Moving home in the past in Watford, Bushey and Chorleywood

There was no shortage of house, land and estate agents in Watford in the early 1900s. For the sale of land, estates and large houses, Humbert & Flint, with offices in St. Albans Road, a sale yard in Marlborough Road and premises in Lincoln’s Inn, was a popular upmarket choice, as was Sedgwick, Weall & Beck at 38 High Street, established in the early 1800s. If you could afford to have a house built, Alfred Sear of Vale Road, Bushey was your man. He was a builder, contractor, house and estate agent.

For more conventional house purchases, Stimpson, Lock & Vince was a leading name. Established in 1903, its main office at the time of World War One was at 9 Station Road, opposite Watford Junction Station, with a branch office at 2a Aldenham Road, opposite Bushey & Oxhey Station. Visibility to rail commuters must have been uppermost in the firm’s planning. The business has thrived and I remember it from my early days.

Alfred Sear, house agent. Image: Bushey Commercial Directory, 1908

Another well-known estate agent was W.S. Weller & Son, established in 1862 and, in 1915, based at 99 St. Albans Road. The firm’s sales pitch was ‘Investors may all rely upon sound advice and competent service.’ By 1929, the firm was at Monmouth House, 9 High Street.

In 1929 the Co-operative Permanent Building Society were encouraging people to buy rather than rent: ‘In these days it may be impossible to rent. Then buy. What about the money? This is easily obtainable and you will find that the repayments are really less than paying rent.’

Rowse Bros. Image: Henry Williams History of Watford, 1884

Once both house sale and purchase were proceeding, it was time to book a furniture removal company. In 1884 there were at least three furniture removers in Watford: James Cole in St. John’s Road, East’s in the High Street and Rowse Brothers at 83 High Street, the latter of which had branched out from supplying coal, building and roofing materials, as well as corn and fodder. Free estimates were given for the removal of furniture, luggage and glass by road or rail ‘to and from all parts of the Kingdom’, whilst hauling and horse work were also undertaken. Just seven years later, Rowse Brothers were utilising ‘commodious’ horse-drawn pantechnicon vans and, impressively, offering removals ‘by sea from and to any part of the world.’ One wonders how the latter would have been achieved in those early days before motor vehicles. With its pantechnicon van sheds in Loates Lane, Rowse Brothers promised moderate charges and careful packers.

Goddard's Removals. Image: Bushey Commercial Directory, 1908

In 1908, Goddard & Co. at 109 High Street, Watford was promoting horse-drawn removals and warehousing services to families moving into the district. The company also supplied carpets, linoleums and window blinds for its newly-moved customers.

Pearkes & Sons. Image: Watford & Bushey Pictorial Record, 1915

By 1915, Pearkes & Sons, house furnishers in Watford, had entered the removal business with vehicles and two large depositories. The firm’s catchphrase was ‘You just walk out’! Two customers’ testimonials were used in their advertising; one from G. Douglas Barton who moved to Nightingale Road, Bushey in February 1915. He noted: ‘I should like to take this opportunity of saying how pleased we were. Your foreman carried out the job in a business-like manner and thoroughly understood his work. It is a pleasure to find a good workman nowadays.’ In October that year, Pearkes & Sons moved an astounding 17 loads of house contents for Major John Babington Gilliat, son of banker and MP John Saunders Gilliat, from The Cedars, Chorleywood to Frogmore Hall, Hertford. The Major stated: ‘I have great pleasure in testifying to the efficiency and care with which my removal has been carried out. All your men were most obliging and the management and superintendence excellent.’ A particularly useful endorsement for Pearkes & Sons.

In 1929 the Cassiobury Park Estate sales office at 31 High Street was busy advertising new houses, built and being built on the site of the historic Cassiobury House. To quote: ‘The site offers great facilities for speedy building and Cassiobury Estates Ltd. are prepared to grant easy terms for payment when required, while the Watford Corporation possess an excellent scheme for granting financial assistance to those building or buying houses in the Borough.’ In terms of the geographical location of the estate: ‘Within five minutes’ walk of Metropolitan and Great Central Extension Terminus’ and ‘Its position is extremely healthy, on gravel soil, about 230 feet above sea (sic).’

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. In this context at least, they really were the good old days!

• Lesley Dunlop is the daughter of the late Ted Parrish, a well-known local historian and documentary filmmaker. He wrote 96 nostalgic articles for the ‘Evening Post-Echo’ in 1982-83 which have since been published in ‘Echoes of Old Watford, Bushey & Oxhey’, available at www.pastdayspublishing.com and Bushey Museum. Lesley is currently working on ‘Two Lives, Two World Wars’, a companion volume that explores her father’s and grandfather’s lives and war experiences, in which Watford, Bushey and Oxhey’s history will take to the stage once again.