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From past reviews and elsewhere:South Norwood Personalities - The ‘Jersey Lily’One of the most celebrated residents of South Norwood was the Jersey Lily – the actress Lillie Langtry, who was born in Jersey in 1852. Once described as the most beautiful woman in England, she lived in a four-storey mansion opposite the present entrance to Spurgeon’s College and known originally as ‘The Firs’. Built probably in the 1880’s, it was in a plain classical style, faced with white stucco, with elaborate gardens and magnificent views across the grounds of Beaulieu Heights towards north Kent and the Thames estuary. Lillie Langtry became the mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales, soon after they first met in 1877, and it seems likely that throughout the 1889’s he frequently ‘took tea’ with her at The Firs, as the euphemism goes, and recklessly placed bets in the first floor gambling parlour. This may explain why from 1881 to 1892 the house otherwise unaccountably drops out of the Croydon Directories for that period. Had she discreetly gone ex-Directory? Edward’s affections turned elsewhere in 1890, and Mrs. Langtry herself moved on, leaving The Firs (then 248 and 250 South Norwood Hill) to re-emerge in the 1893 Directory as ‘Court Royal, an irresistible allusion to its romantic recent history. The new owner, no doubt taking advantage of the house’s reputation, if not notoriety, turned it into the Court Royal Private Hotel in 1895, which lasted until 1901, when the Prince of Wales succeeded to the throne as Edward VII. Evidently turning over a new leaf, it became the Court Royal Convalescent Home in 1901, possibly for Boer War wounded, and then from 1907 to 1915 the Whitehall Nursing Institution. From early 1915 until 1919 the house was run for wounded of the First World War by the Order of St. John. Known as the Princess Christian Hospital, after its Patron, it had around 60 beds, an operating theatre and many other facilities, including well-kept gardens. With the help of volunteer workers and local residents it became a much-valued and popular institution. Sir Ernest Tritton, the long-standing Member of Parliament for Norwood, was the Hospital’s first Chairman, and Lady Falkland was Commandant of the Nursing Order. The Peace brought the closure of the Hospital, and a sad emptiness to the house, which was converted into 10 flats in 1922, known simply as ‘Whitehall’. Gently deteriorating, with overgrown gardens, disfigured by external iron staircases at the front, and with garish red window frames, it was long the subject of local speculation as to its future, and was finally demolished in about 1980. It was replaced exactly within its original boundaries by the present block of flats and houses called ‘Tummons Gardens’. Tummons was the surname of a family of local farmers. John Hickman |
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