Kingsley Hall and the Evans family

Jill Mead nee Pain and her brother Michael visited Canvey today bringing with them lots of photos and memorabilia from Kingsley Hall and the Evans family.

Jill and Michael's grandmother, Ada Harridge was the daughter of Alfred Fitch Harridge (son of Crisp Harridge of the Lobster Smack Inn). Her older sister was Mary Ann who married Thomas Evans who was a vicar up North, he died in 1904 and Mary Ann and the children came to live with their grandfather Alfred F Harridge.

Alfred was a dentist and lived in a house called 'Kingsley', in Woking. In 1908 he had a house built on Canvey Island and called it 'Kingsley', it was surrounded by 2 acres of land fronting onto Central Wall and going right back to the lake. Alfred lived there with his wife and both daughters and their families, until his death in 1923.

At some point his daughter, Gwen started the school in the old home called 'Kingsley Hall School'. In this section are photos and memorabilia of the family, the house and school that were found by Jill's father when he cleared the house after Gwen's death in 1976.