The History of 1 Cobham Road, Westcliff-On-Sea, Essex

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The History of 1 Cobham Road, Westcliff-On-Sea, Essex

The large late Victorian property at 1 Cobham Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, has seen numerous changes in ownership and occupancy since its construction as a private residence in 1899. Situated on the corner of The Leas and Cobham Road, the building offers expansive views across the estuary. Today, it is home to Shebson Lodge and the Southend Jewish Community Centre.


 

HAMLET FARM

Cobham Road was constructed on land that was once part of the 114-acre Hamlet Farm. This farmland stretched down to the shoreline in the south, bordered to the west by Chalkwell Hall, to the east by Hamlet Mill, and the north by Hamlet Lodge Farm, situated just below London Road. Hamlet Court Road, originally called Hamlet Road, ran down the land, slightly off-centre.

In 1856, the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LTSR) extended its line from Leigh into central Southend, passing through the land of Hamlet Farm. The railway effectively divided the farmland into two parts.


CROWSTONE BRICKFIELDS and the BEACH ESTATE

The land south of the railway line became home to the Crowstone Brickfields. On 15th March 1897, the machinery and materials belonging to the brickworks were auctioned off, followed by the land itself, which measured over 40 acres. Roads were laid out, and in June 1898, the land was divided into fifty plots and auctioned as the Beach Estate. By this time, significant construction had taken place in other areas of Hamlet Farm, with various roads being developed in the old cricket fields on the eastern side of Hamlet Court Road.

The corner plot on The Leas and Cobham Road, which measured 42 feet by 110 feet, was purchased by Joseph Cecil BULL for £400 (over £44k today).

On Saturday last Messrs. Talbot and White offered for sale in their Auction Room, Cliff Town Road, Southend, fifty plots of freehold building land on the Beach Estate, West Cliff, which immediately faces the sea and adjoins the railway station. There was a fair number present at the sale, and good prices were realised for the fifteen plots sold.

    • Lot 4, a corner shop plot, having a frontage of 41 feet to Station Road by a depth of about 92 feet on the east side, was knocked down to Mr. W. B. Dowsett for £400.
    • Lots 48 and 49 were residential sites with frontages of 25 feet to Pembury Road and a depth of 125 feet, and were secured by Mr. Masters for £150 each.
    • Lots 50 and 51, similar plots, were sold to Mr. Wire at the same figure. Mr. J. J. Armstrong was the purchaser of two plots of the same size, fronting Cobham Road, at £150 each
    • A corner site facing the Esplanade, having a frontage of 42 feet to “The Leas,” and a return frontage of 110 feet to Cobham Road, was sold to Mr. Bull for £400. The same gentleman became the owner of the next two plots, each with 25 feet frontages and depths of 133 feet and 140 feet respectively, for £300 each.
    • Councillor Ramuz was the successful bidder for the next three, for which he paid £1,200.
    • Lot 125, not included in the sale.
    • A plot in the rear of “The Leas” was acquired for £150.

The total amount realised was £3,650, but since the sale several of the remaining plots have been sold privately.

After World War I, the Beach Estate and Hamlet Estate (located north of the railway line) were fully developed, with only the old Hamlet Court house remaining from its former life as a farm. The map on the left, published shortly before the sale and development of the Beach Estate, indicates that 1 Cobham Road was built atop the old brickwork buildings.


Joseph Cecil BULL ~ Builder, Owner and Occupant of 1 Cobham Road

In June 1898, Joseph Cecil BULL purchased three plots of land in the newly formed Beach Estate in Westcliff. He commissioned the construction of “Wilcote” and “Cobham Lodge” at 1 and 3 Cobham Road, and “Hexholm” at 18 The Leas. The Bull family moved into Wilcote as soon as it was completed.

Joseph Cecil BULL was born on 2nd December 1853, in Margate, Kent, and was the only child of Dr Joseph BULL (MRCSL) and his wife, Anne Sophia Veall GREETHAM. He also had an older half-sister from his mother’s first marriage to Captain Henry HOUGHTON of the 1st Madras Fusiliers (East India Company), who died in 1850 on his way from Madras to The Cape. Joseph’s parents married on 17th June 1853, in Brighton, Sussex, while Anne was three months pregnant. Tragically, Anne died on 9th June 1855, at the age of 30, and Joseph was raised by his paternal grandmother in Shoreditch, London. The fate of Joseph’s father is unknown.

