Home Truths: Uncovering the Secrets of Your Home

Tuesday 10 January 2023

Our next Tooting History Group meeting is a talk entitled by Danielle Wilde, house historian and Tooting resident.

So if you have ever wondered when your house was built, who used to live there or what was there before your house, come along and hear the history of a Tooting house and how it was researched.

Homes Fit for Tooting Heroes?

Tuesday 14 February 2023

After the First World War, the Government promised to build “Homes Fit for Heroes”, and Wandsworth Council swung into action, buying land and building houses on four sites across the borough.

Where were they built in Tooting? Who designed them? And who lived in them? Our next meeting will answer these questions.

Dr Gully and the Balham Murder Mystery

Tuesday 14 March 2023

The Charles Bravo murder in April 1876 continues to fascinate people 147 years after the event. Long suspected of the poisoning of Charles Bravo, Dr James Gully was a society doctor and former lover of Charles Bravo’s wife.

Come and hear Colin Fenn speak about the rise and fall of Dr Gully and his role in the murder at The Priory in Balham.

Where is Wandsworth’s Museum?

Tuesday 9 May 2023

At our next meeting we will be hearing about the history of Wandsworth Museum and the 10,000⁺ objects that make up the collection. The doors closed in 2015, and apart from the occasional outing the objects have languished in the former West Hill Library basement.

Where has the collection been previously displayed? What is in the collection from Tooting? Come and find out at our next meeting.

The Lost Museums of Wandsworth

Friday 26 May 2023

The London Borough of Wandsworth doesn’t have a local museum. But it does have a collection of 10,000⁺ items in a basement on West Hill, most of which have been there since March 2008. There have been Wandsworth Museums in the past and this walk will be passing some of those sites.

Beginning at Putney Library, Disraeli Road, we will be going down to West Hill, on to the former Young’s brewery site and Wandsworth Town Hall, and finishing at the old Court House building in Garratt Lane.

Edward VII’s Journey to Tooting

Tuesday 13 June 2023

The most prominent statue in Tooting is that of Edward VII outside Tooting Broadway Station. It has stood there since 1911. But how did it come to be there? How was it made? Where was it made?

Steve Parlanti is descended from the family who ran the foundry where the statue was made, and he will be telling us all about it at our next meeting.

In Their Own Write: 19th Century South London Pauper Voices

Tuesday 11 July 2023

Our monthly meeting in July will be addressed by Dr Paul Carter from the National Archives at Kew. He will be talking about the records of 19th-century workhouse inmates, particularly those from the Wandsworth and Clapham Union, which covered Tooting.

So what led to complaints or petitions from workhouse inmates? And how were complaints investigated by the Poor Law Commissioners?

From Tooting Co-op to Bletchley Park

Tuesday 12 September 2023

Daisy Lawrence was born in Tooting in 1917. She left Sellincourt School aged 14 and went to work at the Tooting Co-op. In 1942 she was called up to work at the Bletchley Park code-breaking centre. Whilst she was working on breaking Japanese codes, her fiancée was held as a POW in the Far East.

Daisy’s daughter, Jan Slimming, has written an account of her mother’s life and will be speaking to our September monthly meeting. You will also be able to buy copies of Jan’s book.

Quiz Night

Tuesday 10 October 2023

The Tooting History Quiz night will be open to all at our next meeting: 50 questions on Tooting past and present. There will be prizes and refreshments and Tooting facts to inform and entertain.

Teams of up to five people welcome. If you don’t have a team, we will match you up on the night.

Love it, List it or Lose it!

Tuesday 14 November 2023

Tooting History Group is actively involved in speaking up for historic buildings and other heritage assets in Tooting. Come and hear about this work at our next meeting with Libby Lawson, Conservation Officer, Tooting History Group.

• Which buildings or features in Tooting need more TLC? 
• Are there any we could do without? 
• What should Tooting History Group be doing to improve Tooting’s built heritage? 

We will be looking at local and national listing of buildings and other assets.