Our Flower Festival celebrated famous people from our history and also is a sign of the vibrant life of our community today.
Nehemiah Eastoe 1834 -1907
Private Nehemiah Eastoe took part in the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War.
After the war he fell on hard times and lived in the West Ham Workhouse with his wife and three children.
However, happily, owing to the exertions of the Rector of Wanstead, he was able to open a little coffee tavern in Wanstead High Street near to The George. He named it 'The Balaclava'.
We use as our inspiration today the famous poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809 - 1892). The Charge of the Light Brigade.
Robert Plampin1762 - 1834
Vice Admiral.
He served his country in the American war of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.
Unfortunately, he is mainly remembered for arriving too late to take part in the Battle of Trafalgar. However, his ship, 'The Powerful' was then detached to reinforce the East India squadron. On 13th June 1806 she captured the French privateer 'Henriette' of Trinconmalee, Sri Lanka. On 9th July Plampin disguised 'The Powerful' as an east Indiaman, and with the sloop 'Rattlesnake', captured the 'The Bellone', which had been a serious threat to British trade.
On 28th June 1817 he hoisted his flag on 'The Conqueror' as Commander-in-Chief of St. Helena. Here he played a major part in the arrangements made for the safe custody of Napoleon during the Vice-Admiral's three years of duty.
Vice-Admiral Plampin died in Florence on 14th February 1834. He was a major landowner in Essex, and was buried in St. Mary's Churchyard, where his impressive memorial, consisting of pedestal with naval trophies, with column and urn, stands close to the east wall of the church.
Gregor McGregor1786 - 1845
Con Man extraordinaire.
McGregor was a Scottish mercenary who rose to the rank of general in the Venezuelan army of Simon Bolivar.
He seized a swampy mosquito-infested area of Nicaragua and launched a £200,000 loan on the London market, extolling the delights of a non-existent fertile and mineral-rich Utophia he christened Poyais.
During 1823 and 1824 'His Serene Highness Gregor the First' made Oak Hall (where Oak Hall Court, Eastern Avenue, now stands) his royal headquarters and London legation.
The fraud was discovered. Gregor the First was unmasked. He was removed fom Oak Hall to prison.
Jessie, Mary and Gertrude Nutter
Three spinster sisters who were great supporters and benefactors of the Parish, who also did much to finance church building in neighbouring parishes.
Their father was a wealthy wholesale cheese merchant in the city.
The family lived at Applegarth, Nutter Lane. The road was named after them and the Nutter Field was their paddock.
The east window at Christ Church was commissioned by Mary and Gertrude in memory of their sister Jessie in 1925. They are buried in St. Mary's Churchyard, not far from the south wall of the chancel.
James Bradley 1693 - 1792
James Bradley was the nephew of Dr. James Pound, Rector of Wanstead. Dr. Pound was the leading astronomical observer in England and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He erected a giant telescope in Wanstead, mounted on a tall pole, which had once served as the maypole in the Strand.
James Bradley lived with his uncle at the old Rectory (where Wanstead High School now stands) from 1715, preparing for ordination. He subsequently acted as his uncle's curate and became a Doctor of Divinity.
He caught his uncle's enthusiasm for astronomy, became Professor of Astronomy at Oxford and Astronomer Royal. Dr. Pound died in 1724. In the loft of a small house occupied by his aunt, situated behind the site of Somerfield's and using eqipment not even the Greenwich Observatory possessed, Bradley became the first person to demonstrate that the Earth moves round the Sun.
Both uncle and nephew are commemorated by a memorial tablet placed next to Dr. Pound's grave on the site of the medieval St. Mary's (a short distance south of the present Church) by the Royal Astronomical Society.
There is also a plaque to James Bradley on the wall of the Corner House (corner of High Street and Grove Park.)
Thomas Hood 1799 - 1845
Celebrated poet and humorist. Noted practical joker and England's greatest exponent of the pun.
He and his family resided at Lake House (where the tennis courts are at the bottom of Blake Hall Road) from 1832 to 1835. The building had once served as a kind of grand summerhouse in the grounds of Wanstead House. The garden was infested by hundreds of rabbits, and contained a lake. Visitors were greeted by salutes from a miniature cannon.
