The Burrage Family – “Woodleigh” 71 Westmead Road
This is one of the oldest properties on Westmead Road. The house will soon be gone as part of a new development due to be built in this area. I thought I would look into its history and investigate who lived there.
At the time of the 1891 census the house was occupied by the Burrage family. The Burrages originated from Hertfordshire but moved to the Sutton New Town area in the late 1860s. The family had previously lived at Oakhill Road, Vernon Road and Sutton Grove before settling at “Woodleigh”, Westmead Road. The head of the household was George Isaac Burrage, he was born in 1844 and worked as a builder. I think it is likely George Burrage built the house at Westmead Road, but without access to further records I can’t be certain.
George married Caroline Pratt at St Mary’s Church, Wimbledon in 1867. The couple went on to have 8 children together:
- Caroline Jessie (1868-1951)
- John Robert (1870-1952)
- Annie Eugenie (1871-1948)
- David Walter (1872-1957)
- Ellen Georgina (1877-1963)
- George Samuel Pratt (1878-1964)
- Selina (1880-1965)
- Leonard Francis (1884-1970)
The tax records indicate that George Isaac Burrage owned a large area of land on Westmead Road and he appears to have been successfully building houses from the 1890s. On the land surrounding Woodleigh, George also owned stables, a yard and a workshop.
By 1911, the Burrage family were still living at “Woodleigh” but most of the children had left home. By this time, George was 66 years old and had retired and Caroline was 69 years old. They had two unmarried daughters living with them; Ellen, aged 34 and Selina, aged 30. Both daughters’ occupations were given as “domestic duties at home”.
Their two daughters, Ellen and Selina continued to live at the family home. The 1939 register records Ellen and Selina living on “private means” at 71 Westmead Road. Neither of them ever married; Ellen died at home in March 1963, aged 86 and Selina died at St Helier Hospital in December 1965, aged 85.
Sadly, Caroline died at Woodleigh in May 1912. George also died at the house in January 1928. (Photos below are George Isaac Burrage and his wife Caroline)
It seems that no other family lived at the house and in 1968 the house was changed from part living accommodation and part office to full office use. At the time the surrounding yard was owned by Martells of Sutton Ltd (a removal firm).
The neighbouring house, number 74 was converted in 1967 from accommodation to office use and at this point the garden was converted to car parking spaces. Part of the planning application stated that a wall needed to be built on the Westmead Road entrances, so this partly explains why the house appears boarded up from the main road.
More recently the land has been occupied by Chelsea Timber Yard as a wood and storage yard. The land is currently cleared awaiting redevelopment.
If anyone has any further information on the history it would be great to know more.
Sutton New Town 