WOKING'S HERITAGE IN DETAIL
Famous People
Who is the most famous person connected with Woking? The answer will depend on what your interest is. Some might say it is Lady Margaret Beaufort or her grandson Henry VIII (who often stayed at WOKING PALACE) - but he was hardly a resident! Others might mention H.G. Wells (who lived in MAYBURY Road), and then again somebody like the oil magnate, Paul Getty, might qualify. From the 1960s he lived at SUTTON Place (the former home of the Weston family - themselves famous in Tudor times).
HG WellsFor those interested in poetry it could be John Donne, the 17th century poet who lived at PYRFORD after his secret marriage to Ann More of Loseley House. Or if you specialise in 16th century verse, you might nominate Joseph Spence or Stephen Duck (the peasant poet) - who both had connections with BYFLEET. Maybe you have not heard of any of the above. Is your interest more ‘contemporary’? For those interested in modern ‘popular’ music, the SHEERWATER area might appeal more, as the ‘home’ of groups such as ‘Status Quo’ and ‘The Jam’! But for those with more classical taste, the HOOK HEATH and Star Hill areas may cater for your interest, with the well-known female composer and suffragette Dame Ethel Smyth once being resident in Hook Heath Avenue and her friend, the concert pianist Adelina De Lara, formerly a resident in College Lane (off Wych Hill).
Authors and literary connections abound, with not just H.G. Wells living here in 1895-6, but also W.E. Henley (who lived in Maybury Hill road) and George Bernard Shaw (at Maybury Knowle, The Ridge) being two of Wells’ associates who stayed here in the early part of the 20th century. Two other famous Victorian authors connected with the area were William Makepeace Thackeray and Charles Dickens, who were trustees of the Royal Dramatic College at Maybury. The diarist John Evelyn visited Pyrford Place in 1681, while just down the road (and two centuries later), Wheelers Farm in Warren Lane was the home of the diarist and social commentator, A.J. Munby. The Victorian publisher George Smith (who founded the Dictionary of National Biography) is buried at Byfleet, while Alfred Harmsworth (Lord Northcliffe), the founder of the ‘Daily Mail’, rented Sutton Place in the early part of the 20th century.
In recent years the children’s author and artist, Molly Brett, lived at HORSELL, and in Victorian times the Irish artist Paul Henry apparently spent some of his early years teaching in KNAPHILL. The American artist John Singer Sargent (died 1925) is buried in BROOKWOOD CEMETERY - one of many famous people buried there. These include the illustrator of the ‘Rupert’ stories, Alfred Bestall (died 1926), the novelist Rebecca West (died 1983) and the controversial Victorian politician Charles Bradlaugh.
Bradlaugh was not the only politician connected with Woking. Sir Charles Dilke lived there with his wife until the early part of the 20th century, and at nearby Pyrford Court, Rupert Guinness, the Earl of Iveagh, lived until the 1920s. Other famous politicians include Gerald William Balfour, whose house, Fishers Hill, at Hook Heath, was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1900 (with garden by Gertrude Jeykll). It was at Fishers Hill that Gerald’s brother, Arthur James Balfour (the former Conservative Prime Minister -1902-5), died in 1930. G.W. Balfour’s wife, Lady Elizabeth Balfour, was a local councillor (the first female member of Woking Urban District Council). Other ‘local’ people who could make a claim to fame include Joyce Pearce (who founded the Ockenden Venture charity in the town in the 1950s) and Grantley Dick-Read - the ‘father’ of natural childbirth - who lived in the HEATHSIDE area until the early 1950s.
Booklets.
The Woking Community Play Association’s book ‘Changing Woking - 1900-1929’ contains a wealth of information on the area - including details of Famous Woking People in the period.
The booklet ‘Famous People from Woking’s Past’ contains more information on this subject, whilst some famous people may feature in the ‘Heritage Notes’ booklets on the areas mentioned above - please see the list of publication on the HERITAGE WALKS page.
