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Developing Victorian Battersea: The Story of James Lord and George Todd, Junior

Abstract Although the broad outlines of the development of ‘ordinary’ mid- to late-Victorian building estates in suburban London are well known, there remains a large potential for more detailed studies, both of individual suburbs and estates. Records of local developers, surveyors and builders, other than what may be gleaned from official sources or from randomly surviving deeds are scarce, and the motivations and finances of the vast majority are either obscure or completely unknown. Occasionally, however, a power searchlight illuminates the complex relationships that underlie the transformation of fields into streets. The core of this study is an action in Chancery of 1870–1, brought by barrister and estate developer James Lord against builder-turned-auctioneer/surveyor George Todd junior. The ups and downs of their often less-than-businesslike relationship over the preceding seven years no doubt mirrors many similar, but unrecorded, examples, not only in Battersea but across Victorian London.