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the history of Leyton and Leytonstone
from . dot to … dots – with plenty of spaces
the later Victorian and Edwardian times 1890 to 1919
Protestant worship other than the Church of England
Leyton and Walthamstow were covered by a network of Nonconformist chapels, some of which rivalled the established church in the confidence of their siting and architecture, such as the Mary Fletcher Methodist Church near the Leyton Midland Station. Leyton seems to have had a less lively Nonconformist community compared with Walthamstow and its large Shernhall Street Methodist church, striking Lighthouse on Markhouse Road, prominent Marsh Street church, and long-standing Quaker community.
A religious community, the ‘Christian Brethren’, rebuilt Leyton Hall, Goldsmith Road in 1912, married amongst themselves, with surnames including Offord, Simson, Syme and Blake, and lived in that neighbourhood 1.
Some prominent Nonconformists lived in the area. George Andrew Hutchison was editor of the ‘Boy’s Own Paper’, which was established by the Religious Tract Society to provide exciting stories but not the sensational subject matter of the ‘penny dreadfuls’. He lived to his 1913 death at Ivy Bank by what is now Henry Reynolds Gardens but then a pond on the edge of Epping Forest. Members of the Quaker Lister family lived at Sycamore House in Leytonstone High Road.
1 extracts from the family history compiled by Eric Collen, in a VHM ‘buildings’ folder
