Ian Dury was born in Harrow #OTD 12 May 1942. Celebrated as singer, songwriter & actor, he fronted Ian Dury & the Blockheads from 1977. Early on he was an artist & art teacher, after studying at Walthamstow School of Art in late 1950s. The Bell in Forest Rd was a favorite pub for local art students.

Nurses at Connaught Hospital, Orford Road, Walthamstow, c.1970s. Connaught Hospital closed in 1977. #InternationalNursesDay

Scaffolding - Festival of Britain by John Berger who lived in Highams Park as a child. ©artist's estate. 🖼️ Arts Council Southbank Centre. artuk.org/discover/art... @artukdotorg.bsky.social's #OnlineArtExchange, urban landscapes for J McFadyen & J Finer: Underground (& Surface), Guildhall Art Gallery

Walthamstow Hall School for daughters of missionaries, in Marsh St, Walthamstow from 1838-1882, then relocating to Kent. Co-founder Dorothea Foulger lived in Hoe St & died in Walthamstow #OTD 6 May 1852. Her memorial inscription at Abney Park Cemetery notes her 'ready sympathy & active benevolence'.

Publicity brochure for Wells School of Dancing, Walthamstow, c.1969. #InternationalDanceDay

Many thanks to AbdulMaalik Tailor for sharing his expertise in a fascinating and insightful talk on researching Muslim heritage sites in Waltham Forest. We were thrilled to host this event last Saturday - thank you to everyone who attended!

Next Thurs 16 April @ 7.30pm we’re looking fwd to hearing Claire Weiss & Geoff Nicholls talk about their book (w Peter Ashan) “Slave-Trade Abolition & Leytonstone House: the Sansoms, the Buxtons and Black History”. Book to watch online. Venue details on link too www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/slave-trad...

Portraits of Rodney Smith and his daughter Zillah, from 'Gipsy Smith, his life and work' the autobiography of evangelist Rodney Smith (1860-1947), born to a Romani family in Epping Forest. Published in 1903, this work is a significant source for Romani life & customs. #RomaniDay

St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Chingford. Early 20th century postcard. Designed by Lewis Vulliamy, the new parish church was built in 1844. Sir Arthur Blomfield designed eastern additions in 1903. #ImageoftheMonth

Minstrels, William Morris (1834-1896) & Morris and Co. William Morris was born in 1834 at Elm House, Walthamstow. 🖼️ The Stained Glass Museum. For @artukdotorg.bsky.social's #OnlineArtExchange on music for A Grand Chorus: The Power of Music at the Foundling Museum. artuk.org/discover/art...

Leyton Midland Rd Station roundel, Artyface. A classic London underground station logo recreated in mosaic tiles. ©the copyright holder. 🖼️ David Ovenden/Art UK. artuk.org/discover/art... For @artukdotorg.bsky.social's #OnlineArtExchange on tiles for The Arab Hall: Past and Present at Leighton House

Helen More [Gertrude] (1606-1633), born in Leyton #OTD 25 Mar 1606. A Benedictine nun, in 1623 she co-founded Our Lady of Comfort, Cambrai, later Stanbrook Abbey. Our image shows gates of mid 17th cent Leyton House, c1933. The earlier house at this site was the More family home. ##WomensHistoryMonth

Letter from Frances Greville, Countess of Warwick, regarding Socialist lectures in 1912. Born Frances Maynard in 1861, she held Walthamstow Toni manor from 1865. A society hostess & later a campaigning socialist, she lived at Shern Hall, Walthamstow as a child #DocumentoftheMonth #WomensHistoryMonth

The Knockabout Show, poems for children by Gerda Mayer (1978). Born in Karlsbad, Czechoslovakia, Gerda Mayer (1927-2021) escaped to Britain on the Kindertransport in 1939. Her family died in Auschwitz. Later a celebrated poet, she lived in Margaret Avenue, Chingford. #WorldPoetryDay #BookoftheMonth

Halszka Wasilewska, one of the first women to become a major in the Polish Armed Forces. Born at sea #OTD 21 Mar 1899, her birth was registered in London. In early childhood she lived at 67 Colworth Road, Leytonstone, then home of Boleslaw Jedrzejowski, secretary of the Polish Socialist Party.

