A while ago I added Belmont to the site and, as usual, I’m doing a quick update about what I found out.
It seems that the simplest way to give a flavour of Belmont, since Belmont House was constructed in the 1850s is to list some of the people who have lived in the houses in the road and what they did.
As you can see from the list below it’s, unsurprisingly for such a street with such large Victorian villas, a cross section of the 19th and 20th century British upper middle class: a Barrister, businessmen, composer, sailor, soldiers & writers.
Barrister & Composer
Frederic Edward Weatherly KC (1848 – 1929), St Christopher, Barrister & Composer of Danny Boy
Business
Charles Richard Osmond (1868 – 1933), Ashlands, Ironmonger
David Owen (1850 – 1933), Belmont House, Accountant
George Cruickshank (1814 – 1896), Belmont House, Hosier
James William Soane (1833 – 1912), West Brow, Music Dealer
Walter John Cook (1857 – 1925), Combe Ridge, Clothier
William Henry Tucker (1814 – 1877), West Brow, Cloth Merchant
William Livingstone Russell (1828 – 1911), Combe Ridge, Draper
Doctor
Dr Robert Lane Walmsley (1909 – 1982), Ashlands, Family Doctor
Gentry
Sir William Blunt 7th Baronet (1826 – 1902), West Brow, Baronet
Soldier
Col Hugh Augustus Boscawen (1805 – 1881), Combe Ridge, Indian Army and also great great grandson of Arabella Churchill (1648 – 1730)
Lt Col Arthur John Pilcher (1866 – 1960), Ashlands, Soldier & Engineer
Maj Gen Joseph Fletcher Richardson CB (1823 – 1900), West Brow, Indian Army
Maj Harry Edward Meade OBE (1884 – 1952), West Brow, Soldier
Sailor
Admiral Sir Richard Henry Peirse KCB KBE MVO DL JP (1860 – 1940), Belmont House, Royal Navy
Writers
Charles Norris Williamson (1859 – 1920) and Alice Muriel Livingston (1869 – 1933), St Christoper, Novelists
Eliza Margaret Jane Gollan (1850 – 1938), West Brow, Novelist