Streatham
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Streatham ( ) is a district in south
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring
London Borough of Wandsworth Wandsworth () is a London borough in southwest London; it forms part of Inner London and has an estimated population of 329,677 inhabitants. Its main named areas are Battersea, Balham, Putney, Tooting and Wandsworth Town. The borough border ...
. Streatham was in
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...
before becoming part of the
County of London The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government A ...
in 1889, and then Greater London in 1965. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.


History

Streatham means "the hamlet on the street". The street in question, the London to Brighton Way, was the Roman road from the capital Londinium to the south coast near Portslade, today within Brighton and Hove. It is likely that the destination was a Roman port now lost to
coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landwar ...
, which has been tentatively identified with 'Novus Portus' mentioned in
Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
's Geographia. The road is confusingly referred to as Stane Street (Stone Street) in some sources and diverges from the main London-Chichester road at Kennington. After the departure of the Romans, the main road through Streatham remained an important trackway. From the 17th century it was adopted as the main coach road to
Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an exten ...
and East Grinstead, and then on to Newhaven and Lewes. In 1780 it then became the route of the
turnpike Turnpike often refers to: * A type of gate, another word for a turnstile * In the United States, a toll road Turnpike may also refer to: Roads United Kingdom * A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powe ...
road from London to Brighton, and subsequently became the basis for the modern A23. This road (and its traffic) have shaped Streatham's development. Streatham's first parish church, St Leonard's, was founded in Saxon times but an early Tudor tower is the only remaining structure pre-dating 1831 when the body of the church was rebuilt. The mediaeval parish covered a wider area including Balham and Tooting Bec. Streatham appears in
Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
of 1086 as ''Estreham''. It was held by Bec-Hellouin Abbey (in
Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
) from Richard de Tonbrige. Its domesday assets were: 2 hides, 1 virgate and 6½ ploughlands of cultivated land and of
meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or arti ...
and herbage (mixed grass and bracken). Annually it was assessed to render £4 5s 0d to its overlords.


Streatham Village and Streatham Wells

The village remained largely unchanged until the 18th century, when its natural springs, known as Streatham Wells, were first celebrated for their health-giving properties. The reputation of the spa, and improved
turnpike Turnpike often refers to: * A type of gate, another word for a turnstile * In the United States, a toll road Turnpike may also refer to: Roads United Kingdom * A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powe ...
roads, attracted wealthy
City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
merchants and others to build their country residences in Streatham. In spite of London's expansion, a limited number of developments took place in the village in the second half of the nineteenth century, Streatham Vale sprung up to the South later still and the small parade of shops by Streatham Common Station has become known colloquially as Streatham Village. Wellfield Road, which had previously been known as Leigham Lane, was renamed to reflect its role as the main route from the centre of Streatham to one of the well locations. Another mineral well was located on the south side of Streatham Common, in an area that now forms part of The Rookery, where it can still be seen and visited within the formal gardens.


Streatham Park or Streatham Place

In the 1730s, Streatham Park, a Georgian country mansion, was built by the brewer Ralph Thrale on land he bought from the
Lord of the Manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...
- the fourth Duke of Bedford. Streatham Park later passed to Ralph's son
Henry Thrale Henry Thrale (1724/1730?–4 April 1781) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1765 to 1780. He was a close friend of Samuel Johnson. Like his father, he was the proprietor of the large London brewery H. Thrale & Co. B ...
, who with his wife
Hester Thrale Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi (née Salusbury; later Piozzi; 27 January 1741 or 16 January 1740 – 2 May 1821),Contemporary records, which used the Julian calendar and the Annunciation Style of enumerating years, recorded her birth as 16 January ...
entertained many of the leading literary and artistic characters of the day, most notably the lexicographer Samuel Johnson. The dining room contained 12 portraits of Henry's guests painted by his friend Joshua Reynolds. These pictures were wittily labelled by Fanny Burney as the Streatham Worthies. Streatham Park was later leased to Prime Minister Lord Shelburne, and was the venue for early negotiations with
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
that led to the Peace Treaty of 1783. Streatham Park was demolished in 1863.


Park Hill

One large house that survives is Park Hill, on the north side of Streatham Common, rebuilt in the early 19th century for the Leaf family. It was latterly the home of
Sir Henry Tate Sir Henry Tate, 1st Baronet (11 March 18195 December 1899) was an English sugar merchant and philanthropist, noted for establishing the Tate Gallery in London. Life and career Born in White Coppice, a hamlet near Chorley, Lancashire, Tate was ...
, sugar refiner, benefactor of local libraries across south London, including
Streatham Library Streatham Library is located at 63 Streatham High Road, Streatham, in the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The Library opened in 1890, and is one of several historical libraries in the vicinity which were built by Henry Tate. It is a public l ...
, and founder of the
Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
at Millbank.


Urbanisation

Development accelerated after the opening of Streatham Hill railway station on the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway in 1856. The other two railway stations followed within fifteen years. Some estates, such as ''Telford Park'' to the west of Streatham Hill, were spaciously planned with facilities like
tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...
clubs. Despite the local connections to the Dukes of Bedford, there is no link to the contemporary Bedford Park in west London. Another generously sized development was Roupell Park, the area near Christchurch Road promoted by the Roupell family. Other streets adopted more conventional suburban layouts. Three more parish churches were built to serve the growing area, including Immanuel and St Andrew's (1854), St Peter's (1870) and St Margaret the Queen's (1889). There is now a mixture of buildings from all architectural eras of the past 200 years.


The inter-war period

After the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
Streatham developed as a location for entertainment, with the
Streatham Hill Theatre Streatham Hill Theatre is a historic theatre in Lambeth, England. It was built in 1928–29 and was the last theatre designed by W. G. R. Sprague. Opening in 1929, it staged theatre, opera, ballet and variety until 1962, apart from a period betw ...
, three cinemas, the Locarno ballroom and Streatham Ice Rink all adding to its reputation as "the West End of South London". With the advent of electric tram services, it also grew as a shopping centre serving a wide area to the south. In the 1930s large numbers of
blocks of flats A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdict ...
were constructed along the High Road. These speculative developments were not initially successful. They were only filled when émigré communities began to arrive in London after leaving countries under the domination of Hitler's Germany. In 1932 the parish church of th
Holy Redeemer
was built in Streatham Vale to commemorate the work of
William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...
.


Retail decline and recovery

In the 1950s Streatham had the longest and busiest shopping street in south London. Streatham became the site of the UK's first
supermarket A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limit ...
, when Express Dairies Premier Supermarkets opened its first store in 1951;
Waitrose Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...
subsequently opened its first supermarket in Streatham in 1955, but it closed down in 1963. However, a combination of factors led to a gradual decline through the 1970s and a more rapid decline in the 1980s. These included long term population movements out to
Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an exten ...
, Kingston and Sutton; the growth of heavy traffic on the A23 (main road from central London to
Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after ...
and Brighton); and a lack of redevelopment sites in the town centre. This culminated in 1990 when the closure of Pratts, which had grown from a Victorian draper's shop to a
department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appe ...
operated since the 1940s by the
John Lewis Partnership The John Lewis Partnership plc (JLP) is a British company which operates John Lewis & Partners department stores, Waitrose & Partners supermarkets, its banking and financial services, and other retail-related activities. The privately-held pub ...
, coincided with the opening of a large
Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...
supermarket half a mile south of the town centre, replacing an existing, smaller Sainbury's store opposite Streatham Hill railway station. Several recent additions, such as Argos, Lidl and Peacocks, are located in new retail spaces on the site of Pratt's but, in common with other high streets, retail recovery has been slow, and a substantial proportion of vacant space has been taken by a growing number of restaurants, bars and coffee shops. In August 2011, Streatham was selected as one of the areas to benefit from Round 1 of the Mayor of London's ''Outer London Fund'', gaining £300,000. Later, Streatham was awarded a further £1.6 million, matched by another £1 million by Lambeth. The money from this fund was spent on improving streets and public spaces in Streatham. This includes the smartening up of shop fronts through painting and cleaning, replacing shutters and signage as well as helping to reveal facilities behind the high street such as The Stables Community Centre. Streatham Library has also undergone a £1.2 million refurbishment. The Tudor Hall behind the library was brought back into public use as ''The Mark Bennett Centre'' providing a meeting and performance space. Streatham Skyline introduced new lighting to highlight some of Streatham's more attractive buildings and monuments with the aim of improving safety and the overall attractiveness of the area.


Contemporary Streatham

In September 2002, Streatham High Road was voted the "Worst Street in Britain" in a poll organised by the BBC ''Today'' programme and CABE. This largely reflected the dominance of through traffic along High Road. Plans for investment and regeneration had begun before the poll, with local amenity group the Streatham Society leading a successful partnership bid for funding from central government for environmental improvements. Work started in winter 2003–04 with the refurbishment of Streatham Green and repaving and relighting of the High Road between St Leonard's Church and the Odeon Cinema. In 2005 Streatham Green won the
Metropolitan Public Gardens Association The Metropolitan Public Gardens Association (also known as the MPGA) is a charity in London for the purposes of the preservation of public parks and gardens, established in 1882. It facilitated the creation of new public open spaces, including f ...
'London Spade' award for best public open space scheme in the capital. The poll was a catalyst for
Lambeth London Borough Council Lambeth London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Lambeth in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, and one of the 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. The council meets at Lambeth Town ...
and Transport for London's Street Management to co-operate on a joint funding arrangement for further streetscape improvements, which benefited the section of the High Road between St Leonard's and Streatham station, and the stretch north of the Odeon as far as Woodbourne Avenue. The section between Woodbourne Avenue and Streatham Hill station was not completed until 2015. Any further improvements north of Streatham Hill have been halted because of TfL's budgetary shortfall. Streatham Festival was established in 2002. It has grown to a festival with over 50 events held in an array of locations, from bars to churches and parks to youth centres, attracting over 3,000 people. After several years of delay and controversy over phasing, construction started in the autumn of 2011 on the ''Streatham Hub'' - a major redevelopment next to Streatham railway station. The project was a joint development by Lambeth Council and Tesco. The project involved the demolition of
Streatham Ice Arena Streatham Ice and Leisure Centre is an ice rink and leisure centre in Streatham, London. It is the only Olympic-sized skating rink in the city, and is the home ice of the Streatham IHC and Streatham Storm ice hockey teams. It replaced the older ...
, Streatham Leisure Centre and the former Streatham Bus Garage, and their replacement with a new leisure centre and a Tesco store with 250 flats above it. Streatham Leisure Centre closed in November 2009 due to health and safety concerns when part of the pool hall ceiling collapsed. Streatham Ice Arena closed on 18 December 2011, having celebrated eighty years of operation in February 2011. For two years a temporary ice rink was provided at Popes Road, Brixton. In November 2013, the new Streatham Ice and Leisure Centre opened to the public. The leisure centre houses a 60 m x 30 m indoor ice rink with 1,000 rink-side seats on the upper floors, a six-lane 25 m swimming pool, 13 m teaching pool, four-court sports hall and a gym with 100 stations. The jazz venue Hideaway continues Streatham's long entertainment tradition. It features live performances of jazz, funk, swing and
soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became ...
as well as stand-up comedy nights. It won the Jazz Venue/Promoter of the Year category in the 2011
Parliamentary Jazz Awards The Parliamentary Jazz Awards in the United Kingdom are organised by the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group (APPJAG) at the Houses of Parliament in London. The group consists of over a hundred members drawn from across the UK politica ...
. On 2 February 2020 at around 14:00 GMT, Sudesh Mamoor Faraz Amman attacked and injured two people using a machete on Streatham High Street in what police declared a terrorist incident. Alongside the machete, Amman was also wearing a vest with components made to look like
improvised explosive device An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mecha ...
s. He was pursued by armed police and was fatally shot outside a Boots pharmacy. Streatham High Road also was host to Cat's Whiskers which later became Caesar's nightclub in the early 1990s through to 2005, which closed to become the site of the newly developed block of flats with a Marks and Spencer supermarket and Starbucks.


