Catalogue description Graham-Polhill Papers

The collection consists of verses, letters and a year's edition of the Family Chronicle, a news paper produced by the children detailing the week's happenings in an imitation of grand society reporting. Many of the other verses may have been intended for this Chronicle (also known as the Strawseat Chronicle), which appears to have continued for longer than the year's editions preserved here. The verses by Mrs Graham are particularly interesting as she had published, under the pseudonym Theresa Tidy, a popular work called Eighteen Maxims on Neatness and Order.

The letters Reveal a great deal about the family, about individuals and incidentally about the social life of the time. Many concern Anne, who after her marriage in 1823 became somewhat weighed down with domestic cares. For some years the Polhills lived in France, where they could manage on less money, but nothing is known of the latter part of Anne's life. She died in Brighton in 1882.

Graham family of Edmond Castle, Cumberland

The Graham family of Edmond Castle, Cumberland, became linked with Clapham through the marriage, in 1791, of Thomas Graham with Elizabeth Susannah Davenport. Her father, John, a wealthy merchant (he was Master of the Merchant Taylors' Company in 1775) and woollen draper to the King had bought a large estate on Clapham Common Northside, near the present Sugden Road. Thomas and Elizabeth had five children, Thomas Henry, John, Elizabeth Maria, (known as Maria), Emily and Ann Margaret. After Thomas' death in 1813 his eldest son inherited Edmond Castle but the children continued to live with their widowed mother at The Hall for some years. John moved to Rose Lodge (later Northfield) Clapham in 1833, and returned to The Hall on his mother's death in 1844. He left in 1853, and in 1886 the estate was sold for development Of his three sisters, Maria remained unmarried, and was instrumental in the building of St George's Church, Battersea with its associated school and vicarage. Emily married the Rev Thomas Collins, and Anne married Edward Polhill. The Polhill family had a large house on the site of Crescent Grove.

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