MAYOR JOHN WILLIAMS & KINGSTON’S FAIRFIELD. A TRIBUTE TO JUNE SAMPSON, LOCAL HISTORIAN & JOURNALIST.
John Williams, Mayor of Kingston in 1858, 1859 and 1864, was an energetic, public-spirited, self-educated man who had poor and humble beginnings. He came to Kingston in 1851 to take over the ailing Griffin Hotel which he developed into a flourishing enterprise that was highly regarded. He was instrumental in securing the Fairfield as a recreation ground for the townsfolk and played a part in improving the Promenade on the River Thames. While he acquired enemies, notably Alderman Frederick Gould, his civic funeral in 1872 and obituary tributes indicated that overall he was a greatly respected and valued man. Local historian June Sampson’s view that John Williams deserved greater recognition in Kingston was justified and a memorial in the Fairfield would seem appropriate for this
Noel Baddow Pope was born in Toxteth, a sub-district of Liverpool, on Christmas Eve, 1909. He moved with his widowed mother to Surbiton before 1926.
The Kingston upon Thames Debtors’ Prison existed from 1829-1852 and was situated in what is today Bath Passage.
The memorial commemorates six men: two officers and four other ranks who died in the Great War, 1914-1918.
In 1816 Alexander Raphael commissioned a sarcophagus for himself in the church of the Armenian Monastery….