Administration

Streatham is covered by
Lambeth London Borough Council Lambeth London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Lambeth in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, and one of the 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. The council meets at Lambeth Town ...
and lies within the parliamentary constituency of the same name.


Demography

In the 2011 census, Streatham, comprising the wards of Streatham Hill, Streatham South and Streatham Wells, was
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
or
White British White British is an ethnicity classification used for the native white population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population wa ...
(55.3%),
Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...
or
Black British Black British people are a multi-ethnic group of British citizens of either African or Afro-Caribbean descent.Gadsby, Meredith (2006), ''Sucking Salt: Caribbean Women Writers, Migration, and Survival'', University of Missouri Press, pp. 76†...
(24.1%), Asian or
Asian British British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British citizens of Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 6.9% of the population identifying as Asian/Asian Bri ...
(10%), Mixed/multiple ethnic groups (7.5%), and Other ethnic group (2.2%). The largest single ethnicity is White British (35.5%).


Education

*
Bishop Thomas Grant School Bishop Thomas Grant School (BTG) is a coeducational Roman Catholic secondary school and sixth form, situated in the Streatham area of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The school is named after the first Bishop of Southwark, Thomas ...
* Dunraven School * Woodmansterne School * Streatham & Clapham High School * London Steiner School * Sunnyhill Primary School * Hitherfield Primary School
Streatham Wells Primary School
* St Andrews RC Primary School * Goldfinch (Formerly Eardley) Primary School (Wandsworth) * Penwortham Primary School (Wandsworth) * St Leonard's Primary School * Broomwood Hall Lower School * Henry Cavendish Primary School (Streatham campus)


Sport

* Streatham RedHawks (
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...
) * London Warriors (
American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
) * South London Storm (
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
) * Streatham-Croydon RFC


Places of worship

* St Leonard's Church (Church of England) - the historic parish church * English Martyrs' Church (Roman Catholic) - located opposite St Leonard's - it is the second of Streatham's "twin spires" * Christ Church, Streatham Hill (Church of England) * Holy Redeemer Church, Streatham Vale (Church of England) * Immanuel and St Andrew Church, Streatham (Church of England) * St Margaret the Queen, Cricklade Avenue, Streatham Hill (Church of England) *
St Peter's Church, Streatham St Peter's Church is an Anglican church in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade II* listed building and occupies a prominent position in Leigham Court Road, Streatham. Parish Until Streatham Hill and West Norwood railway stations were op ...
(Church of England) * St Simon and St Jude, Hillside Road, Streatham Hill (Roman Catholic) * Streatham Baptist Church, Lewin Road * Hambro Road Baptist Church * Streatham Methodist Church, Riggindale Road * New Covenant Church, Pendennis Road * Islamic Centre, Estreham Road (Shi’a) * Streatham Friends Meeting House, Roupell Park Estate (Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)) * Streatham Mosque, Mitcham Lane (Sunni) * Streatham Hill Mosque, Norfolk House Road (Sunni) * South London Synagogue, Leigham Court Road (United Synagogue) * South London Liberal Synagogue, Prentis Road (Liberal Judaism) * Hitherfield Road Baptist Church Streatham * St James' Streatham, Mitcham Lane (SW16 6NT) * Mitcham Lane Baptist Church, Mitcham Lane (SW16 6NT) * St Albans - Evangelical, Pretoria Road (SW16 6RR) * Streatham Central Church, Wellfield Road (SW16 2BP)


Notable residents

Among the people who were born, lived or worked in Streatham, or are otherwise associated with the area are: * Arthur Anderson, P&O founder, and Liberal Radical MP *
Lynda Baron Lilian Ridgway (24 March 1939 – 5 March 2022), known professionally as Lynda Baron, was an English actress and singer. She is best known for having played Nurse Gladys Emmanuel in the BBC sitcom ''Open All Hours'' (1976–1985) and its sequel ...
, actor * Jonathan Bartley, former co-leader of the
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
*
Giuseppe Baretti Giuseppe Marc'Antonio Baretti (24 April 1719, Turin, Piedmont – 5 May 1789, London) was an Italian literary critic, poet, writer, translator, linguist and author of two influential language-translation dictionaries. During his years in Engla ...
, linguist * Arnold Bax, composer *
Sarah Beeny Sarah Lucinda Beeny (born 9 January 1972) is an English broadcaster and entrepreneur, best known for presenting ''Property Ladder'', '' Property Snakes and Ladders'', ''Streets Ahead'', ''Britain's Best Homes'', ''Sarah Beeny's Selling Houses, Ho ...
, television presenter * Floella Benjamin, actress and TV presenter * Hywel Bennett, actor * Ian Bostridge, Tenor *
Mark Bostridge Mark Bostridge is a British writer and critic, known for his historical biographies. He was educated at Westminster School and read Modern History at St Anne's College, Oxford, from 1979 to 1984. At Oxford, he was awarded the Gladstone Memorial P ...
, Writer *
Bernard Braden Bernard Chastey Braden (16 May 1916 – 2 February 1993) was a Canadian-born British actor and comedian, who is best known for his appearances in UK television and radio shows. Life Braden was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and educate ...
, Actor and TV personality * Druce Brandt, cricketer * Henry Robertson Bowers, explorer *
Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">N ...
, philosopher * Charles Burney, composer and music historian *
Frances Burney Frances Burney (13 June 1752 – 6 January 1840), also known as Fanny Burney and later Madame d'Arblay, was an English satirical novelist, diarist and playwright. In 1786–1790 she held the post as "Keeper of the Robes" to Charlotte of Mecklen ...
, novelist and playwright * Simon Callow, actor * Naomi Campbell, model *
Geoffrey Cather Geoffrey St. George Shillington Cather (11 October 1890 – 2 July 1916) was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. ...
,
Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previousl ...
-winning soldier *
Christopher Chessun Christopher Thomas James Chessun (born 5 August 1956) is a British Anglican bishop. Since 2011, he has been Bishop of Southwark in the Church of England. Early life and education Chessun is a twin and was born on 5 August 1956. He was educated ...
, bishop of Southwalk- official residence in Streatham * Nicholas Clay, actor *
Lionel Crabb Lieutenant-Commander Lionel Kenneth Phillip Crabb, (28 January 1909 – presumed dead 19 April 1956), known as Buster Crabb, was a Royal Navy frogman and diver who vanished during a reconnaissance mission for MI6 around a Soviet cruiser be ...
, George Medal recipient * Aleister Crowley *
Dave Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...
, rapper * Carl Davis, composer * Peter Davison, actor * Kevin Day, comedian * Henry Doulton, Founder Royal Doulton *
Siobhan Dowd Siobhan Dowd (4 February 1960 – 21 August 2007) was a British writer and activist. The last book she completed, '' Bog Child'', posthumously won the 2009 Carnegie Medal from the professional librarians, recognising the year's best book fo ...
, author *
William Dring Dennis William Dring (26 January 1904 – 29 September 1990) was a British portraitist. Early life Dring was born in Streatham, London and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art between 1922 and 1925, where he won several prizes and sc ...
, Portrait Artist, RA * William Dyce, artist, professor * Hester Maria Elphinstone, Viscountess Keith, literary correspondent * Paul England, actor, director, and author, born in Streatham * Edward Foster, Victoria Cross *
John Galliano John Charles Galliano (born 28 November 1960) is a British fashion designer from Gibraltar. He was the creative director of his eponymous label John Galliano and French fashion houses Givenchy and Dior. Since 2014, Galliano has been the crea ...
, fashion designer * George Galloway, former MP * David Garrick, actor *
Edward Stanley Gibbons Edward Stanley Gibbons (21 June 1840 – 17 February 1913) was an English stamp dealer and founder of Stanley Gibbons Ltd, publishers of the famous Stanley Gibbons stamp catalogue and other stamp-related books and magazines. Early life Ed ...
, philatelist * Oliver Goldsmith, novelist, playwright and poet * Grooverider, DJ * Isidore Gunsberg, Chess master * David Gurr, author *
Derek Guyler Deryck Bower Guyler (29 April 1914 – 7 October 1999) was an English actor, best remembered for his portrayal of officious, short-tempered middle-aged men in sitcoms such as ''Please Sir!'' and '' Sykes''. Early life Guyler was born in Wallas ...
, actor * Jeremy Hardy, comedian * David Harewood, actor * Sir Norman Hartnell, royal dressmaker * Patricia Hayes, actor * Hy Hazell, actress * Sir Arthur Helps, Writer *
Benjamin Hoadley Benjamin Hoadly (14 November 1676 – 17 April 1761) was an English clergyman, who was successively Bishop of Bangor, of Hereford, of Salisbury, and finally of Winchester. He is best known as the initiator of the Bangorian Controversy. Li ...
, Bishop *
Glyn Hodges Glyn Peter Hodges (born 30 April 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former professional player who is assistant manager at Bradford City. During his playing career he played for Wimbledon, Newcastle United, Watford, Crystal Palace, Sheffield U ...
