On October 27th Crawley Museum hosted a talk by Graham Crozier about Charlotte Despard. Covid-19 restrictions meant that we had to limit our audience, so we videoed it. It has now been captioned and is available on YouTube here We hope you find it interesting!
Book Review Gatwick Airport. The First 50 Years By Charles Woodley The History Press 159pps The growth of air travel has been one of the dominant social, economic and technological features of the post-war world. The role of airports has been an area of debate, especially with climate change such…
This book by well-known Crawley historian Nadine Hygate, provides a fascinating look at ‘… the oldest known survivor of the houses from the original settlement of Crawley.’ Known by a variety of names, including Crawley Place and Elm Tree Cottage, the building is today simply ‘The Tree’. Hygate provides a…
Book Review of John George Haigh. The Acid Bath Murderer by Jonathan Oates Published by Pen and Sword, 214pps In February 1948 a man and woman were lured to a basement property in Leopold Road, Crawley, and there were murdered and their bodies dissolved in an oil drum filled with…
(By Graham Crozier) Photograph of St John’s Church from Crawley Museum’s collection. John Barrett-Lennard served as Rector of St. John the Baptist, Crawley, for twenty-two years in the late Victorian period. Born in 1839, he was the fifth and youngest son of Sir Thomas Barrett-Lennard and Mary Shedden, his father…
(Written by Graham Crozier, 2020)Photograph of South Side of Crawley High Street, from Crawley Museum’s Collection. Date unknownThe Victorian period witnessed the commercial expansion of Crawley and one of the key figures in that process was Frederick Russell, the proprietor of Russell’s Emporium in the High Street.Frederick Russell was born…
(Written by Graham Crozier, 2019) Painting of the Rent Strike from Crawley Museum’s collection. Painted by J.E. Fuller, 1955, Crawley. 90cm x 78cm. The Rent Strike of October 1955 has all but disappeared from the awareness of people living in Crawley today. However, it can be seen as representing an…
