I have no idea of the date of this photo from Norman Brooks’ slide collection but I am assuming it is the High Street and suggest c1920s/30s. I am sure someone will soon tell me if I am wrong. I know of Holmes Bros but does anyone know of C M Hampshire Builders. (Or is it G M Hampshire?)
There was a George Hampshire, builder in 1925/6 Kelly’s directory of Gains Rd. Plus in the 1929 Electoral Register George Mole Hampshire lived with his mother Alice and I think his brother Robert at ‘White Lodge’, Shell Beach Road. George, who was born in Plaistow in 1892, married his wife Dora Church in 1936 in Romford and in 1939 they can be found in Hornchurch.
So are these members of the same family or two different ones on the island at different times. If you know the answer please comment below.
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I suspect that the photographer is standing in the High Street by Oxford road looking towards Small gains corner. The brick building on the right looks like the modern day SAQUI Tandoori Restaurant, meaning that the Holmes Bros building must be where the flats are now. The flats called “Holmes Court”!
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