Joseph began his career as a bank clerk in London and married Mabel Caroline DAVIS in 1872 (they were 19 and 18). Their first child was born the following year in Westbourne Park, London, followed by a second child in Hammersmith in 1876. The family relocated to Winchester, Hampshire, where their third child was born in 1877. A fourth child arrived in Freemantle in 1879, and their fifth and final child was born in Southampton in 1880.

  1. Amy Cecile Bull (1873-1955) Unmarried but lived with lifelong companion Edith Mary Fowler (a School Mistress) ~ School Mistress / Bookbinder / Smallholder
  2. Evelyn Anne Sophia Bull (1876-1857) Unmarried ~ Christian Science Practitioner
  3. Lilian Maud Bull (1877-1943) Unmarried ~ Secretary & Senior Partner for Messrs Grimwood Soudy & Co Incorporated Accountants
  4. Joseph Bull (1879-1926) m.1900 to Jane Anne Johnson ~ Electrical Engineer / Boarding House Manager / Wooden Toy Maker
  5. Gertrude Ethel Bull (1880-1911) Unmarried

By the time of the 1881 census, the family had moved to 3 Southboro Terrace in Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey, where Joseph was working as a “secretary to a company (clerk).” They employed two 17-year-old servants.

The origins of the name “Wilcote“ can be traced back to electoral records from Surbiton, Surrey, which list Joseph as residing at his freehold house of the same name on Ditton Hill Road from 1885. By 1891, the family was living at 11 St. Philips Road, Surbiton, with one domestic servant and one boarder. Two months after the census was taken, Joseph began working for the newly formed City of London Electric Lighting Company.

In June 1898, Joseph purchased three plots of land within the Beach Estate in Westcliff, Essex, and commissioned the construction of “Wilcote” at 1 Cobham Road in 1899. Joseph and Mabel moved into Wilcote immediately after it was completed and were residents there when the 1901 census was taken. In the same year, Joseph built “Hexholm” next door at 18 The Leas, and in 1902, he constructed “Cobham Lodge” at 3 Cobham Road. Joseph maintained a home in London for work purposes and owned a large property with farmland called “The Lodge” in Wiveton, Norfolk, where the family also spent time from 1904.

Joseph’s new home in Westcliff was initially addressed as “Wilcote, The Leas,” but was also recorded as “Welcote, Cobham Road,” and “1 Cobham Road,” alternating among the three for over twenty years. This confusion arose due to the property’s large plot covering where 17 The Leas should logically be located at the front (an address which does not exist), a main entrance facing Cobham Road on its side, and a large garden occupying the entire space where one would expect to find 1 Cobham Road.


In July 1908, Joseph was appointed joint managing director of the City of London Electric Lighting Company, and the following year, he decided to sell up at Wiveton. An auction for an extensive selection of farming stock and several pieces of furniture was set for 13th May, but tragedy struck on 16th May 1909, when Mabel (age 55) died at Wilcote from heart failure following pneumonia. She was buried five days later in Wiveton, Norfolk. Her abode was listed as “1 Cobham Road, Westcliff” in the church register, and “Wilcote, The Leas” in the newspaper death notice.

Wasting no time, Joseph married 24-year-old Hannah Elizabeth WISKER on 24th June 1909, just five weeks after being widowed. This swift marriage likely sparked some gossip as Hannah’s home town was Wiveton. The following year, Joseph placed Wilcote and Cobham Lodge up for auction, having already sold Hexholm. It is unknown who purchased the properties.

“Superior marine residence, with possession. Messrs. Talbot and White are instructed to sell by auction, in their Property Sale Room, 34, Clarence Street, Southend-on-Sea, at an Early Date, the imposing, detached, corner marine residence known as “Wilcote,” The Leas; immediately facing the sea, and containing commodious accommodation, with large garden, conservatory, motor house, etc. Also the excellent double-fronted detached residence, known as “Cobham Lodge,” Cobham Road; situate only a few yards from the Leas, and adjoining the first-named Property.” (Southend Standard – 16th June 1910)

By 1911, Joseph and Hannah had moved to 2 Julians Road in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, along with their ten-week-old daughter and two servants. “Wilcote, The Leas“ was recorded in the census with only a caretaker and his wife present: John POWELL, age 60, and Ellen, age 57. It was noted to have 12 rooms, excluding any bathrooms, or other rooms such as the scullery, landing, lobby or closet.

