Spotlight on Fairmount Drive

Fairmount Drive

We have seen from a previous blogpost that Fairmount Drive was one of a number of roads developed by the partnership of Arthur Edward Shepherd and Walter Mounteney, which included Holywell Drive, Highfields Drive, Benscliffe Drive and Shepherds Close. These streets and houses were created around the late-1920s-early-1930s, and by 1933, Arthur Edward Shepherd was living at Highcroft (1), no.1 Holywell Drive, a detached house at the summit of Fairmount Drive, practically opposite the home of Bernard Nixon Wale, who you may remember lived at no.40 Fairmount Drive.

Highcroft, No.1 Holywell Drive, the home of Arthur Edward Shepherd

Walter, the lime and coal merchant, who was the brother of Hilda Pick Mounteney, the second wife of Bernard Nixon Wale, and Arthur, the painter and decorator, had joined forces after the First World War, and in 1926, when Arthur bought shares in the building company of Corah, following the death of Edgar Corah, Arthur’s three sons joined their father’s business. Their early work saw the development of Park Road and Parklands Drive, followed by the demolishing of some Market Street properties. The creation of roads around Fairmount Drive were as a result of the selling off of some lands associated with the Burleigh Estate, some of which Arthur had bought and sold, and re-bought.

Many of the houses in the surrounding streets are easily recognisable as what we know today as typical semi-detached and detached 1930s houses. At the time they were built, Art Deco was really catching on as a type of art and architecture, so it is not surprising that there is a short row of striking Art Deco houses on the beginning of Shepherds Close.

Art Deco houses at the beginning of Shepherds Close

Fairmount Drive comprises mostly semi-detached houses on one side, and more extensive and substantial detached houses on the other. However, today, like many other streets, wherever a space has been found between houses, infill has taken place, so there are some unexpected, newer properties nestled between the original houses. Perhaps because of its position on the former Burleigh Estate, Fairmount Drive is lined with trees, and perhaps because of its straight ascent to the place where Burleigh Hall once stood, and towards the Iron Age Hill Fort, this is why the street is so called. Or perhaps, it is simply named after the house in which Arthur Edward Shepherd’s brother, Albert Marshall Shepherd, was living from around 1927 – ‘Fairmount’ on Westfield Drive?

Fairmount on Westfield Drive, home of Albert Marshall Shepherd

So, what news of Fairmount Drive over the years??

As one might expect, there were lots of births, marriages and deaths associated with Fairmount Drive over the years.

Births

April 1944 - Birth of Thomas Walters at 31 Fairmount Drive

Weddings

June 1930 – parents of the groom, Ernest Peat, lived at Hill Crest. At the wedding the bridesmaids apparently wore rainbow frocks. In August 1939, Mr Rodgers, a solicitor married Miss Gladys Kaye, whose parents lived on Fairmount Drive 1939

In November 1940 Miss Mason of Fairmount Drive married Pilot Officer Kenneth B. Willis, who at one time had been captain of the Loughborough College rugby football club.

In August 1947 Miss Coltman married Mr John Wemyss Holden, he was of Upper Beacon Rad, she of 28 Fairmount Drive. They were married by Miss Coltman’s aunt Constance, who shared the duties with her husband, Claude.

In November 1954 Mr and Mrs J. Hill were living at 13 Fairmount Drive, at the time their daughter, Margaret, was marrying a Mr Taylor of Musters Road West Bridgford

Delia Marion Brookes was the daughter of Mr and Mrs L. Brooks of Fairmount Drive. At the time of her wedding she was a policewoman in Long Eaton, and her father was a sidesman at Emmanuel church where her wedding to Mr Taft was held in April 1957. Her brother George was the organist, and the Revs. Dashwood and Cowperthwaite conducted the service.

Deaths

It was in July 1936 that Baxter William Dawson, a councillor who lived at ‘Greeba’, on Fairmount Drive, died.

On her death in September 1937, at the age of 90, Miss Florence Young, who lived on Fairmount Drive, left around £30,000.

In August 1938 the death was announced of Mr Wilfred Moss, who had been a prominent local solicitor, and had served on the town council for 19 years, During 1922-23 he had been the town’s Mayor. At the time of his death, aged 70, Mr Moss lived on Fairmount Drive. He left around £36,000.

In March 1939 there was a tragedy on Fairmount Drive when Miss Harriet Riches, aged 81, of no.11, died following shock from burns sustained from an electric fire.

This tragedy was sadly followed by another in September 1939 by the death of Gwendoline Clara Wale, aged 31, who was the daughter of Bernard Nixon Wale.

In February 1940 an inquest held into the death of Elizabeth Mills, aged 66, of no.32, who died as a result of a fall in her home.

Joe Mellor, who lived at a House called St Helier on Fairmount Drive died in June 1941.

In August 1942 Nottingham, journalist Sidney Peat, aged 29. Sidney was the son of Mr and Mrs J.H. Peat of no.22 Fairmount Drive.

