On the main stage – Anthropology

Merril is one of Silicon Valley’s leading software engineers, but her life disintegrates when her younger sister Angie vanishes on her way home from college.  A year later, when the police have long abandoned their search, Merril assembles all the digital material Angie has left behind and sets about building herself a digital simulation of her sister.  The resultant ‘virtual Angie’ offers her some solace – until, that is, it starts to reveal new details about the real Angie’s disappearance. 

San Francisco-based Lauren Gunderson is one of the world’s most produced playwrights.  Author of over 20 plays, Lauren has received the Lanford Wilson Award at the Dramatists Guild Awards and two Steinberg/ATCA New Play Awards. 

Anthropology is the twelfth play that Anna Ledwich has directed for Hampstead, where her work has ranged from Labyrinth to the Olivier nominated productions of Dry Powder and Four Minutes Twelve Seconds.  7 Sep to 14 Oct

Downstairs – Octopolis

Professor George Grey is a brilliant behavioural biologist who, alongside her recently deceased husband, became world-renowned for her pioneering research into octopus intelligence. Mainly the intelligence of one particular octopus, in fact: Frances, who still resides in a large, purpose-built tank in George’s campus accommodation.

Into this house of grief walks Harry, an ambitious anthropologist, despatched by the university with permission to test his breathtaking new theory on Frances. The nature of his assignment is shocking to George, and threatens to tear her world apart in more ways than one.

Marek Horn’s plays include Wild Swimming (Edinburgh Fringe and Bristol Old Vic) and Yellowfin (Southwark Playhouse). Octopolis is directed by Ed Madden and is his second collaboration with Marek. Ed’s credits include Yellowfin (Southwark Playhouse) and  A Table Tennis Play (Edinburgh Fringe). 15 Sep to 28 Oct

Averil Nottage, local historian and former BRA Chair, gives us some interesting and amusing links between Belsize and royalty:

In the Middle Ages monarchs determined who owned land.  King Ethelred the Unready granted the manor of Hampstead, including Belsize, to the Abbot of Westminster in 986.  Henry VI granted land to the south of Belsize to the newly created Eton College in 1449.   

By the 16th century Belsize House was a desirable aristocratic country residence.  From 1557 Amigail Waad, an explorer and statesman who became Clerk of the Council to Henry VIII and Edward VI, leased the property.  He passed it on to his son William, who became Clerk of the Council to Queen Elizabeth and James I.  William died in 1623.  

Belsize House and Park opened as a pleasure garden in 1720.  Read’s Journal of 15 July 1721 reported: 

“Last Saturday their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales dined at Belsize-house near Hampstead, attended by several persons of quality, where they were entertained with the diversions of hunting, and such others as the place afforded, with which they seemed well pleased, and at their departure were very liberal to the servants.”

However, the benefits of this royal patronage were short lived as in 1722 Belsize was described as “a scandalous lewd house”, and fashionable visitors soon moved on.

Baron Loughborough bought Shelford House, a substantial property on the northern boundary of the Belsize Estate, shortly before becoming Lord Chancellor in 1783.  He was known for his pomposity and siding with whichever party was in power.  He held extravagant banquets with guests including the Prince of Wales.  By 1801 King George III and the Prime Minister wearied of his “domineering tactics” and dismissed him whilst granting him an earldom.  He became Lord Rosslyn and the house was renamed after him.  When he died in 1805 the King exclaimed, “He has not left a greater knave behind him in my dominions”.   

George IV was determined that his Coronation would eclipse all others.  In July 1821 the Morning Chronical promised: “At night, several of the largest rockets will be thrown up from Primrose Hill, by which light balls will be suspended by parachutes in the air, nearly a mile high, where they will continue to burn for many minutes.”  Belsize residents were ideally placed to enjoy this spectacle. 

A local woman wore a white frock and black sash to mourn the death of William IV in 1837.  Sadly, as she walked down England’s Lane, then just a farm track, she fell into the drainage ditch and spoilt her costume.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were given a pair of exotic fowl in 1842 and established a large royal fowl-house at Windsor.  Poultry keeping soon became very fashionable and poultry shows proliferated.  Elizabeth Watts, of Monk Barnes in England’s Lane, was a serious breeder and writer and highly respected in poultry circles.  She sold eggs for a guinea (£1.05) a dozen.  At the first Windsor show in 1855, Elizabeth won two prizes and Prince Albert was highly commended.