Joseph and Hannah had three children between 1911 and 1922, by which time he was 68.

  1. Ruth Cecil Bull (1911-2000) m.1942 to Hector Arthur McKenzie (a Stock Buyer & Dealer)
  2. Nancy Cecil Bull (1915-2004) m.1937 to Charles Clavell Richardson Reynolds (a Merchant)
  3. Randolph Cecil Bull (1922-1997) m.1942 to Peggy Kathleen Scott and m.1949 to Reina Mary Sington (a Sci-fi Illustrator) ~ Director of publisher Home & Van Thal Ltd. and Editor of sci-fi anthologies

Elsewhere in 1911, Joseph’s eldest daughter Amy (37 and unmarried) was living in Shottery near Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, where she worked as a self-employed bookbinder. She shared her home with her companion, 41-year-old Edith Mary FOWLER, who lived together until Edith’s death in 1940 (both had trained as schoolmistresses). Evelyn had relocated to Edinburgh to work as a Christian Science practitioner, providing healing through prayer and spiritual understanding. Lilian and Gertrude (33 and 31, both unmarried) shared four rooms at 31 Pembury Road, Westcliff, one road from Cobham Road. Their income came from “private means.” Tragically, just two months after the 1911 census, Gertrude died while receiving care in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, where she had recently arrived due to ill health.

Joseph’s son, Joseph Jnr., his wife and two young sons had moved to Canada in 1910, settling in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he managed a boarding house. However, the family did not stay there long and returned to England by 1912, at which point he began making wooden toys.

Joseph, Hannah (who was 2 months pregnant at the time), and their two daughters (10 and 5), were still living at 2 Julians Road, Stevenage, when the 1921 census was conducted. Joseph, now 67, was listed as the “Director of Electric Supply Liability Companies,” working at 1 Great Winchester Street in London, which was the headquarters of the City of London Electric Lighting Company. He retired in the early 1930s, after which the family moved to Angotts Mead in Hertfordshire. Joseph died on 22nd March 1946, at the age of 92, and Hannah died in Oxfordshire in mid-1969, at the age of 84.

 

1910s

Local directories list John GILBERT at “1 Cobham Road“ in 1912, while Thomas GILBERT was listed there in 1914 and 1917. No further information had been found on the two men to confirm who they were.

 

1920s

Mendel KISSIN and his family were living at 1 Cobham Road during the 1921 census, and Mendel was listed in local directories there until 1925.

Mendel KISSIN was born on 15th April 1867 in Dwinsk, Vitebsk, West Russia (now Daugavpils, Latvia), the son of Isidore KISSIN and his wife, Dorah. He emigrated to London in the late 1880s and was living in St. George in the East during the 1891 census, working as a boot clicker (age 23). He married nineteen-year-old fellow Russian Sarah GIVEN (who was also recorded under the surnames COHEN, QUIN and QUEEN) early the following year, and together they had five children between 1892 and 1903.

  1. Isidore Kissin (b.1892-1967) m.1943 to Chana Rozenkranc ~ Heater Merchant Manufacturer
  2. Bella Kissin (1894-1983) m.1918 to Lewis Goodman (a Trunk & Suitcase Manufacturer and Caterer Shopkeeper)
  3. Dora Kissin (b.1896) m.1922 to Nathaniel Lightstone (a Commercial Traveller in Textiles)
  4. Simon Kissin (1898-1972) m.1927 to Ray Morris ~ Clerk
  5. David Kissin (1903-1946) m.1935 to Elsie B Lee ~ Furniture Salesman

Mendel became a British citizen on 28th June 1897, by which time he had progressed from being a boot clicker to operating his own ladies’ boot and shoe manufacturing business in Hackney. The family lived at 25 Victoria Park Road and remained there for the next decade.

After World War I, the Kissin family moved slightly north of Stamford Hill. When the 1921 census was conducted, they were residing at “1 Cobham Road” in Westcliff, Essex (minus daughter Bella, who was married). The property was listed as having 15 rooms and was no longer referred to as Wilcote. Mendel was still working as a boot and shoe manufacturer, employed by “A Goodman & Co” of “Paragon Shoe Works” in Hackney, where his son Isadore was the company secretary.

