BROMLEY BOROUGH  LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY

Bromley Villa
Bromley Villa and the Hebberts
In the late 1820s, some of the land owned by Robert Makepeace along what is now Bromley Common was purchased by Birmingham born Henry Hebbert (1783-1864), a successful clothing retailer with premises at 187 Strand, near St. Clement Danes. With a large family, eight children were born to his wife Mary (nee Sherwood 1782-1861) between 1810 and 1825 although not all survived to adulthood, he clearly needed a bigger family home.

The tract of land is shown below, extending from what is now Chantry Lane to the north west, Johnson Road to the south east and to Union Road to the north east. It was here he built what became known as Bromley Villa.
Below are photographs of the house with some distant pictures of the family included. It was a large sprawling property and it is difficult to work out which side of the building is being shown.
Below is an abbreviated family tree showing the ancestors of Bruce Hebbert who kindly provide the pictures and other information. For a detailed look, click on the picture.

Like most Victorian families, tragedy was never far away. Two boys died young, George at one and Charles at ten. Emma died at 18. Rosa spent the last years of her life in a mental asylum (Ticehurst House).  Henry, Mary, Mary jr, Emma, Rosa, George and Charles are all buried in Bromley parish churchyard. Laura married twice for her eleven children.  W G Hebbert lost his right hand while training at the East India Company Military Seminary in Addiscombe but was still a competent artist.
Henry and his brother Charles established themselves as Uniform retailers at Pall Mall and 187 Strand trading as Hebbert & Co.

Among their major contracts was the supply of uniforms to the newly formed Metropolitan Police, followed by numerous other police contracts. They not only sold but manufactured clothing  and accessories ( swords, truncheons, pith helmets etc) at various factories in London and Birmingham. During the American Civil War they were cited in the Alabama Case as a major supplier to the Confederate States Army in breach of the Neutrality Acts. (The British Government admitted full liability and paid a huge fee in compensation and Hebbert & Co got off scott free).

In 1834 (according to a Times report) it was a young Henry Hebbert who raised the alarm on seeing the home of Parliament, the Palace of Westminster, on fire.  Although his actions received much praise in the article, the Palace was all but destroyed, leaving just the Jewel Tower and Westminster Hall today.

There were mixed reports on Henry as an employer. He founded a rowing club for employees at Putney but Hebbert & Co was also the target of the first Jewish tailors strike. None of Henry Hebbert’s children chose to take over the family business and the Company finally ceased  trading after the First World War.

Henry was a collector of contemporary art. He commissioned John Constable to paint a landscape of Hampstead Heath, he also owned a painting by Stubbs. The “Hebbert Constable” is in the Cleveland Museum of Art.

All of Henry and Mary’s children were born above the shop at 187 Strand. Those that died there were initially buried in St Clement Danes, and later moved to the family vault in the churchyard of Bromley Parish church shown below.

The Hebbert family vault in Bromley Parish churchyard


In the south east corner is this splendid tomb which seems to have survived the destruction of the church in 1940.


On the right hand side are the names of George, Charles and Henry Hebbert.


On the front are recorded Mary Hebbert and her daughters Emma, Mary and Rosa.


On the far end, the western side, is Jessy Challoner, wife of William Stanley Hebbert whose name was added to hers only a few months later.
Some family portraits and their possessions.
More information about Henry Hebbert, Bromley Villa and the development of the Chatterton Road area can be found at the local website.
Share by: