Mall Road, Hammersmith

Mall Road is in South Hammersmith, just north of the Thames, near Hammersmith Bridge. 

My grandfather, George William Ivall (1880-1934) was living at 5 Mall Road, Hammersmith when he married my grandmother Emma Armitage (1883-1970) in 1906. They moved to 11 Mall Road after their marriage and their first daughter Florence Rose Ivall was both there on 21st June 1908.

George is listed in the 1911 census aged 29, a motor omnibus conductor living at 11 Mall Road. His wife and daughter are shown at her mother's address in Stoke Newington - they must have been staying there on the day of the census.

George and Emma moved out of Mall Road sometime before 1919, when electoral registers show them living at 9 Linkfield Road, Isleworth.

Mall Road in about 1910, from its northern end. Number 11 was one of the 5 storey houses on the left.

The Hammersmith Flyover and its approach road were completed in 1961. This shortened Mall Road and required houses (including numbers 5 and 11) at its northern end to be demolished.

Mall Road in 2006, looking east

The remaining houses on the east side of Mall Road still exist. The land on the west side is now part of Furnival Gardens.

Charles Alexander Luxford (1903-59), Royal Navy and nuclear scientist

Charles Alexander Luxford was the only child of Alice Elizabeth Luxford nee Ivall (b1877), the elder sister of my grandfather George William Ivall (1880-1934). I have updated this profile with some information from his daughter, who saw the item on her father on my blog and contacted me.

Charles was born on 21st July 1903 in Kingsland, Hackney. His parents were Charles James (a builder) and Alice Elizabeth Luxford, who had married in 1901. The 1911 census shows the family living at 109 Hertford Rd, Kingsland, Hackney (the address of their building and house decorating business). Charles senior was aged 30, born in Stoke Newington. He is listed as an employer. Alice was aged 31, born in Somerstown, St Pancras. Charles was aged 7 and at school. Electoral registers show that from 1920 to 1926, the family were living at 204 Selwyn Avenue, Higham Park, London E4 (near Chingford).

The 1921 census shows Charles, aged 17 with his parents Charles (42, a house decorator etc, employer at 109 Hertford Road, N1) and Alice (43) at 204 Selwyn Avenue. His occupation is given as steel turner (I think), his employer was Associated Equipment Co Ltd, Engineers and his place of work was Black Horse Lane, Walthamstow. 

Charles senior was quite well off. In about 1927, he and his wife moved to Collingwood House, St Margaret’s at Cliffe on the Kent coast near Dover. My Aunt Marjorie remembers visiting Alice and Charles there and watching ships through a large telescope. My mother also told me how, when she was a child, she enjoyed going for holidays with Alice and Charles at St Margaret’s. 

Clockwise from top left Charles Alexander Luxford, George Ivall (his grandfather), Walter Edwin Kebbell (his uncle), Alice Eliza Ivall nee Newman (his grandmother), Winifred Rose Kebbell (his cousin), Rose Lily Kebbell nee Ivall (his aunt). Photo c 1929.

Charles junior was clever and went to university (then quite uncommon) to study science - he was awarded a BSc. The Imperial Calendar (an annual list of salaried Civil Servants) shows that he was a Scientific Officer in the Scientific Research and Experiment Department of the Admiralty in 1935. In the 1930s Charles worked as an assistant to A B Wood, one of the leading British naval scientists, on the development of the magnetostriction echo depth recorder, a device that measured the depth of water below a ship. It was later fitted not only to Navy ships but also to most sizable ships throughout the world.

In 1935, Charles married Phyllis Mary Newber at St Alban’s Church, Teddington. He was aged 31 and she was 22, born in Lambeth. Phone directories for 1935 to 1948 show Charles living at Abbots Dene, Greenways, Hinchley Wood, Esher (in SW London). Charles and Phyllis had a daughter (b1938) and a son (b1942). The family lived at 9 Carlisle Rd, Hampton (also in SW London) from 1949 to 1960.