The photograph below, taken in 1920, shows the house close to how it was originally built, featuring three storeys facing The Leas and two storeys right of the main entrance on Cobham Road. By 1924, 1 Cobham Road had been renamed “Belle Vue,” although it continued to be addressed both as 1 Cobham Road and The Leas.


By 1927, the KISSIN family had relocated from Westcliff to Willesden, London, and then to Hove, Sussex, by 1932. Mendel died on 2nd August 1943, at Camberwell House psychiatric hospital at the age of 76. Sarah died seventeen months later at the age of 72 and was buried alongside her husband at Willesden United Synagogue Cemetery in northwest London on 16th January 1945.


1930s to 1965

By 1931, the property at 1 Cobham Road, which retained the name “Belle Vue,” had been converted into five apartments. An additional floor was added to the section right of the main entrance, along with a full-height extension into the garden. The photographs below were taken in 1931 and 1937.


Living in the five apartments at 1 Cobham Road in October 1939 were:

1 Belle Vue

  • Charles S BENNETT – b.1870 – Managing Director & Secretary (retired, but continuing as director, boiler maker & engineer)
  • Maud L BENNETT – b.1873 – Unpaid Domestic Duties
  • Harry NEVILLE – b.1876 – Hairdresser

2 Belle Vue

  • Marian L STOCKS – b.1866 – Unpaid Domestic Duties
  • Ellen STRIBLINGS – b.1878 – Paid Domestic Duties

3 Belle Vue

  • Unoccupied

4 Belle Vue

  1. Sydney ARGENT – b.1905 – Estate Agent & Surveyor
  2. Constance ARGENT – b.1902 – Unpaid Domestic Duties
  3. Clara M TAYLOR – b.1880 – Unpaid Domestic Duties
  4. Lilian A RUDD – b.1907 – Paid Domestic Duties
  5. Joan M ARGENT (later BATES) – b.1934 – At School

5 Belle Vue

  • Percy H LIDDLE – b.1873 – Solicitor
  • Nellie E LIDDLE – b.1881 – Unpaid Domestic Duties
  • Barbara LIDDLE – b.1919 – Unpaid Domestic Duties

These two photos were taken in the 1950s. Not much had changed externally since the 1930s.


1965 ~ Victoria Oppenheimer Home

1 Cobham Road was converted into a care home named the Victoria Oppenheimer Home in 1965, funded by the Aid Society and managed by the Jewish Welfare Board.

Who was Victoria Oppenheimer, and why was the property named after her?

Victoria OPPENHEIMER was born on 6th July 1887, in Balham, Surrey, the third of four children born to Lehmann George OPPENHEIMER and his wife, Mary Maude FOWLER. Lehman, who was of Jewish descent, went by his middle name of George, and all four of their children were baptised in the Church of England.

  1. Maude Louise Oppenheimer (b.1881 in Beckenham, Kent) Unmarried ~ Teacher
  2. Albert William Oppenheimer (b.1884 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) ~ Engineer
  3. Victoria Oppenheimer (b.1887 in Balham, Surrey) m.1909 to Edward Henry Burgess-Smith (a Stock Exchange Clerk)
  4. Arthur George Oppenheimer (b.1891 in Hampstead, London) m.1915 to Athalie Florence Yates ~ Engineer, Secretary and Managing Director (Engineering Agency) 

George worked as a general export merchant into his 40s, then became the manager and agent for the Belgian engine manufacturer Casels Freres, followed by manager and director of Hick Diesel Oil Engine Engineers. His father, Adolphus OPPENHEIMER, was a silk manufacturer who immigrated from Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Germany, in 1844 and settled in Cheetham, Manchester (where George was born). Mary’s father, William Cave FOWLER, manufactured scales, weights and measures in London.

Victoria was an accomplished pianist and dramatist as a child, but her true passion was tennis, competing until at least 1931. She married fellow athlete and stock exchange clerk Edward Henry BURGESS-SMITH on 30th August 1909, at St. Clement, Leigh, Essex.

Edward was born in 1882 in Tufnell Park, London, and was the first of four children born to stock exchange clerk Edward BURGESS-SMITH and his wife, Louisa BOYCE. In the 1890s, his family moved from London to Leigh, where his father was employed as a clerk for the urban council. Edward and his two brothers played football for the local Rectory Yard team. Victoria’s family moved around London frequently during her childhood, but was living on Ditton Court Road, Westcliff (north of the railway line), when she married Edward. Shortly before their marriage, the couple won the mixed doubles championship of the Westcliff Lawn Tennis Club.

