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George Arthur Gale, builder, is recorded as having bought the land on which our house, and probably the three adjacent properties, stands, in 1906, from a syndicate. I have found out very little about Mr. Gale.

The London Gazette, again, tells us that Mr Gale was a builder of The Broadway, Walham Green, SW6. Walham Green doesn’t really exist anymore, it’s now called Fulham Broadway.

This London Gazette entry records Mr. Gale registering a house at “13 Gloucester-terrace,  Wimbledon Park, S.W. on March 4th, 1904. I can find no record of this street.

The web site for Copthall Gardens, built on the Freake Estate in Twickenham mentions Mr. Gale.  I have tried to contact the webmaster, but there are no contact details. I would love to hear from you, please contact me. 

“...it looks as though the land now Copthall Gardens and possibly also Clifden Road was leased by the Freake Estate around the turn of the last century to George Gale. He appears to have been a  prolific property developer based at one time in Southfields. The 1901  census lists him as builder which seems to be a little understated. He was advertising property in Twickenham, Acton, Ealing & Southfields. The 1911 census is not yet available so we don’t know where he went.

“No 66 has a record that George Gale leased the land (at 66) from the Freake Estate on 29 September 1903 for a term of 99 years. Their records show that an Arthur Stanley Vinny rented the house from Gale in January 1906.

“Kelly’s street directories have no mention of our road in 1905 but the 1906 edition contains the first listing. I have included the listings through to 1909. In 1910 the rate book for the street shows only 3 of the  properties were owner occupied. A further one was owned by someone else but obviously rented out and the remainder still belonged to George  Gale. You will find a couple of his adverts for the properties reproduced here. These are taken from the Richmond & Twickenham Times, one in 1905 and one for 1906.”

EDINBURGH GAZETTE, JANUARY 19, 1912 tells us of Mr Gale’s bankruptcy, not long after our house was built!

This 1962 picture (Courtesy of Hammersmith and Fulham Urban Studies Centre), above, recreated below by me in 2012, clearly shows, far left, part of Mr. Gale’s Estate Agency, now a coffee shop.

On 4th July 1924 Mr Gale registered the freehold of “Land on North side of Vanbrugh Road, Bedford Park” in what is now the Bourough of Ealing.

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In 1929 one George Arthur Gale stood for parliament as a Liberal in the Fulham west constituency.  The Fulham connection makes me think that it is the same Mr. Gale. He came third with 5,920 votes out of 36,089 votes cast, a 71.4% turnout. It was a labour gain from Conservative, with a 12.5% swing.

In 1933 the London Gazette records Mr. Gale’s registration of the freehold of “Roughwood and land in rear, Ember Lane, Esher, Surrey”, by George Arthur Gale, The Broadway, Walham Green, S.W.6.” I have also seen handbills advertised on eBay referring to properties built here by Mr. Gale, describing each one as being slightly different. I plan to visit the area one day.

Another unexplained ‘Fulham’ connection is the fact that near our house in Teddington are two adjacent roads, Winchendon Road and Clonmel Road.  These two names also occur adjacently in Fulham.  Surely this isn’t just a coinicidence?  Contact me.