As well as verse, during this period he wrote the novel Tylney Hall, set in Wanstead.
It was a sad time for Hood. The family suffered much illness, due partly to the dampness of their accomodation, and their financial situation became critical. In 1835 they left Wanstead to live more cheaply on the Continent. We use for our inspiration today Hood's poem 'I remember I remember'.
Pascal Candle
Lady Jane Morrrison
Local Benefactor.
She contributed £1350 towards the erection of the tower and spire of Christ Church in 1868, and in 1869 she presented the clock and the peal of 6 steel bells to be named the Morrison ring. The bells have since been replaced and increased in number.
This is commemorated by the brass plaque on the west wall. her husband, Sir James Morrison, was Deputy Master of the Mint.
They lived at The Hermitage, Snaresbrook, opposite the Eagle Pond. The building was destroyed in October 1940.
Harvest
Sir Charles Tilston Bright 1832 - 1888
Born in Wanstead, he became a telegraph engineer and was appointed Engineer to the Atlantic Cable Company.
His outstanding achievement was the project for the laying of cable under the Atlantic. This was achieved in 1858, success being signalled by transmission of the Angels' song 'Glory to God in the Highest''.
Sir William Plomer died 1801
Described as Tiler and Bricklayer.
Successively Treasurer and President of the Hon. Artillery Company.
He was Lord Mayor of London 1781-1782.
He was knighted in 1782.
According to land tax assessments for 1782, Sir William was the owner and occupier of a property with rental of £4 in Wanstead. he died in 1801, worth upwards of £100,000. He is buried in the crypt of St. Mary's.
Money Wigram 1790 - 1873
Shipbuilder and ship owner.
Money Wigram was one of 21 children of Sir Robert Wigram, Bart of Walthamstow. Sir Robert came from a family of merchants, owned several vessels trading with Bengal, Madras and Bombay, and was one of the greatest importers of drugs into England. Money Wigram was named after his father's friend Captain William Money, who commanded one of Sir Robert's Indiamen in an action against the Dutch, which brought them a great profit. Money Wigram's brother, the Revd William Pitt Wigram, was the Rector of Wanstead who was responsible for the building of Christ Church.
He owned a major shipbuilding yard in Blackwall and operated a passenger shipping line between Gravesend and Melbourne, Australia.
For some time he lived at Wood House, Wanstead Flats.
According ro the 1851 census, Money Wigram, whose age was given as 61, and his occupation that of Master Shipbuilder, resided there with his wife Mary, 49, together with their sons Money jnr, 28 (Brewer); Clifford, 22 (Shipbuilder and Owner); Reynold, 9, and daughters Harriett, 21 and Eliza, 12. Living with the family was a governess, butler, footman and six house servants.
The family moved to Moor Place, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire, later in the 1850's. Money Wigram died at Moor Place in 1873.
Sir William Curtis Bt 1752 - 1829
He inherited the family business of baking ship's buiscuits, and expanded the business greatly, obtaining lucrative Government contracts and capturing extensive markets at home and overseas. he became known affectionately as 'Sir Billy Biscuit'.
The business diversified into whaling and shipping.
He became a leading City banker, a Member of Parliament, and was Lord Mayor of London in 1795-1796.
He was a man of great integrity and honour.
For much of his life he lived in Ramsgate, where he moored his luxury yatch 'Emma'.
He died at Ramsgate in 1892. An indication of the affection and esteem in which he was held in that town, all shops were shut for the whole week in which his body remained there, and a vast crowd accompanied the cortege on the first stage of its journey to Wanstead.
He is buried in the crypt of St. Mary's.
Notes taken fom the Flower Festival handout.
Arranged by the Wanstead Flower Club
Members of the Essex
Association of Change Ringers outside Christ Church on 18th September, having
rung 1260 changes of Grandsire Doubles. This quarter peal was conducted by the
District Master, Anthony Brickell, right, and was rung as part of the Wanstead
Festival and to mark 50 years as Master of the Tower for John Eyre, with dogs.