Charles Alexander Luxford

Charles was promoted to Senior Scientific Officer in 1943. There seems to have been a re-organisation in 1949 when he is listed as Principal Scientific Officer in the Royal Navy Scientific Service. He was promoted again in 1954 when he became a Senior Principal Scientific Officer, for which the salary range was £1,500 to £1,750 (roughly equivalent to £85,000 to £100,000 now). In 1959 there were about 750 salaried staff in the Royal Naval Scientific Service – 21 at higher grades than Charles, about 90 on his grade and about 640 on lower grades. 

Following the American atomic weapon test in 1946 at Bikini Atoll, the Royal Navy decided that experiments should be carried out to determine what degree of protection a ship offered to its crew from ionizing radiation, a new hazard in future naval warfare if ever atomic weapons were used at sea. The preparation for and conduct of such experiments was the first task for a new group - initially just Charles Luxford and one other scientist. National publicity resulted from the knowledge that a naval ship, the cruiser HMS Arethusa, was to be irradiated with gamma rays. A picture of the cruiser in position in Southampton Water off the Isle of Wight appeared on the front page of The Daily Telegraph.

Charles’s daughter tells me that he was one of the UK’s top nuclear scientists and went to Monte Bello, Australia in 1952 for the first British atomic bomb tests, as the senior scientist working for Sir William Penney (who led Britain’s nuclear weapons programme). Charles worked at the Admiralty Research Laboratory in Teddington in the 1950s and used to cycle there each day from where he lived in Hampton.

Alice Luxford (Charles's mother) died in 1939 aged 62. Her husband, re-married in 1941 to Ada Constance Gay. He was aged 62, she was 40. He died in 1949 aged 70.

Charles died on January 11th 1959 aged 55 at Ashford Hospital, Stanwell, Middlesex. It seems likely that exposure to nuclear radiation contributed to his premature death.

Work at the Admiralty Research Laboratory site in Teddington ceased in 1992 and there is now a housing development there.

 Phyllis Luxford died in 2004 aged 91.

Doris Rose Salter nee Ivall (1908-2007), missionary

Doris Rose Ivall was a granddaughter of William Ivall (1859-1940), who was a brother of my great grandfather George Ivall (1853-1932). This profile contains information from David Ivall, her nephew.

She was born on 27 September 1908 in Hampstead, North London, the eldest of four children born to William Charles Ivall (1883-1968) and his wife Florence Bessie nee Endean (1885-1960). Doris’s siblings were Hilda Annie (1910-99), Leonard Fordham (1912-91) and Dennis Endean (1921-2006). Doris’s father worked his way up from being a clerk to an accountant with Nobel’s explosives. He ended his career as joint managing director of an ICI subsidiary.

The 1911 census shows William Charles Ivall (aged 27, a book-keeper), his wife Florence Bessie (25) and daughters Doris Rose (2) and Hilda Annie (8 months) living at 87 Constantine Rd, Hampstead. There were also 2 boarders at the address.

Doris’s family were still living in Hampstead in 1912 but had moved to Chingford (also in North London) by 1921. Doris’s mother came from a Cornish family and they often visited Cornwall for holidays.

Doris with her parents and siblings.

From left : Leonard, Doris, William, Florence, Dennis and Hilda Ivall

Doris met Arthur Hubert Salter, a church minister who lived in North London and they became engaged. Arthur was the same age as Doris – he was born on 12 March 1908 (in Gibraltar).

Passenger lists show that Doris Rose Ivall arrived in New York on 6 May 1939 on board the President Harding from Southampton. She was aged 30 and her occupation was given as a student. Doris married Arthur Salter on September 29th 1939 in Brooklyn, New York. They had no children. By 1941 they were living in Toronto Canada.

The records of border crossings from Canada to the USA show Doris and Arthur Salter making journeys to the European Christian Mission in Brooklyn, New York on 3 January and 27 October 1941. The record of the latter gives Doris’s occupation as “Missionary”. Her height was 5 feet 3 inches, hair brown and eyes hazel. Doris and Arthur made a further crossing on 26 January 1945 at Port Angeles, Washington, USA with the stated purpose of resuming residence in the USA.

Arthur and Doris Salter in 1950

Arthur and Doris were both naturalised as US citizens on 3 August 1948 at the US District Court in Brooklyn, New York. Their address was 944 East 31^st Street, Brooklyn. Arthur made visits to Europe in 1950 and 1957 when his home address was given as 1101 East 35^th Street, Brooklyn.

Doris and Arthur visited relatives in England when they arrived at Southampton on 6 April 1954 on board the Queen Mary from Halifax (Nova Scotia). Their occupations are given as “Minister” (Arthur) and “H Teacher” (Doris). Doris’s mother died in 1960 aged 75 and her father in 1968 aged 85.

Arthur and Doris moved from Brooklyn to Lebanon, Pennsylvania in the 1960s when the headquarters of the Bible Christian Mission transferred there. After Doris and Arthur retired they moved to Michigan but found it too cold and so moved to Florida.

 Doris and Arthur c 1994

Arthur died on 17 June 1996 in Manatee County, Florida aged 88. Doris was living in a retirement home in Bradenton, Florida when she celebrated her 97^th birthday in 2005. She died on 5 May 2007 at Bradenton, Manatee County, Florida aged 98.

Royal ancestry of Martha Ivall nee James

Martha James (1796-1853) married David Ivall (1795-1850) in 1829. David later created a highly successful coachmaking business and became wealthy (see the article on his life on this blog). They had seven children (of which six survived to become adults) and have numerous living descendants.

Dennis Endean Ivall (1921-2006), my second cousin once removed, did excellent research on Ivall family history between 1955 and 1985 and in 2004 sent me a copy of what he had found, including the table below showing the ancestry of Martha James, tracing her descent from the early kings of England. It goes back 15 generations to Edward III (1327-77) or 23 generations to William I, known as William the Conqueror (1027-87).

Martha's father was the Reverend Samuel James MA. He was born c 1754, matriculated from Oriel College, Oxford on 13 March 1773 (aged 18), was granted a BA in 1776 and a MA in 1782. He became the Rector of Radstock in Somerset in 1780 and died in 1813, aged about 59.

Samuel Oram MD, FRCP (1913-1991) : eminent cardiologist

Samuel Oram was a grandson of Emily Dennis nee Ivall (1845-1911), a sister of my great grandfather George Ivall (1853-1932). He was a second cousin of my mother, Grace Evelyn Taylor nee Ivall (1922-2006). This profile contains information from Who’s Who (he is listed from 1958 to 1991) and from an obituary in the British Medical Journal.

Samuel was born 11^th July 1913 in Camberwell (SE London). He came from quite a humble background. His parents were Samuel Henry Nathan Oram (1880-1953, a labourer at Sydenham gas works) and his wife Ada Oram nee Dennis (1886-1973). 

The 1921 census shows Samuel (aged 7) living at 5 Geldart Road, Camberwell with his parents Samuel (40, a boiler hand working for South Metropolitan Gas at 709 Old Kent Road) and Ada (35).

Samuel attended Peckham Central School then became a laboratory technician and had several papers published, including "Macroscopic method of demonstrating dorsal pores of lumbricus" in the School Science Review (1934). Lumbricus is a genus containing common earthworms in Europe. In 1934 he registered to study medicine at King’s College Hospital, London and qualified in 1939. His paper "Pick's disease of the pericardium" was published in the King's College Hospital Gazette that year. Samuel is listed as a registered medical practioner living at Horton Hospital, Epsom in the national register compiled in September 1939. He was awarded a gold medal by London University for his doctoral thesis in 1941. His paper "Pneumococcal septicaemia with recovery" was published in the British Medical Journal that year.