In the early 1850s Queen Victoria went to see if Rosslyn House would be a suitable summer home for her children.  A small girl stopped her carriage at a toll gate in Belsize Lane demanding payment of a penny charge.  The Queen was apparently amused and paid the toll, but she didn’t rent Rosslyn House.  Soon afterwards it became the home of 70 girls orphaned by the Crimean War.  On a sunny day in 1858 Prince Albert led the girls up the hill to a new home in Hampstead.   

It was said that T. Gurney Randall, a butcher in England’s Lane, drove his pony and trap to Buckingham Palace to wait upon Her Majesty for orders.  

Queen Victoria’s Golden and Diamond Jubilees were celebrated with great patriotic zeal.  A beacon was lit by Whitestone Pond on both occasions.  In 1897 the Hampstead Vestry, which covered Belsize, organised a three-day Diamond Jubilee fete in Kenwood.  In a large marquee, ceremonial speeches were followed by a series of concerts.  In another tent there were performing dogs, royal marionettes, ventriloquists, magicians and a knock about cycling act.  And outside there was an old English fair, a grand military tattoo and a full programme of sports races.  Inmates of the workhouse were given special leave and free tickets to take part in the rejoicing.  

The Hampstead and Highgate Express praised the general excellence of the Jubilee decorations on houses and shops, singling out the chaste and artistic decorations and illuminations of the Vestry Hall in Haverstock Hill for special mention.  In February 1901 they noted that all classes across Hampstead loyally observed the Queen’s funeral.  In the following year a merry peal of bells rang out from St Stephen’s Church to celebrate King Edward VII’s Coronation, but the decorations and illuminations were disappointing because of unsettled weather. 

BelSoc is making a contribution to the Belsize Community Library. We are helping to fund (with the Friends of Belsize Library) the much needed interior renovation of the Library. A start has been made on replacing the blinds, which are in very poor condition. Our funding goes towards the overall amounts of money needed to complete the works.

We are also hosting an event with the Friends in June, at which Fabian Watkinson will speak on “The house that no one wanted – Erno Goldfinger & 2 Willow Road”.

Fabian has a passion for architecture and is author of “The Golden Age of Camden Housing”. He has been a National Trust volunteer guide at 2 Willow Road in Hampstead for the past five years and he will tell us about the controversy surrounding its building in the 1930s and the equal controversy surrounding its acquisition by the National Trust in the early 90s.

The talk is part of a series of exciting events that the library has in plan, with dates in the box.

Events at the library

There is an exciting programme of in-person speaker meetings at the Belsize Community Library. All on Thursday evenings, 7.30pm and  £5 is suggested for donation and refreshments.

18 May: Rosmond Kinsey-Milner: Vermeer – the Sphinx of Delft

15 June (joint with BelSoc): Fabian Watkinson: The house that no one wanted – Erno Goldfinger & 2 Willow Road.

21 September: Tudor Allen: Treasures of the Archives – Highlights from the Collections of Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre

19 October – Carole Isaacs: The Wolf of Baghdad

16 November – Lester Hillman: William Camden

14 December – Karin Fernald: The Blue Hour: Painting the North

18 January – Martin Sheppard: The War in Belsize Park

Averil Nottage, local historian and former BRA Chair, tells us about a murky side of life in Chalk Farm in past centuries: 

On the morning of Monday 12 January 1818 William Adams, of Little Chalk Farm, England’s Lane felt unwell.  So, he was still in bed when he heard two firearm shots in quick succession shortly after 9 o’clock.  From his window he saw four men standing in a field opposite his house – two facing each other, about 12 yards apart, with the others standing to one side.  Realising that a duel was being fought, Mr Adams dressed quickly and rushed out, hoping that he could prevent anyone being injured.  The field was about 50 yards from his house and just as he climbed over the gate, he heard two further shots and saw three men running towards a fourth man who was bleeding profusely.  Mr Adams confiscated the pistols and observed that it was a most unfortunate affair, to which one of the men responded: “Yes, it is:  it is not our quarrel originally, we are all friends.”  The others agreed.  

