Vauxhall Road, Again

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 89448

Honestly, I'm not obsessed. It's just my work involves me sitting 
around doing nothing waiting for things to happen sometime and 
research helps fill up some of the time.

Basically, I am now more or less totally convinced that a section 
of London in the vicinity of Kennington Lane was known as Vauxhall 
Road (or rather as The Vauxhall Road) until quite recently, even 
though it may have officially had another name, and the Vauxhall 
Road name was still in relatively common used. Other evidence 
gathered (outlined in previous posts) make me believe it was 
probably Kennington Lane or part therof, but the most recent 
material I've uncovered doesn't actually confirm which road it is - 
just that there was definitely a road being referred to by the name 
Vauxhall Road or the Vauxhall Road in that general area.

The source for this belief is various articles in The Times 
newspaper of London.

I may be able to find even more articles about this later on - for 
the moment I have mostly focused on articles relating to cricket, 
simply because the proximity of the Oval lets me know that these 
references are to Vauxhall Road, London as opposed to one of 
several others (I've found others in Gloucester, Birmingham, and 
Liverpool, during this, IIRC).

Now - the references. First of all one from around the time that 
Tom Riddle would have been in the area.

The Times of Tuesday May 25, 1937, p 50. The article is "Cricket 
To-day and Yesterday A Review of Great Players By Our Cricket 
Correspondent"

It contains this statement.

"To succeed Hobbs, Hendren and Sutcliffe came Hammond, about whom 
no two can agree. On this day nothing more majestic can be seen. 
The first time I saw him at the Oval was when he hit a ball into 
the Vauxhall Road"

(Hitting a cricket ball into Kennington Lane from the wicket at the 
Oval would be a pretty impressive shot, but not impossible)

The second reference is similar, but from 1961 - specifically 
August 24, p 4 - "Surrey Caned by Somerset Pair"

"Earlier the Somerset opener, Roe had hooked a ball from Surrey's 
fast bowler Jefferson into the Vauxhall Road."

The third is from 1934. July 2, p 6. "Australians at the Oval - 
Surrey's Disappointing Display"

"There was little at this time to encourage a fast-increasing Oval 
crowd, and one's sympathy was with the musician in the Vauxhall 
road, who broke into the most dismal of cornet solos."

I've also found a reference from 1982 - but that I am pretty sure 
is a mistaken reference to Vauxhall Bridge Road.

It seems pretty clear to me that the term Vauxhall Road was in use 
in London at the relevant period - I'm less convinced (though I 
think it is plausible) that the reference is to part of Kennington 
Lane.


Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia