A Basildon Chronology |
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1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 |
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1910 |
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Southend Waterworks Company carry out extensions to their existing mains network at Basildon, Little Burstead, Laindon and Mountnessing. |
15th January - 10th February |
John Hendley Morrision Kirkwood elected Conservative member of parliament for the Essex South Eastern parliamentary
constituency - including Basildon. Majority 1,911. The general election of January/February
1910 produced a hung parliament. The Liberal party won the most seats and formed a minority
government with the support of the Irish Parliamentary Party. |
3rd - 19th December |
Mr. John Hendley Morrision Kirkwood re-elected Conservative member of parliament for the Essex South Eastern
parliamentary constituency - including Basildon. Majority 1,217. Liberals win general Election
with a majority of 1 seat and form a minority government with the support of the Irish Parliamentary Party. |
1911 |
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The Vange and Pitsea Horticultural Society
formed. Still active today, membership in its early years stood at 400 and was mainly
male. Today, women form the main core of its members. |
13th February |
The new Langdon Hills Council school opens. The
school, located on the eastern side of High Road before the hill rises, replaced an earlier National Society school that still stands
at the summit of Crown Hill and which is now a private residence. Langdon Hills later became a County
Primary and closed in 1973 when a larger school called Lincewood was built nearby in Berry Lane. The
school then became an annexe for Lincewood until the 1990s and was still being used for educational
purposes by Essex County Council as a Children's Support Service Centre up to the school year 2023/24. |
1912 |
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The first telephone in Laindon installed. An early single figure phone number was Bluehouse
Farm on Laindon 2. Other single figure numbers still in use in the mid 1930s were the Laindon
Hotel on Laindon 3, Grays Co-operative Society, High Road on Laindon 4, Crown Hotel on Laindon
5, Alfred Brooks, J.P., C.C., of Goldsmiths, South Hill, Langdon Hills on Laindon 6, Burnie and
Coleman, Solicitors of 7 High Road on Laindon 7, Brookmans Farm, Lower Dunton Road on Laindon 8
and the Prince of Wales public house, Wash Road on Laindon 9. |
6th March |
Mr. John Hendley Morrision Kirkwood, Member of Parliament for the Essex South Eastern
constituency representing the Basildon area resigns from his parliamentary seat to become a
Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds. His successor is The Hon. Rupert Guinness who in an unopposed
by-election on 16th March, 1912 retained the seat for the Conservative party through to 1918
when a new Southend seat is created and he is elected its first MP. |
1913 |
28th March |
An explosion at the British Explosives Syndicate
factory at Pitsea kills three men and injures others. The three men: Arthur Cross, Henry John Hanna and John Bayles
were all killed following an explosion in a gun cotton stove. Others working nearby were also injured
in the blast which completely destroyed the Stove building. The funeral service for the men,
who all lived in or near Pitsea, took place at St. Michael's Church, Pitsea. They were buried in
graves overlooking the direction of the factory which is now the site of Wat Tyler Country Park. |
1914 |
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The Cole family establish a grocery business in
Laindon. This lasted through to the 1970s and included shops at 20 High Road, Laindon and in the
High Road Langdon Hills as well as a stall on Basildon market. |
4th August |
Following a German attack on France achieved through the unauthorised entry by German troops on
Belgium territory, Great Britain, which had formed an alliance with Belgium dating back to the 1839 Treaty of London, declares war on Germany. This
event was seen as the start of what became known as the 'Great War'. Many local civilians were to serve in the British army over the coming years
and with any war, some would not return. In the years following the cessation of hostilities in 1918 war memorials to the fallen were erected at Laindon
(1935), Vange (1922) and Pitsea (1928). A hall, simply called the memorial hall, was also built in High Road, Laindon in the 1920s. |
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Text researched and written by William Cox, 2001 with revisions and additions 2002-2017.
Copyright © 2001-2017, B. Cox - Basildon History Online. All rights reserved. |
Acknowledgements and Bibliography
Contact: E-Mail |
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