William Ford was a wealthy solicitor from Gloucestershire. You can trace William Ford (1812-1889) through the censuses with the following references (free access to ancestry at Camden libraries):

1841 HO107 piece 683 folio 6/28 page 9
1851 Class: HO107; Piece: 1498; Folio: 680; Page: 3; GSU roll: 87831
1861 Class: RG9; Piece: 124; Folio: 143; Page: 28; GSU roll: 542577
1871 Class: RG10; Piece: 247; Folio: 71; Page: 3; GSU roll: 824910
1881 Class: RG11; Piece: 221; Folio: 95; Page: 53; GSU roll: 1341049

William’s wife, Fanny Thomasina Ford, died in 1883. William died on 10 January 1889 at Minori in Italy. In his will he left a fortune of £43,099 9s 11d.

William Ford was educated at King’s College Cambridge, practised at 4 South Square Gray’s Inn, was a president of the Incorporated Law Society, and was a trustee for Highgate Grammar School. Their respective libraries may hold further records.

The origins of William’s firm, Ford Ranken Ford (also Ranken Ford Longbourne & Longbourne), lay in the 18th century. The firm merged with Bird & Bird in 1967.

Bill

There are still a few people in the area who lived here in the period. I must ask them if they remember any of the places or ecents you mention - particularly of your goat.

It seems that you have happy memories of your time here, which is lovely to learn.

Emma.

After WW2 land in St Anne’s Close was purchased by a group of people for 8 houses designed by the architect Walter Segal who taught at the Architectural Association with George Fairweather FRIBA. George bought the old vicarage Brookfield House which had fallen into disrepair. He converted that into two houses. He lived in the main house from about 1950 until 1963 when he moved back to Montrose Scotland. A new vicarage was built.

There was an old stable mews building which George converted into two flats no 9 which was on the ground floor and no 10 which was upstairs. These were two bedroomed flats and I rented mine no 9 in 1961 for £3 a week. There was an old church hall to the east of my garden which had very overgrown land so I kept a goat in there to mow it until it was replaced by a rather ugly “modern” wooden hall. This goat became a hit with local children who would take it on unauthourised walks which resulted once in the goat and them being brought back in a Black Maria. I gave the kids orange juice and cake and the cops tea and the kids looked after the goat’s well being thereafter.

Walter’s 8 houses, he lived at no 7 the detached one to the east, have been widely published. Nos 1 and 6 were occupied by the founding partners of ACP or Architect’s Co-Partnership, Michael Grice & Michael Cooke-Yarborough. They did work at the Festival of Britain 1951. Monica Pidgeon the editor of Architectural Design magazine from early 1940s to 1970s when she became editor of the RIBA Journal lived in no 4.

After I left in 1970 the ugly replacement church hall was demolished and that land sold for more housing.

Liked the snow pix. They reminded me of those snowy winters 1961-62 and particularly 1963 when skating was allowed on the ponds on the Heath.

You raise an interesting point about the Military General Service Medal. There is an article about one of the recipients in July 2011’s Who Do You Think You Are magazine (http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/issue/july-2011). Perhaps if family historians find a Napoleon in their family tree, they could check to see if his father fought in the Peninsular War?