* London’s “Portrait Benches” & their “Local Heroes”

Last week London Shoes braved the sub-zero temperatures of the ‘Smoke’ to undertake a blog that totally mullered the life out of my newly acquired Freedom Pass (one of the benefits of officially becoming a Pensioner) by travelling far and wide on the London Underground network – all for the purpose of tracking down a number of specific landmarks in various locations…..all connected to the theme entitled London’s–“Portrait Benches”……

In early 2022, the charity ‘Sustrans’ (that stands for ‘Sustainable Transport’) surveyed thousands of folk across England, asking them to nominate their local heroes – e.g. those people who have made a positive impact on their local communities.

250 of these nominated ‘heroes’ have been immortalised in steel throughout the UK – as part of a national “Portrait Bench” campaign – and London Shoes mission was to spend the day tracking down as many of the London ones as I could – and what a loooooong day it was too.

First stop was Central Park-Harold Wood in the London Borough of Havering, and just 5mins up the road from London Shoes base in Romford.

Strangely – having lived in the area for over 30 years, Shoes had never visited Central Park, so that added a bit of excitement to the expedition.

Anyway – located next to the children’s playground in Central Park – was my first Portrait Bench of the day – surrounded by the characters Henry VIII – Dick Bouchard – Harry Eccleston.

The connection of Henry VIII to little old Harold Wood, is that up until the late 1700’s the tyrant King had a Royal Palace located there – a fact that I never knew about.

Dick Bouchard was a local teacher, who dedicated his life to teaching music to children, and in 1957 founded the “Romford Drum & Trumpet Corps” – one of the oldest independent youth marching bands in Britain – who are still going strong to this very day, performing all over the world.

The 3rd steel character alongside the bench in Central Park is Harry Eccleston, a local artist who designed those notes for the Bank of England that featured iconic historic people like Isaac Newton/Christopher Wren/Florence Nightingale/William Shakespeare.

Next up was a long old train shunt into the City then hopping on the tube up North London way, to Haringey-London N7 – where hidden away in a corner of Downshill Park is another Portrait Bench with local heroes Nicola Adams – Walter Tull & Luke Howard standing nearby.

Female boxer Nicola Adams represented Haringey in her early amateur days, and then went on to become an Olympic Boxing Champion in 2 separate Olympic Games.

Walter Tull (b.1888) was an amazing man.

He was the first man of Afro Caribbean descent to practice as a dentist in Britain.

He was a professional football with Spurs and was also only the 3^rd black footballer to play in the Football League – and when he later signed for Glasgow Rangers, he was the very first black player in the Scottish League.

As a WW1 war hero, in 1917 he was the first black officer in the British Army to be commissioned to the rank of 2^nd Lieutenant. Sadly Walter Tull was killed in action in 1918 aged 29.

The 3^rd steel statue up in Haringey is that of Luke Howard (b.1772). He lived and died in nearby Tottenham and is famous for being the man who defined ‘clouds’ and his definitions are still those that are used all over the world today.

Leaving Haringey, Shoes next required location was Finsbury Park-London N4, just a couple of stops down the line.

Situated directly outside the busy Finsbury Park station were the steel caricatures of Jazzy B – Florence Keen & Edith Garrud.

Jazzy B (OBE) is a locally born DJ and record producer, and founder of the band Soul II Soul, who had a massive global hit with ‘Back To Life’.

Florence Keen founded the North Islington Welfare Centre and School for Mothers in 1913.

At that time 10% of local children died before their 5^th birthday.

Florence Keen’s work, care and dedication within the North London communities – reduced that death rate considerably.

Edith Garrud (b.1872) is an amazing woman. Based in north London, she was the 1^st British teacher of the art of Jujutsu and the 1^st female Martial Arts instructor in the western world.

She taught the Suffragette Movement martial arts, enabling them to resist arrests and fight off police officers.

Leaving North London – Shoes travelled back down towards the City then off to the west, and Paddington–London W2.

In the graveyard of St. Mary’s Church near Paddington Green – stand the Portrait Bench statues of Alan Turing – Michael Bond – Mary Seacole.

Alan Turning (b. 1912) was an English Mathematician (well, mathematic genius really) lived in Paddington, and was the WW2 code breaker who, with the aid of the Enigma machine, was pivotal in getting the upper hand over the German enemy.

