International Women's Day gallery

Pen, ink and watercolour

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Kingston By-pass was built in 1927 to prevent traffic from clogging up the town centre. This main road also encouraged the building of miles of streets of suburban houses on former farmland. The character of Tolworth in particular changed from that of rural village to small town.

Pen, ink and watercolour

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This image shows a stall behind the Market House, overlooked by All Saints’ Church. A general produce market took place daily here from 1919. The cattle market had moved from the Market Place to the Fairfield in 1925.

Oil on canvas

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On 8 May 1945, flags and bunting decorated the streets. All Saints’ Church bells rang out and crowds gathered outside the Guildhall to listen to the East Surrey Regiment band. Kingstonians cheered Churchill’s victory speech as it was broadcast, then danced in celebration. Street parties were held throughout the borough. 
Elspie Langdon-Down (1898–1987) was the granddaughter of Dr. John Langdon Down. In 1868 he established Normansfield in Teddington, an institution which offered residential and educational facilities for people with learning disabilities. Elspie taught arts and crafts to some of the girls at Normansfield, including weaving.

Watercolour and bodycolour (Brill Collection)

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Emma Offer established Offer’s Dairy Farm in 1861, when she became a widow with six children. The Knight’s Park area became increasingly built up and in the 1930s the fields were acquired for building Kingston School of Art. The farm closed after World War II.

Pen, ink and watercolour with bodycolour (Brill Collection)

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Kingston’s first public library was established in temporary accommodation in 1882. The Council raised a loan to finance a permanent building for the library on the Fairfield in 1903. However, Scottish American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie offered to pay the entire amount, so the council used the loan to build Kingston Museum next door.

Pen, ink and grey wash (Brill Collection)

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Kingston’s first public library was established in temporary accommodation in 1882. The Council raised a loan to finance a permanent building for the library on the Fairfield in 1903. However, Scottish American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie offered to pay the entire amount, so the council used the loan to build Kingston Museum next door.

Acrylic
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A decorative depiction of central Kingston, from All Saints’ Church at the bottom, through the Market House and market stalls in the middle, to Clattern Bridge and the Guildhall at the top. The citizens of Kingston throng the streets. The crane symbolises the extensive redevelopments of the 1970s.

Acrylic on paper (Brill Collection)

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The bus station was demolished in 2000 and replaced by the Rotunda, a cinema and leisure complex. The Friends of Kingston Museum and History Centre relaunched the Brill Collection scheme in 1997 by commissioning this painting from Leo Duff, a senior lecturer in Kingston University’s Faculty of Art, Design and Music.

Pen, ink, watercolour and pastel (Brill Collection)

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The Turks family built boats in Kingston for 250 years from the 18th century. Turks now have two jetties from which they offer river trips along the Thames. The Outrigger pub, whose sign is visible, served the working men of the waterfront for many years until it was demolished in 2000.

Oil on canvas

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The artist drew this scene from the top storey of her Norbiton school in the 1940s when she was about 19. In 2004 she created this painting from the sketch, recreating her memory of Norbiton as it appeared sixty years previously, densely inhabited, but with quiet streets and churches spires dominating the skyline.

Collage with ink and watercolour (Brill Collection)

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Woolworths opened on Clarence Street in 1914. The shop moved to the site of the old Sun Hotel in the Market Place in 1931. It continued as a popular town centre chain store until the Woolworths Group went out of business following the world financial crisis. Swedish hardware store Clas Ohlson then occupied the premises, but closed in 2019, leaving the space vacant.

Acrylic, pen, pencil (Brill Collection)

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Tudor Williams department store was part of New Malden high street for over a century. It was founded by a Mr Tudor Williams who came to New Malden from Wales in 1913 and purchased a small corner shop. The business started as a milliners and haberdashers and extended into adjacent properties as it grew in size. Following the banking crisis of 2008, the store faced competition from shops in nearby Kingston and in London, as well as a growth in online shopping. It closed its doors in June 2019.