Hanwell Library celebrates an exciting milestone this month, and residents are being invited to join in the celebrations.

To mark the centenary of the laying of its foundation stone, a free public lecture by Ealing Borough Archivist Dr Jonathan Oates will be held at the library on Wednesday 8 December.

It was on 29 November 1904 that the Countess of Jersey, whose family estate included large parts of Southall and Hanwell and the country estate at Osterley Park, laid the foundation stone before a crowd of 300 people. The site was on Cherington Road, next to Cherington House, which at that time housed the offices of the Hanwell Urban District Council.

Dr Oates' lecture will cover the origin of the library, its early history and some of the interesting people connected with it.  It is titled "Private Pocock and Sir Oswald Mosley: the early history of Hanwell Library." Private Frank Pocock was Hanwell's first librarian between 1905 and 1915, when he volunteered for service in the Middlesex Regiment.  He was killed in 1918. In 1922 the Conservative and Unionist MP for Harrow, Sir Oswald Mosley, spoke in the very room the public lecture will be held in.  He went on to become a Labour MP and Minister and in the 1930s, leader of the British Union of Fascists. Censorship, embezzlement and rowdy local youths are also part of Hanwell Library's fascinating history.

To attend the free public lecture at 7pm on 8 December, please book a ticket by calling into the library or ringing 020 8567 5041.  Please note space is limited.

 

November 30, 2004