Walter Hunt
| Walter Hunt | |||||||||
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| File:Hunt, Walter.jpg | |||||||||
| Born | 1857 | ||||||||
| Died | 1946 | ||||||||
| Residence |
3 Westcote Road, Streatham, SW 43 Eardley Road, Streatham, SW16 [1919] 41 Eardley Road, Streatham, SW16 [1923] | ||||||||
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Contents
Notes
Office Notes
House Notes
1912.08.22 proposed by R.R. Marett, seconded by J.L. Myres
Notes From Elsewhere
WALTER HUNT - AN AMAZING STREATHAM CHIMNEY SWEEP
During Abagail Turner’s fascinating talk to the Streatham Society in July on the St. John Ambulance, she showed copies of the membership records for the Streatham Brigade in the early 1900s. Among the names detailed, one leapt off the screen to me as a former Streatham resident whose life has fascinated me since I first read about him in my early researches into the local history of the area over 35 years ago.
The man was Walter Hunt, a humble chimney sweep living in Eardley Road. At first glance he is a man of simple trade and stature and an unlikely character worthy of much interest. But his life is one deserving closer examination and his contribution to the local history of Streatham is a significant one. Despite his modest origins he was self educated, an avid reader and accumulator of knowledge and, whilst sweeping chimneys during the day he spent the evenings writing and lecturing at adult institutes and was well-known for his activities with the Streatham Adult School.
Walter was born in an old wooden house near Mitcham Cricket Green in 1857 and attended the local village school. He had a taste for adventure, and at 15 joined the Royal Navy and spent several years on survey work in the South Seas. There he came in contact with cannibals. Impressed by their splendid physique and high moral principles, he later began to deplore the sad effect of civilisation on them. Thus began his lifetime interest in anthropology. This led to him eventually writing a book called Are Britons a Declining Race? which was published in 1904. It provoked a good deal of controversy at the time, being an indictment of civilisation as exhibited in Britain and in those lands where its influence had been felt. The book pulled no punches and explored the effects of alcoholism and other causes of physical degeneracy and moral decline introduced by Britain to native peoples.
After 12 years in the Navy Walter became a London fireman serving under the famous Captain Shaw. Later, when working as a mechanic, he went to Balliol College for a month at the instance of the WEA, and the following year
to Christ Church. As a result of papers written there he was elected a Fellow of the Anthropological Institute.
In 1890 Walter moved to Streatham where he was to reside for the rest of his life. It was here that he purchased a sweeps’ business and would often be seen in the neighbourhood carrying his chimney brushes on his shoulder as he went about his trade.
It was not until he was 42 that Walter learned to cycle, which was to become one of his great joys in life. He toured the British Isles, winning numerous trophies for speed and distance. At the age of 50 he won a 50-mile race on the Brighton Road against scores of younger men. But that was nothing compared with his later achievements. At 71 he cycled from Edinburgh to London in three days, and at 76 he did the 106 miles journey to Brighton and back. At 80 he cycled round the British Isles. He was often seen cycling along Streatham streets, a venerable figure, with his full beard and bushy eyebrows. Walter was also a marksman of some note and one evening scored six bulls at
100 yards on the Wimbledon Rifle Range. He was also famous at Bisley where he scored a bull with his first trial shot at 200 yards. During the 1914-18 war Walter returned to the Navy as a petty officer in the Anti-Aircraft Corps. Later he became a lift attendant by day and a lecturer on social hygiene and anthropology by night. Whilst living in Streatham, Walter maintained his links with Mitcham and became the oldest member of the Mitcham Civic Society. He also played an active roll in Streatham affairs and was a prominent member of the Streatham conference from its formation in 1901. He was also a member of the Streatham Antiquarian and Natural History Society, the forerunner of the Streatham Society, and gave talks on his reminiscences of the town at the time of his
boyhood and the local history of the area.
In 1944, when aged 86, he recorded his memories of Streatham in the 1860s for the Society. A copy of his 47 handwritten foolscap page manuscript called Surrey Village of Streatham Eighty Years Ago and Later is preserved in the Society’s papers held at Lambeth Archives. This document provides a fascinating insight into the old village of Streatham in the middle of the 19th century and makes a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the local history of the area at that time. This is particularly so in respect of Walter’s recollections of south and lower Streatham, and of Streatham Lodge, a large house in which the Coulthurst family lived, members of which were partners in Coutts Bank. * Sadly pages 1 to 7, and 15 to 19, are missing from the manuscript. However,
Chapter 1 (pages 1 to 8) of the work exists in typescript but most of Chapter 3 is now totally lost. One of the assistants at Streatham Library very kindly offered to type out the manuscript for the Society in her spare
time, and while she was doing the parts now missing, her home was wrecked by a V1 flying bomb and the typewriter, and the missing pages, were destroyed and lost in the wreckage.
Mr Hunt did promise to try to re-write the missing chapter, but before the Society could arrange for him to do so he was seized by the illness which resulted in his death on the 8th of January 1946, in his 89th year. He was buried in Streatham Cemetery leaving two sons and six daughters mourning the loss of their father.
Walter was a close friend of William Kent of Clapham, who was a well-known authority on London and its history, who, in his book London Worthies, included a full biography of Walter, recounting his life and his many achievements In Walter Hunt we have a man of his time; self-taught with an enquiring mind.
He was a published author, a proficient debater, an inspiring lecturer, a popular raconteur and his recollections of Mitcham and Streatham at the time of his youth have made a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the local history of these areas.
In addition he was a keen cyclist, a noted marksman, and now, thanks to Abagail’s lecture, we know that he also played an active part in the formation and operation of the St. John Ambulance Brigade in Streatham in the opening decade of the 20th century.
Publications
External Publications
Are Britons a Declining Race? 1904