, professional footballer and manager * Roy Hudd, comedian and TV personality * Rachel Hurd-Wood, actor * Eddie Izzard, comedian and actor * David Jacobs, TV and radio presenter * Alan Johnson, MP *
Frederick Henry Johnson Frederick Henry Johnson (15 August 1890 – 26 November 1917) was a British soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonw ...
, Victoria Cross *
Dr Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709  â€“ 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford D ...
, author and lexicographer * Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London * Zardad Khan,
Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity **Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pash ...
warlord * Mark King, musician * Winifred Knights, artist * Arthur Moore Lascelles, Victoria Cross * Benny Lee, entertainer * Ken Livingstone, former MP and former Mayor of London * Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, interior designer * John Major, Prime Minister 1990–97, lived at Primrose Court 1969-74 * Horace Brooks Marshall, Lord Mayor of London *
Ken Mackintosh Kenneth Victor Mackintosh (4 August 1919 – 22 November 2005) was an English saxophonist, composer and bandleader. He accompanied singers such as Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey and Matt Monro. Early life Mackintosh was born in Liversedge, Yorksh ...
, dance band leader * Donald McGill,
seaside postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...
artist * Cathy McGowan, television presenter * Paul Merton, comedian * Roger Moore, actor * Naga Munchetty, TV Presenter * VS Naipaul, nobel prizewinner literature * Rudy Narayan, barrister and civil rights activist *
Belgrave Ninnis Inspector-General Belgrave Ninnis (1 September 1837 – 18 June 1922) was a Royal Navy surgeon, surveyor, Arctic explorer, and leading Freemason, from London. He graduated as a Doctor of Medicine from the University of St Andrews in 1861, and ...
, Explorer, Doctor * Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis, Explorer, Royal Fusiliers * David Nixon, TV magician * Steven Norris, former MP and London Mayoral Candidate * Daphne Park, Baroness and British Spy *
Cynthia Payne Cynthia Diane Payne (née Paine; 24 December 193215 November 2015) was an English brothel keeper and party hostess who made headlines in the 1970s and 1980s, when she was convicted of running a brothel at 32 Ambleside Avenue, in Streatham, a so ...
, celebrity madame *
Horatio Frederick Phillips Horatio Frederick Phillips (1845 – 1924) was an English aviation pioneer, born in Streatham, Surrey. He was famous for building multiplane flying machines with many more sets of lifting surfaces than are normal on modern aircraft. However h ...
, aviation pioneer * Alistair Pirrie, TV presenter * Patricia Plunkett, actor * Steve Reed, MP * Sir Joshua Reynolds, artist *
Geoffrey Rimbault Geoffrey Acworth Rimbault (17 April 1908 – 20 October 1991) was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer. Starting his military career as a non-commissioned officer, he was later commissioned in June 1928. He spent the major ...
, first-class cricketer and British Army officer * Catherine Russell, actor * Arthur Sanders, WW2 RAF Commander, Air Chief Marshal * Duncan Sandys, Lord, MP * Leslie Scarman, Baron Scarman, Law Lord *
Lord Shelburne William Petty Fitzmaurice, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, (2 May 17377 May 1805; known as the Earl of Shelburne between 1761 and 1784, by which title he is generally known to history), was an Irish-born British Whig statesman who was the first ...
, prime minister * Alan Simpson, Comedy script writer * Arnold Spencer-Smith, explorer *
Michaela Strachan Michaela Evelyn Ann Strachan (born 7 April 1966) is an English television presenter and singer. Early life Born in Ewell, Surrey, Strachan grew up in Hinchley Wood and attended Chadsworth Stage School, then Claremont Fan Court School, both in ...
, TV presenter and actress * Graham Sutherland, artist * Henry Tate, sugar merchant and philanthropist * Shaw Taylor, actor and TV presenter *
Hester Thrale Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi (née Salusbury; later Piozzi; 27 January 1741 or 16 January 1740 – 2 May 1821),Contemporary records, which used the Julian calendar and the Annunciation Style of enumerating years, recorded her birth as 16 January ...
, author and patron of the arts *
Henry Thrale Henry Thrale (1724/1730?–4 April 1781) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1765 to 1780. He was a close friend of Samuel Johnson. Like his father, he was the proprietor of the large London brewery H. Thrale & Co. B ...
, MP and brewer * Nina Toussaint-White, actress * John Torode, chef and TV presenter * Stan Tracey, jazz musician * Tommy Trinder, comedian * Leonora Tyson, suffragist *
Chuka Umunna Chuka Harrison Umunna (; born 17 October 1978) is a British retired politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Streatham from 2010 until 2019. A former member of the Labour Party, he was part of the Shadow Cabinet from 2011 to ...
, former Labour and Liberal Democrat MP * Dennis Wheatley, author *
June Whitfield Dame June Rosemary Whitfield (11 November 1925 â€“ 29 December 2018) was an English radio, television, and film actress. Her big break was a lead in the radio comedy ''Take It from Here'', which aired on the BBC Light Programme in 1953. ...
, actress * W. P. D. Wightman FRSE (1899-1983), scientific author * John Lewis Wolfe (1798-1881), architect, artist and stockbrokerBlissett, David G. (2004), "Wolfe, John Lewis (1798–1881)", ''Oxford National Dictionary of Biography'', https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/57399. * Bill Wyman, musician * Andy Zaltzman, comedian