Michael Bond (b. 1926) – lived in Paddington and was the author who created Paddington Bear. To date, some 35 million Paddington Bear books have been sold across the globe.

Mary Seacole (b. 1805) – lived and died in Paddington.

She was a British Jamaican who, upon arrival in this country, persuaded the War Office to allow her to go to the battle front-line of the Crimean War – where she set up a ‘hotel’ behind the front-line, that focussed on the convalescence of sick and injured officers.

Seacole adopted a compassionate, skilled and brave approach to nursing – which influenced the future definition of the nursing role.

When she returned from the Crimean War she was destitute, but her popularity and the respect she commanded, meant that it wasn’t long before she was back on her feet.

She was the 1^st black woman to have an autobiography published – and in 2016 a statue of her was erected at St. Thomas’s Hospital in Central London.

So – leaving busy and noisy Paddington, my Shoes undertook a massive trek from West London, right the way through the City then down to the ‘dark side’ over in ‘sarf’ London – to Greenland Dock-London SE16 (formally known as ‘Surrey Dock’) – probably my favourite of all London’s old Docklands sites.

Once there, I made my way to the Moby Dick pub, where just opposite the quay from it, stand the Portrait Bench statues of:- Michael Caine – Phyllis Pearsall – Barry Mason.

World famous actor Michael Caine was born in nearby Rotherhithe in 1933 – and always has been one of the London’s favourite sons.

Phyllis Pearsall (b. 1906) lived near the old Greenland Docks and was a renowned artist.

She is famous for being the woman who designed and put together the first ‘A to Z Map Book’. It is said that she walked a total of 3,000 miles checking the names of some 23,000 streets – working an 18hr day – before the 1^st A to Z was published in 1936.

The 3rd statue at Greenland Dock is that of a bike and its dedicated to local lad Barry Mason (b. 1950) – who was a massive activist and supporter of cycling in London and influential in promoting all the cycling lane routes used today. Barry Mason was also Manager of the local Surrey Dock Farm.

From deepest ‘Sarf’ London, my London Shoes left the ‘Dark Side’ and hopped on a few tube trains back to the familiarities of my beloved East London and in particular Mile End-London E3 – where the aim was to locate the final Portrait Bench of my quest.

In Mile End Park, down by the Regent Canal that runs along the side of the Park – stands a Portrait Bench that has Ledley King – Sylvia Pankhurst and a Canal Horse nearby it.

Ledley King (b.1980) was born locally in Bow and was a professional footballer with Spurs. A one-club man who notched up 323 games for Spurs and 21 caps for England.

He is now a match day ambassador for Spurs.

Sylvia Pankhurst (b. 1882) was a big campaigner for women’s rights. She was initially a big part of the Suffragette Movement – but broke away from them in 1914 to focus on setting up organisations for working women in the London’s East End – and was an extremely active East London socialist.

Today’s cycle paths and pedestrian walkways alongside Britain’s canal network, were once busy tow paths, where horses pulled canal boats through the waterways.

The Regent Canal that runs through Mile End Park and throughout London’s East End, was no exception – and that is why a steel statue of a ‘canal horse’ is represented next to the park’s Portrait Bench.

Without doubt, this was definitely one of the more challenging and most tiring blogs Shoes had undertaken in a very long time – travelling all over London in and out of its nooks and crannies, and doing about 6 miles on me ‘plates’.

I was in desperate need of a bit of liquid refreshment (and a khazi) before heading off back home – and behind Mile End tube station – I stumbled upon a pub called the ‘Wentworth Arms’.

The Wentworth Arms is a typical old style East End boozer-built way back in 1871.

In the 1960’s it was regularly frequented by the Kray’s, as it was just a short stroll away from their Regency Billiard Club.

Anyway – its was the ideal place to spend a much needed penny, and then sink a couple of ‘cheeky’ beers, before nipping into Mile End tube station and heading back home.

So – although a tiring old slog, it had been a successful day spent tacking down some of London’s Portrait Benches and their local heroes.

Hope you enjoy the accompanying photos.

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See Gallery below – for all the photos taken to support this Portrait Bench blog

 

Central Park – Harold Wood – Romford

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haringey

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finsbury Park

 

 

 

 

Paddington

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greenland Dock

 

 

 

 

 

Mile End