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Preface

The centenary of a house calls for something to mark the occasion, and a short history seemed a suitable way of doing so. The writer is greatly indebted to his landlord, Miss S. A. Knight, who generously allowed him to inspect the title deeds of 5 St Michael?s Road and gave some personal reminiscences; to Miss M.Y. Williams, the Lambeth Borough Archivist, who produced the Rate Books and Electoral Registers relating to the house; to the Borough Librarian of Southwark, who gave information which made the consultation of the 1861 Census returns much easier; and to Mr R.B. Bugh, General Editor of the Victoria County Histories, who suggested some more fruitful lines of approach.

It has not been considered necessary to cite authorities for each statement in the following short narrative. The source of the majority of them is obvious; the references to the weather of the 1860s and 1890s are taken from W.A.L. Marshall, A Century of London Weather (HMO, 1952).

G.A. Sekon, Locomotion in Victorian London (OUP, 1938), and T.C. Barker & M.Robbins, A History of London Transport, Vol. 1 (Allen & Unwin, 1963) were also found useful.