Sergeant Reginald Staynes Elsom, of Fairmount Drive, who died in January 1943, was posthumously awarded the DFC. At his death, he was aged 32, and he left a wife, a three-year old boy, and weeks-old twin boys. His father was managing director of Simpkin and James.

In July 1950 the death of Mr K.H. Hickling of Derby, was announced. Mr Hickling was a former member of Loughborough Boat Club. Letters of administration were granted to his widow Margaret, and to Frederick J. Caldwell, baker, of 41 Fairmount Drive.

Mrs Mary Mason of 3 Fairmount Drive left over £10,000 when she died in August 1954. 

Following his death in May 1955, Zach Onions, of 22 Fairmount Drive, an engineer, left over £27,000.

Henry Robert Carson, of 35 Fairmount Drive, who had been manager of the tailoring department at Bailey and Simpkin, died in July 1955, left over £5.,500.

Walter Henry Fisher of Fairmount Drive, the Loughborough secretary and chief national executive officer of the Loughborough Co-operative Society, national president of the Co-operative Secretaries’ Association in 1952-3, died in December 1957 and left nearly £7,000.

In April 1980, Elizabeth Rawlinson, aged 87, from Liverpool, died at her son’s home, no.43 Fairmount Drive.

Accommodation

Over the years, accommodation on Fairmount Drive was often needed and available, and people living on Fairmount Drive were often looking for accommodation elsewhere!

In 1938 someone from no.32 was looking for accommodation in the Cotswolds for a week in July, and in

December 1944 two lady teachers at no.7 were looking for temporary accommodation in Gloucester, where they were taking up teaching appointments.

In September 1939, the Smedley’s of no.20 Fairmount Drive were letting out a 7-roomed house in Belper, and in August 1960 a well-maintained semi-detached residence on Fairmount Drive was for sale.

Positions vacant

A number of people living on Fairmount Drive were looking for employees, as we see in January 1941 when the Lewis family of no.47 were looking for an experienced general maid. A few years later in February 1946 the people living at no.47, who were from Cardiff originally, were looking for a cook. They advertised in the Western Mail, and advised that there would be several visits to Cardiff throughout the year, so they were clearly looking for someone from Wales to fill the post!

Car accidents were also reported in the newspapers. In September 1947 there was an accident involving Miss Ives of no.38 and the Milburns of no.25, when the car they were travelling in together from Hathern to Loughborough skidded and hit a telegraph pole. In 1952 Maurice Whiteley aged 75, of 27 Fairmount Drive collided with another car in Rugby and was taken to hospital suffering from shock, but was taken home later the same day.

Numerous items were available for sale and advertised through the newspapers.

In June 1935 the people living in a house called Westover were selling a caravan for sale, and in March of the next year, they were on the hunt for a new car.  In May 1939 the inhabitants of no.9 Fairmount Drive were selling a 1933 Austin and in January 1941, people in the same property were selling a 1938 Fiat 500.

In November 1944 the people at no.35 were selling a Hornby electric train set, with two engines, a transformer, numerous lines, wagons and signals for £30.00. In October 1954, no.3 were selling a Rover 16, which was first registered in 1939, and in October of the following year, the people at no. 40 Fairmount Drive were selling a Ford Prefect.

Fire and theft on the street were also reported

In October 1947, while Bernard Nixon Wale was attending a meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society, his house, no. 40, was burgled. The thieves took £25.00 in cash and some cutlery. A couple of years later, in March 1949, a fire occurred at no.3, the home of Mrs Mason. Luckily, it was quickly subdued by the fire brigade.

Numerous miscellaneous items were reported upon

A pair of lady’s brown suede gloves were lost on Fairmount Drive, in July 1941, and someone was offering a reward to their return. In April 1950 Councillor C.J. Pattison (Labour) of no.45 was a candidate in the municipal elections for Hastings Ward.

Kathleen Renals of Fairmount Drive inherited some money from Thomas Stockwell a retired joiner of Woodthorpe in January 1953.

In May 1956 Mrs F Kaye of 24 Fairmount Drive created a floral display for a meeting of the Flower Lovers’ Guild.

In the trade and professional announcements section, of the ‘Leicester Chronicle’ there appeared an advert for re-upholstery which was being done at no.5 Fairmount Drive. No.5 was at the time named ‘Beakbane’. These same adverts appeared regularly through 1962 and into August 1963.

In January 1970 nobody won the top prize in the ‘Where’s the ball’ competition, which appeared in the ‘Leicester Chronicle’, although Mrs C Wigglesworth of 7 Fairmount Drive won £20.

In 1975 Mrs Mayfield of 19 Fairmount Drive was a Spirella consultant. 

As mentioned above, although the character of the street remains, there are numerous infill properties along its length, as well as extensions to some of those original houses. I wonder what range of occupations today’s inhabitants of Fairmount Drive have?

Notes

(1) The name Highcroft appears both in this format, and as two separate words, High Croft.

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Dyer, Lynne (2020). Spotlight on Fairmount Drive. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2020/11/spotlight-on-fairmount-drive.html   [Accessed 29 November 2020]

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