book A Guide to Banking in Britain, Robert Pringle and Robin Pringle give a short history of the Midland Bank, pages 53-56.

Midland
Bank
Limited
This sign was painted on the side of the New Cross branch of the bank and would have been visible by anyone going westward along the area's main thoroughfare. The neoclassical building, dated 1903, was certainly designed by the firm of Gotch and Saunders. The Midland closed this branch in the early 1980s and the building, which is grade II listed, stood empty for more than 25 years. It is currently being restored and converted into a bar / music venue.

Location: New Cross Road / Picture taken on: 23/07/2009

The Flickerless Cinema, New Cross, and ABC, Kentish Town

As today marks the second anniversary of the death of Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman, here are two cinema signs.

The
Flickerless

Film Cinema

Tower Rye Lane

Peckham

Location: New Cross Road / Picture taken on: 23/07/2009

Painted next to New Cross Gate station, this sign would have tried to lure commuters away from the local Gaumont New Cross and New Cross Empire to the Tower Cinema further away. Opened on 19th November 1914, the Tower was designed by the architect H. Courtenay Constantine and would have been fairly similar to The Angel in Islington and the Scala in King's Cross, with, as the name suggests, a tower rising 100 ft above Rye Lane (the tower of the Angel Cinema at 7 Islington Green still exists). The Tower closed on 1st December 1956, two years and a half after the Empire and three years and a half before the Gaumont. Nowadays a car park stands on the site of the Tower, and a car wash on that of the Empire. Part of the Gaumont building has survived and houses the Venue nightclub.

Forum
Follow This Sign
ABC
For Perfect
Entertainment

Location: Highgate Road / Picture taken on: 14/08/2008

The Forum, with its Art Deco facade is still a prominent building in Kentish Town. Opened in 1934, it became part of the Associated British Cinemas family one year later. Closed in 1970, it was turned like many cinemas that escaped demolition into a bingo hall. Nowadays it is in use as a concert hall and theatre.

I doubt that any of these cinemas would have screened any of Ingmar Bergman's films. More popular movies with namesake actress, and compatriot, Ingrid Bergman would have been more likely.

For more information about these four cinemas, you can visit the excellent website http://cinematreasures.org/