November 2023

16
Wanstead Village Directory
How many servants lived on the
Aldersbrook or Lake House estates
in 1911? What sorts of ‘modern’ jobs
were residents doing in 1921? Why were
there so many teachers? And what on
earth was the Aldersbrook Parliament?
These questions, and many more, will be
answered at an event entitled Who Do We
Think We Are?
Jane Skelding is an Aldersbrook resident
whose long volunteer involvement with
heritage organisations, including the East End
Women’s Museum, Redbridge Heritage Centre
and the National Trust, has now led to a PhD
funded by the Arts and Humanities Research
Council in collaboration with the genealogy
website FindMyPast. Her research explores
language use and marginalised histories in the
census. For this event, Jane has been delving
into local history, using the 1911 and newlyreleased
1921 censuses to discover who we
were then.
When were the Aldersbrook and Lake
House estates built?
Houses in Aldersbrook were built on farmland
on the edge of the former Wanstead House
estate between 1899 and 1910. The school,
parade of shops (pictured here, circa 1910),
children’s home and two churches were
developed over the same period, and by the
outbreak of the First World War, the estate
looked much as it does now. Controls on
house design, such as a requirement for brick
walls between front gardens, resulted in its
unique character. The Lake House estate was
developed between 1907 and 1916 with a
slightly different feel.
What was the social make-up of
Aldersbrook and Lake House?
The estates were mainly populated by a class
of better-off tradesmen and business owners
working in West Ham, Ilford or as far as the
City. By 1921, more residents – both men and
women – were clerks, but there was also a
Who
do we think
we are?
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