In 1940, Samuel married Ivy Rose Amato in Camberwell. They were both aged 26 and later had two daughters. His address, as given in the 1940 Medical Directory, was 38 Hooks Road, Peckham, London SE15.

Samuel served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Second World War, becoming a Lieutenant Colonel. After the war he became a consultant at King’s College Hospital and later the Senior Physician and Director of the Cardiac Department there. He introduced the technique of synchronised electrical defibrillation of the heart to the UK and with surgical colleagues, helped to establish open heart surgery at King’s. In 1960, with Mary Holt, he identified Holt-Oram syndrome, a rare condition combining upper limb abnormalities and congenital heart diseases. He wrote a textbook Clinical Heart Disease, a substantial work of 920 pages that was published in 1971, with a second edition in 1981. He was also an author of many scientific papers on cardiology. There is a ward named after him at King’s College Hospital.

His obituary (1) says that Samuel was a superb teacher, having the gift of making difficult problems clear to all. His skill as a poker player served him well in questioning students, and as a raconteur he was much in demand at medical dinners. Seventeen of his staff became consultant cardiologists, including three professors and one became a professor in the care of the elderly. Despite his busy life, Samuel served many professional organisations. He championed the cause of cardiac technicians and was delighted when asked to be the president of their society.

Samuel had some high profile patients

From Aberdeen Evening Express 17 January 1951

Telephone directories give the following addresses for Samuel Oram MB FRCP

1942-46	2 Thorndon Gardens, Ewell, Epsom
1948-50	212 Denmark Hill, London, SE5
1948-55	2 Harley St, London, W1
1952-64	123 Alleyn Park, West Dulwich, London, SE21
1956-83	73 Harley St, London, W1
1958-83	Stubb Hill Cottage, Iping, Midhurst, West Sussex
1965-83	120 Court Lane, Dulwich, London, SE21

Samuel was devoted to his family and with his wife Ivy, enjoyed the theatre. His entry in Who’s Who says another recreation was golf (execrable) ! He achieved an A Level in French when in his 60s.

After he retired, Samuel and his wife moved to 133 Cedar Drive, Chichester. Ivy died in June 1991 and Samuel on 8 November 1991 aged 78. He was survived by his two daughters and three grandchildren.

Reference 

1. British Medical Journal, Vol 304, No 6825 (Feb. 22, 1992), p.500.

Thomas Edward Ivall (1926-97), electronic engineer

Thomas Edward Ivall was a great grandson of Robert Thomas Ivall (1812-65), the elder brother of David Ivall (1816-67), my great great grandfather.

On 17 March 1926, Thomas was born in the village of Chalvey near Slough, the only child of Percy Bertram Ivall (1879-1971) and his wife Mary Ann nee Foreman (1891-1970) who had married in 1917. Percy was 46 when Thomas was born and Mary was 34. Thomas grew up at their house, 1 Chalvey Road East, which still exists.

Thomas was fascinated by radio from when he was a boy. He went to Slough Grammar School. In 1939 (aged 13) he sat the entrance exam to the High Wycombe Technical Institute and was one of 20 boys awarded a special place there. At the age of only 17 he was working for the electronics department of the BBC. He was part of a four man team who in 1944 developed the first truly portable disc recorder for use by War Correspondents. It was first used on D-Day and later used extensively during the Liberation of Europe. Tom spent a short time in the RAF at the end of the second world war.

Thomas was a talented writer and wrote a play “Badger’s Bus Service” which was broadcast on BBC radio in 1947. One of the actors was Arthur Ridley, who later played Private Godfrey in the TV comedy series "Dad's Army".

In 1948 Thomas married Mildred May Hobden in Gourock, Renfrewshire, Scotland. Mildred was related to Lucy Hobden, the mother of Thomas’s father. She had known Thomas when he was a child and met him again when Thomas visited her on a cycling holiday in Scotland. Mildred was awarded a degree in Art from Glasgow University. They lived at 185 Elms Crescent, Clapham, which was their address in 1951 when Mildred had a picture ("Urban Spring") accepted for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Thomas and Mildred had two sons. The family moved to 159 Ruskin Park House, Champion Hill, Dulwich in 1956 and then to Staines, Middlesex in 1959.

Thomas made some radio programmes for the BBC Home Service. The Radio Times contained the item below about an episode of "Science Survey" broadcast in 1953 :

"A weekly programme about work in the world of science
Information as a Commodity by T. E. Ivall
One of the main problems of the communications engineer is to make the best use of available means of communication, such as telephone cables and radio links. Tonight the speaker describes how this is done and also shows how in recent years information theory has become mixed up with many other branches of science."

“Electronic Computers, Principles and Applications” by T.E.Ivall was published in 1956. This was one of the first books to be written about computers. A revised and updated second edition was published in 1960. The preface (written by Thomas) states “This book is an introduction for those who are beginning to take an interest in electronic computers. It is not, therefore, a book for computer experts. Nor is it a text book.” The book was translated into Russian in 1961.

Thomas’s son describes his father as a bit of a loner, who took his responsibilities seriously. He wore a moustache and was always very polite. Thomas was a member of the Labour Party and of CND. He strongly opposed the use of electronics in weaponry.

In October 1959 Thomas was Assistant Editor of the monthly magazine “Wireless World”. He left during the sixties to work on another magazine called “Measurement and Control”. However, when this ceased publication he returned to Wireless World and by April 1971 the Technical Editor was listed as T.E.Ivall M.I.E.R.E. (Member of the Institute of Electronic and Radio Engineers). In June 1973 he became Editor, and continued in this role until January 1982 when he was 55. He left the magazine because the publishers (Illiffe Press) relocated from Blackfriars to Sutton in Surrey. The journey from Staines, where he lived, to Sutton was a difficult one and, having had a heart attack in 1970 aged 44, he decided to take early retirement. He worked from home for a further 12 years doing technical writing.

Thomas died suddenly on 12 October 1997 from a heart attack. He was aged 71. In January 1998 Electronics World (the new name for Wireless World) republished one of his editorials with the comment from Martin Eccles (the editor) that Tom Ivall was “One of the most polite, considerate and intelligent men I have had the pleasure to work with.” His wife, Mildred, passed away in 2012, aged 90.     

Wedding photo of George William Ivall and Emma Armitage

The wedding was at St Matthias Church, Stoke Newington on 26 August 1906.

Emma (aged 23) and George (25) are seated in the middle. Emma’s parents Robert Melton Armitage (59) and his wife Ellen nee Pinnuck (51) are behind her. George’s parents George Ivall (53) and his wife Alice Eliza nee Newman (50) are behind him.

The four bridesmaids are the sisters of Emma and George. From left to right they are Gertrude Ellen Armitage (17), Rose Lily Ivall (20), Florence Edith Armitage (19) and Alice Elizabeth Luxford nee Ivall (28).

In the row behind the bridesmaids there are, from left to right :

Henry Charles Bull (19), who later married Gertrude Ellen Armitage

Unknown woman (her face is partly obscured by hats)

Unknown man

Robert Melton Armitage* (25), Emma’s eldest brother who witnessed the signing of the marriage register and later died in WW1. He is holding his daughter Ellen Elizabeth Armitage* (2).

Ann Ellen (Maria) Armitage nee Godfrey* (29), wife of Robert.

William Frederick Armitage* (22), Emma’s brother

Albert David Ivall (17), George’s brother who later married Florence Edith Armitage.

Charles James Luxford* (27), husband of Alice.

Seated in front are Emma’s brothers George Henry Armitage (8, who became an international footballer) and Alfred John Armitage (13).

Tentative identifications are marked*