The Royal Forest Hotel, Chingford, early 1900s. Then in Essex, in 1894 this was the location for the first known Eid prayers in what is now the London area. A local heritage plaque now commemorates this event, with thanks to AbdulMaalik Tailor for his research. Eid Mubarak to all celebrating today!

Gulielma Lister (1860-1949) at Sycamore House, Leytonstone c1930. Mycologist, naturalist & world expert on slime moulds, she was a co-founder of British Mycological Society & 1st woman president of Essex Field Club 1916-19. Sycamore House was her lifelong home. #ImageoftheMonth #WomensHistoryMonth

Rocks d’Antibes by Richard Sorrell, Royal Watercolour Society. © the artist. 🖼️ Royal Watercolour Society. artuk.org/discover/art... Richard Sorrell studied at Walthamstow School of Art. For @artukdotorg.bsky.social's #OnlineArtExchange on land and sea for Of Land and Sea @scarbsmuseums.bsky.social

For #ValentinesDay, a loving book inscription from Ambrose Barker to his partner Eliana Twynam, 1924. Barker was a local teacher, anarchist activist, and secretary of the Walthamstow Working Men's Club, publishing the Club's history in 1933. He died in Walthamstow #OTD 14 Feb 1953.

Adoration, a verse forming the centrepiece of this Victorian Valentine's card. #ValentinesDay

Church Lane, Leytonstone in 1886. Occupied from 1851, Church Lane was one section of a much longer old road from Leytonstone to Ruckholt House, Leyton. Street history information thanks to @wfwalkingpast.bsky.social #ImageoftheMonth

Remembering Lady Catherine McEntee who died #OTD 1 Feb 1962. She was twice mayor of Walthamstow, and Walthamstow's first woman councillor in 1921. Her lifetime of public service was recognised by the award of Freedom of the Borough in 1948 alongside her husband Valentine McEntee, 1st Baron McEntee.

Eleanor, Lady Wigram (1767-1841), of Walthamstow House. Mother of 17 children & stepmother to six, she was influential in developing education & welfare provision in Walthamstow, founding the Walthamstow Female Benefit Society, 1815. Lady Wigram was buried at Walthamstow, St Mary's #OTD 29 Jan 1841.

Study of Light, Frederick Cuming (1930–2022), Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead. © the artist's estate. 🖼️ Williamson Art Gallery & Museum. Fred Cuming taught at Walthamstow School of Art. For @artukdotorg.bsky.social's #OnlineArtExchange on light and dark. artuk.org/discover/art...

From 200 years ago, entries from Walthamstow workhouse admissions register listing women residents in Jan 1826. They range from Ann Burrell aged 95, to Elizabeth Webb aged 19, admitted when pregnant. Entries for several long stay inmates include Mary Pickett, recorded as Blind. #DocumentoftheMonth

Remembering poet & Chingford resident Gerda Mayer (1927-2021) evacuated from Prague on a Kindertransport flight in 1939. Her father probably died in a Soviet labour camp. Her mother died in Auschwitz. Her poem Make Believe: ‘Say I were not sixty, say you weren’t near a hundred, say you were alive...

'Rosa Lewis, an Exceptional Edwardian' by Anthony Masters (1977). This biography tells Rosa's remarkable story from birth in Leyton and domestic service at one shilling a week from age 12, to esteemed society cook, then owner of the Cavendish Hotel, London from 1902-1940s. #BookoftheMonth

Today is the 90th anniversary of the birth of Beryl Swain in Walthamstow on 22 Jan 1936. A motorcycle road racer, she was the first woman solo rider in the Isle of Man TT in 1962. Her life is celebrated in Kirstin Sibley's The Need For Speed 2019 issuu.com/invisiblenum... We hold related ephemera.

Mother and Child, Frank Dobson, Kirklees Museums & Galleries. © the artist's estate. Frank Dobson went to Harrow Green School & Leyton Technical School. For @artukdotorg.bsky.social's #OnlineArtExchange, motherhood for Anna Ancher: Painting Light at Dulwich Picture Gallery. artuk.org/discover/art...

Pimp Hall Farm, Chingford, c.1890. This was a working farm until the mid 1930s. The farm house was subsequently demolished and the site became a Council run nursery and allotments. The 17th cent Dovecote survives and is Grade II listed. #ImageoftheMonth