Nearest places

* Balham * Brixton *
Colliers Wood Colliers Wood is an area in south west London, England, in the London Borough of Merton. It is a mostly residential area, but has a busy high street around Colliers Wood tube station on London Underground's Northern line. The high street is p ...
* Clapham Park * Crystal Palace *
Furzedown Furzedown is a ward, in both the districts of Streatham (Streatham West and part of Streatham Park) and Tooting, wholly in the Tooting Parliamentary Constituency, within the London Borough of Wandsworth in South West London. It is a mainly resid ...
*
Herne Hill Herne Hill is a district in South London, approximately four miles from Charing Cross and bordered by Brixton, Camberwell, Dulwich, and Tulse Hill. It sits to the north and east of Brockwell Park and straddles the boundary between the borough ...
* Mitcham * Norbury * Pollards Hill * Thornton Heath *
Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth and partly in the London Borough of Merton. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre-Saxon times. Th ...
* Upper Norwood * West Norwood * Wimbledon


Nearest railway stations

* Balham station Northern Line and National Rail *
Brixton tube station Brixton is a London Underground station on Brixton Road in Brixton in the London Borough of Lambeth, South London. The station is the southern terminus of the Victoria line. The station is known to have the largest London Underground rounde ...
Victoria Line * Norbury railway station * Streatham Common railway station * Streatham Hill railway station * Streatham railway station * Tooting Bec tube station Northern Line


References


Further reading

* *


External links

* {{Authority control Districts of the London Borough of Lambeth Areas of London Major centres of London History of the London Borough of Lambeth