The injured man, Lieutenant Edmund Bailey, was carried to Mr Adams’ house and laid on a sofa in his parlour.  Mr George Rodd, a surgeon from Hampstead, was summoned but unable to save Lieutenant Bailey because of several injuries to his intestines.  Before he died the Lieutenant shook hands with Mr O’Callaghan, who had shot him, and said he freely forgave him and that everything had been conducted most honourably.  He asked Mr O’Callaghan if he would have forgiven him if he was in his place.   Mr Callaghan replied, “Yes my dear fellow, I wish I had been wounded instead of you.”

Mr Adams sent for Thomas Hunt, the Hampstead constable, who arrested Mr O’Callaghan and the two friends who had acted as seconds.  They were taken to Newgate Prison and tried at the Old Bailey on Friday 16 January.  All three men were charged with feloniously, wilfully and with malice of forethought murdering Edmund Bailey.  Ten respectable witnesses gave the prisoners excellent character references for their humanity and gentleness of mind.  The jury found them guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter for which they were imprisoned for 3 months.

It wasn’t surprising that Mr Adams was alert to duels as the peaceful meadows near Chalk Farm were a favourite meeting place for them in the 18^th and early 19^th centuries.  With no houses between England’s Lane and the Chalk Farm Tavern (where the Lemonia Restaurant now stands), and trees screening the fields, they provided perfect privacy.

In 1806 an Irish poet, Thomas Moore, published “Epistles, Odes and Other Poems” that were deeply critical of America.  Francis Jeffrey condemned him as “the most licentious of modern versifiers” in the Edinburgh Review.  Moore retaliated by challenging him to a duel at dawn on 11 August 1806 in Chalk Farm.  Both men were totally ignorant of the practicalities of duelling.  A friend, who lent pistols to Moore, informed the Bow Street Runners.  So, as Moore and Jeffrey faced each other across a Chalk Farm meadow, the constables appeared.  Both men and their seconds were taken into custody and bound over to keep the peace.  Moore and Jeffrey subsequently became good friends and Byron recorded the foiled duel in “English Bards and Scottish Reviewers” (1809).

There was another literary duel in 1821.  John Scott, the editor of the radical London Magazine, was affronted when the High Tory Blackwood Magazine dismissed what they called the “Cockney School” of poets including Leigh Hunt and John Keats.  The argument played out in further articles in both journals.  On 16 February 1821 Scott demanded an apology or “instant satisfaction”.   When no apology was forthcoming, a duel was arranged for that evening at Chalk Farm.  It was a clear moonlit night, but unfortunately Scott and his second were not familiar with the duelling codes.  In the first round Jonathan Christie, his opponent, deliberately fired wide, which should have ended the process.  However, because Scott’s second did not understand this, another round followed where Christie, in defending himself, mortally wounded Scott.   Scott was taken to the Chalk Farm Tavern where he died on 27 February “without a groan.”  He left a wife and two children.  Jonathan Christie was charged with wilful murder but found not guilty.

By the 1820s there was strong public opposition to duelling which gradually faded out over the next few decades as buildings began to replace the pretty hay meadows of Chalk Farm.

LIFT (Leading Inclusive Futures through Technology) is a 3 year  partnership between four London boroughs (Camden, Islington, Hackney, and Tower Hamlets). Its primary purpose is to put residents from these boroughs in touch with good entry-level training and job opportunities in tech, digital, creative production (music or film production through computers) and life sciences (work in laboratories).

LIFT has a free service that links residents to local businesses in these sectors, offering jobs, training opportunities, start-up/enterprise support, business support, free or subsidised workspaces and funding opportunities.

LIFT is an entry-level programme which can help residents without higher education to progress either into work or onto vocational training courses. Its short courses are typically between 10 and 12 weeks long and include a paid placement to learn and earn on the job. 

LIFT also has apprenticeships and internships, which are excellent ways for people to access entry-level career opportunities with room for further development.

LIFT offers insight sessions on a variety of roles within the tech and digital industries, employer visits and networking events.  

For further information, visit https://www.liftfutures.london/about, or you can contact Cina Aissa (the LIFT community engagement officer in Camden) on 07977 178528. 

You can register for LIFT’s bi-monthly Bulletin to find out about the latest opportunities: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKISLINGTON/signup/31820.