One Place Study:
Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

This profile is part of the Charleville Circus, Sydenham, Kent One Place Study.

This property is part of the wider 'One Place Study' of a unique area: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

This study offers an in-depth description of the street and also includes background information on the surrounding Upper Sydenham area, highlighting its close connection to the former site of the famous Crystal Palace (1854-1936).

Property Timeline

Work-in-progress (currently gathering census data)

Victorian Era

1888

Property built by this date as corroborated by street plans showing street numbering, in the National Archives. [1]

1891 Census Sunday 5 April 1891

Around five properties including No.15 in Charleville Circus were missing from this Census.

1891

Meyer, Misses – Name of person listed at this address Kelly's Directory of Kent, Surrey & Sussex

1894 Electoral Register

Captain Alfred Taylor listed 15 Charleville Circus as Place of Abode. Description of other qualifying property - 27 Peak Hill Gardens.

Edwardian Era

1901 Census Persons residing at 15 Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London on Sunday 31 March 1901

History of the Prescott Hiller Family

The Prescott Hiller family represents a branch of the ancient Prescott lineage, renowned for its deep English roots and historical significance. The Prescotts were among the first settlers in New England, USA, rising from prominent colonists to the highest levels of Boston society, where they extended their influence in religion, law, education, and politics. This particular line merges the Prescotts with the Hillers, a family closely associated with the Swedenborgian faith.

Thomas Oliver Prescott, born in the USA in 1814, later became known as Rev. Oliver Prescott Hiller after adopting the Hiller surname to honour his mother’s legacy and unite the two family traditions. Following his untimely death in 1870, his widow, Emma Prescott Hiller, devoted herself to raising their three children—Addison, Margaret, and Charles—instilling in them a commitment to intellectual and spiritual values.

By 1901, the Prescott Hiller family resided at 15 Charleville Circus, Sydenham, South London. Their spacious, well-appointed home reflected their social standing and the relative affluence they maintained despite the loss of the family patriarch. The move from a more central London address likely signalled a desire for a quieter, suburban lifestyle. Their household included a live-in servant, supported by the successful careers of the adult children.

After Emma’s death in 1909, Addison and Margaret ventured to the United States during World War I. Their initial journey was fraught with peril; sailing aboard the White Star Line steamship Arabic, they narrowly survived when the vessel was torpedoed by a German submarine on August 19, 1915. Enduring severe exposure, harrowing danger, and significant hardship, they were eventually rescued and returned to England. Displaying remarkable resilience, the siblings embarked on a second attempt just two months later, arriving in New York aboard the Baltic in October 1915.

In the United States, Addison and Margaret settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Addison became a New-Church minister, continuing the family’s spiritual legacy. Meanwhile, Charles remained in England, pursuing a career as a bookkeeper and upholding the family name in their homeland.

1903

Prescott-Hiller, Mrs. – Name of person listed at this address Kelly's Directory of Kent

1911 Census Persons residing at 15 Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London on Sunday 2 April 1911

World War I 1914-18

1914

Clarke, Hy. – Name of person listed at this address Post Office London County Suburbs Directory

1915

Read experience of Prescott Hiller Family above.

1918 24th May

Notice in – Sydenham, Forest Hill & Penge Gazette

Sale of Freehold houses By Order of Executors. SYDENHAM NOYS and HOWES will SELL by AUCTION at the GREYHOUND HOTEL, SYDENHAM, on WEDNESDAY, 19th June, at 7 o'clock p.m., in separate lots, the Eleven FREEHOLD HOUSES – Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, and 25 CHARLEVILLE CIRCUS. Mostly Let at £40 per Annum each, and Plot of Land laid out as tennis lawn.

Solicitors, R. F. Jackson and Bawles, 167, Fenchurch Street, E.C. Auctioneers' Office: 4, Sydenham-road, S.E.

Interwar period

1921 11th February

Notice in – The Streatham News and Borough

Sale of 15 Charleville Circus on Leasehold

F. C. SQUIRE AND CO. 46 Kirkdale, Sydenham

Will sell at the Greyhound Hotel, Sydenham, on Tuesday evening, February 22nd, at 7 p.m., the semi-detached Residence, 15 CHARLEVILLE CIRCUS, Sydenham. In splendid high position, near Crystal Palace Park, stations and 'buses. Five bed, three reception, bath (h. and c.). Lease 86 years at £12 12s. Ground rent. POSSESSION ON COMPLETION. Particulars of solicitors, Messrs. Russell, Son and Fisher, 3 Serjeants Inn, E.C.

1921 Census Persons residing at 15 Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London on Sunday 19 June 1921

*Raphael Tuck & Sons (1870-1959) were a well known London printing company

1926

Hendrickson, Arthur V., F.I.C., F.C.S. – Name of person listed at this address Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society

The Freehold of the house was purchased from Mrs. Hendrickson in 1958. Did Mr & Mrs Hendrickson purchase the Freehold in 1921 and let the property to the Sickel family? But why was Arthur Hendrickson listed at address in 1926?

1931 Census Public records will not be available until 2031

World War II 1939-45

1939 Wartime National Register Persons residing at 15 Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London on Friday 29 September 1939

Youngest son aged 9 in 1921 census would have been 27 in 1939. It's possible that all the children left home, possibly serving in the forces.

Last official record of residents. Next Census (1931) to be made public in 2031.

Post-war Britain 1945-79

1947 Electoral Register

Listed as living at 15 Charleville Circus:
Hendrickson, Arthur A. V.
Hendrickson, Julia
Hendrickson, Mary A.

Serowka Family c1965 Joan and three eldest sons

1958 March

The freehold of 15 Charleville Circus was sold to Mr Marian John Serówka & Mrs Joan Serowka for £1,750. Private mortgage with former owner (Mrs. Hendrickson) with a loan of £1,425 for ten years with interest fixed at 7% per annum. Monthly payments were calculated at: £16/18/2 (lsd) = £16.91.

Between 1958 and 1965 four sons were born during the family's residence, the second of was born in the actual property in 1960.

The family lived on the lower and upper ground levels and let the two floors above to short term tenants.

1960s

Telephone numbers in Sydenham in the early 60s were four digit long but were even shorter before that.

Our Charleville Circus telephone number was '7472' which is all you dialled from within the SYDenham area. A truck call made from outside the area would require the caller to use the SYD prefix, which when dialled on an old rotary dial went like this: S (PRS)= 7, Y (WXY)= 9, D (DEF)= 3. The complete number was '793 7472'.

The montage image below shows an extract from an old printed directory and a telephone of the same style as the one we had at home. There was a little drawer at the bottom with a note pad for writing down numbers.

1966 6th April

Freehold of 15 Charleville Circus sold for £4,500 + £200 for fixtures and fittings to E. G Barnard.

Sources

General Content

• Serowka Family Archive and from profile manager of this WikiTree'

History of the Prescott Hiller Family

Books:

New England families, genealogical and memorial; a record of the achievements of her people in the making of commonwealths and the founding of a nation
by William Richard Cutter.

Publication date 1913

The Prescott Line (pages 439-442)

Internet Archive Book View

-

Sketches of the New Church in America
by Ednah C. Silver

Publication date 1920

Extract from Chapter V - Joseph Hiller, The earliest new churchman in New England.
(Pages 55-56)

Internet Archive Book View