Eddie Menday: A walk through time

Jun 5 2009

I recently spent a pleasant sunny afternoon, on a walk round Old Isleworth, taking pictures of the old almshouses and historic buildings. I noticed that the Sermon's Almshouses on the Twickenham Road, have been refurbished, and shone in the sunshine.

However, the Tolson Almshouses, which I was interested in, have long since been demolished, but the story of their benefactor still lives on, in such publications as G.E.Bate's And so Make a City Here.

Her story was also engraved on a memorial in the Isleworth Parish Church of All Saints, but this was destroyed when the church was burned down. Mrs Tolson, as she will always be remembered, was the daughter of George Newton of Duffield, Derbyshire, and married Henry Sisson.

Unfortunately, he died early in the union, and then she met and married John Tolson, who also passed on and left her a widow once again.

This left her in a very poor way, and so she started a boarding school for girls to make ends meet. Then tragedy again struck, when she lost her sight and had to close the school, and fell on hard times.

However, a Dr Caleb Cotesworth, a physician of Richmond, had married a relation of Mrs Tolson, and was a very wealthy man.

He died quite suddenly in 1741, leaving the bulk of his amassed fortune of £150,000 to his wife, Susannah.

However, she only survived him a few hours, without making a will.

Her inherited fortune was divided between Mrs Tolson and two other relatives.

As a grateful act for her deliverance from poverty, she made a deed of gift of £5,000 to build and endow almshouses for six poor men and six poor women of the parish, following her own demise.

However, she made a third marriage at 80 years of age, to Joseph Dash, a London merchant, who seems to have helped her spend her money quite freely. Her £40,000 inheritance had dwindled to £6,000 at her death in 1750, aged 89.

This amount just about covered the bequests in her will, made shortly

before her death.

Joseph Dash thought he was entitled to this money, and instigated a suit in chancery to try and get hold of it. Mrs Tolson had instituted a deed of settlement before her third marriage, and in her will she gave the parish of Isleworth £5,000 under trust, for the provision and support of the almshouses.

Joseph Dash lost the case, and six years later the money, plus the interest of four per cent that had accrued, was handed to Colonel Schutz and Gilbert Jodrell, who were appointed trustees of the charity.

So Mrs Tolson's wishes were carried through, and the almshouses were built in her memory. She was never referred to as Mrs Dash.

The Sermon's Almshouses were built and endowed by Sarah Sermon in 1843, and were for women over 50 years of age who had to have an income of at least ten shillings a week.

It would be interesting to know what the regulations are in this day and age.

I finished my walk with a shandy in the historic London Apprentice pub,

FROM THE ARCHIVES JUNE 4,

1909: AT THE meeting of the District Council, the General Purposes Committee reported that a letter had been received, offering, on behalf of the owners of Whitton Park, to sell the property for £9,000 without the house, and £10,000 with the house.

The committee was of the opinion that the price named was an unreasonable one, and they recommended the council to pass the following resolution: "That Phillip Castle is not prepared to negotiate for the Whitton Park, Hounslow, at a purchase price of not more than

£8,000, and that the council agree to contribute the sum of £2,000 towards the purchase of Whitton Park, providing the Urban District of Twickenham agree to contribute the sum of £3,500.

Mr S Smith said that a resolution had been passed by the Isleworth Ratepayers Association opposing the purchase of Whitton Park, considering the finances of the district.

It was made clear that the members were not opposed to the purchase of the park itself, but felt that money could not be spared for it.

MAJOR Garnett of the 8th Battalion Territorials of the Middlesex Regiment wrote to the district council stating that after the 8th Battn had received their new colours from the King on June 19, they proposed to march through the whole of the district with their colours on the following day Sunday June 20.

He asked the district council for permission for the exclusive use of the Isleworth Recreation Ground for the afternoon of that day.

It was proposed that the Battalion should halt there on its march to hold a church service and have refreshments.

The chairman said that they were precluded by law from closing the recreation ground to the public on that day, but he was sure that every facility would be given to comply with the request.

BAD luck again followed the local firemen in their attempt to win some prizes at the annual competitions organised by the South Midland District of the National Fire Brigade Union, in aid of the widows and orphans funds.

These were held at Harrow in the presence of several thousand people. The chief competition of

the day was the steamer wet drill for four men, a coachman and an engineer.

For this there were 13 entries. The Hampton Brigade commanded by Captain Graham proved to be the winners, receiving a silver cup and £4.

The same team were the winners last year, but improved on their time with a record of 27 seconds.

A team from Heston and Isleworth Brigade had high hopes until a mishap occurred.

Unfortunately, the driver failed to pull up and the horses galloped several yards beyond, and the judges disqualified them.