Victoria and Edward were living in Golders Green, London, when the 1911 census was taken and employed one general servant. Their first and only child, Mary BURGESS-SMITH, was born the following year on 16th May 1912, and she also became an accomplished tennis player.

Two weeks after World War I broke out in August 1914, Victoria’s parents and her three siblings changed their surname by Deed Poll from OPPENHEIMER to FOWER, her mother’s maiden name. They were all living in Golders Green at the time. The surname Oppenheimer is of German and Jewish descent, derived from the town Oppenheim, situated on the Rhine between Mainz and Worms. Victoria’s paternal grandfather’s birthplace was over 200 miles away from Oppenheim, so there is no immediate known connection.

Victoria’s brother, Arthur, who had spent two years in the City of London Cadet Corps, enlisted in the Honourable Artillery Company on the 7th September 1914. Two days later, he sustained a badly broken arm after receiving a kick from a horse whilst off duty. He spent three weeks in hospital and much time recuperating, and was eventually discharged on 25th November as no longer fit to serve. The bone had been reset twice, and the injury left the muscle wasted and his arm all but useless at the time. Arthur received the Silver War Badge in 1916, given to those discharged from duty. The main purpose was to prevent men not in uniform, without obvious disabilities, from being accused of cowardice or shirking their duty to King and country.

Victoria’s husband, Edward, enlisted in the 10th Royal Fusiliers on 7th June 1915, and landed in France just under eight weeks later on 31st July. He injured his knee during machine gun battle practice and was admitted to the hospital three times in as many months until he was finally sent back to England to recuperate. Edward transferred to the Machine Gun Corps on 24th March 1917, rising from Private to 2nd Lieutenant and then Captain. After his discharge, he returned to working at the stock exchange, and the family was living in Golders Green during the 1921 census.

Victoria’s tennis career took off in 1920, playing dozens of matches up to 1931, winning just over half. Her daughter, Mary, participated continually from 1923 to 1937, even qualifying for Wimbledon. Mary married fellow lawn tennis player Kenneth Alfred Thomas BOWDEN on 20th October 1935. The marriage produced no children, and the couple divorced in the early 1940s. Mary married again to John Bute Ansdall CASTLE in late 1946, and the couple emigrated to Canada shortly after.


Victoria and Edward lived in Mount Royal on Oxford Street, London, from 1945 to 1952, then moved to Upper Beeding, Sussex. Edward died on 22nd May 1953, at Carisbrooke Nursing Home in Steyning, Sussex, at the age of 71. Victoria then moved to “Little Basing” in Bray, Berkshire. She travelled first class to Canada in 1958 and 1960 and was last recorded in the UK in the 1961 electoral records, still residing at Little Basing. She emigrated to Canada at some point after this.

In 1965, the Aid Society raised enough funds to open a care home at 1 Cobham Road in Westcliff, naming it the “Victoria Oppenheimer Home.” Did Victoria donate a large sum of money to the organisation before leaving the country?

In 1972, Victoria was living alone in Apartment 10, Blueridge Crescent, Westmount, Montréal, Quebec, Canada. She died peacefully at St. Margaret’s Home on 9th November 1983, aged 96, and was buried at the Cimetière Mont-Royal a few days later. Her daughter, Mary, died in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, in Dec 2002, aged 90. She outlived both her husbands; Kenneth died in 1993 and John in 1997.

 

1980s Onwards

During the 1980s, a fourth storey was added to 1 Cobham Road, along with a connected block of flats built in the garden. The house is now named “Shebson Lodge,” after Rabbi Pinchas SHEBSON (c.1909-1985), who served as senior minister to the Southend and Westcliff Hebrew Congregation from 1951 to 1979.


RESOURCES & REFERENCES

I use many different resources during my research, the majority of which I do online.

If you have any questions regarding my research or would like anything added or amended, please contact me.

I’m available to hire to trace family trees and delve into the history of your house.

Newspaper articles reproduced with the permission of the British Newspaper Archive and The British Library Board. Maps reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.

 

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The Leas, Westcliff-On-Sea (1900s)
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