The artist Dame Laura Knight is regularly mentioned in relation to the Hungerhill Gardens. Her Uncle Arthur was a tenant during the late 19th century, and, to her biographer, she recalled “Uncle Arthur bringing home washing baskets full of roses from his allotment at Hungerhills, enough to fill three cut-glass bowls followed by the harvest of plums, as big as peaches.”
However, Laura wasn’t the only celebrity with links to the gardens.
At the time of the 1881 census John Shrewsbury Haywood lived in a smart house at Alexandra Park, along with his wife and two daughters Jane (42) and Sarah (37). John was a successful hosier in Nottingham, but that doesn’t make him a celebrity. However, his children became linked to internationally known characters.
In 1878 another of John’s daughters, Anne, married a Scottish pharmacist, Gilbert Farie, at St Andrews Church, Mansfield Road. Gilbert was from Bridge of Allan near Stirling and, according to one source, he was widely unpopular as his only pursuit was of self-advancement. But what made him more well known to later generations was that each day he dispensed from his pharmacy cough medication for a young Robert Louis Stevenson. Gilbert must have created a nightmarish impression on young Robert for it is believed that he was the inspiration for Mr. Hyde in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
That wasn’t the only literary link to the Haywood family. In 1882 John died and his son John Harrington Haywood took over the family hosiery business and moved into the family home, Shrewsbury House in Alexandra Park. In September 1901 John’s company, located at 9 Castle Gate, received an application for the post of Junior Clerk from a 16year old boy living at 3 Walker Street, Eastwood. That was D. H. Lawrence. His application was successful, but he only stayed with the firm for three months.
John’s two unmarried sisters, Jane and Sarah went to live at Laurel Lodge on plot B91, Hungerhill Gardens. By all accounts the Lodge was a substantial eight roomed building located at the rear of Springfield House, Alexandra Park, originally built for Sir John Turney, the grandfather of Nicholas Monsarrat, author of The Cruel Sea. Laurel Lodge was demolished c.1940 and the plot now forms part of the north-western corner of Sycamore Park.
By Paul Freeborough, volunteer
Guided Heritage Tours
Our tours run on the last Wednesday of each month until October. For more information and to book tickets, please click here.
