Buses and Coaches in and around Walton-on-Thames and Weybridge, 1891–1986

By Laurie James

Although the Surrey towns of Walton-on-Thames and Weybridge were for many years served by the London bus network, there were also a number of small scale locally based operators running bus services, before selling out to London Transport in the 1930s. Such companies ran coaches for private hire, contracts and pleasure outings, commencing just after the First World War. This book seeks to newly record the history of these proprietors and put the activities of the London General Omnibus Company and later London Transport into local context. The story starts in the 1890s with horse drawn buses linking with the local railway stations and carries the reader through the dawn of the motor era, the rise of the charabanc, entrepreneurial opportunities in the 1920s and consolidation in the 1930s, World War Two and the gradual decline of bus services from the 1960s. It culminates in a return to a de-regulated operating environment in 1986. Capturing the story of Ben Stanley's Coaches (amongst other pioneers) by using primary source material , the book covers more than just routes and vehicles - it attempts to show how road passenger transport was influenced by local social historic and economic activity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jul 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781526776068

Book preview

PREFACE

This book sets out to record the bus services that have run within or through

Walton-on-Thames and Weybridge from the late Victorian era of the horse bus, until the so-called ‘deregulation’ of the local bus industry from October 1986 under the Transport Act 1985. It also records some of the early charabanc and coach operators, two of which were active until the mid-1980s and one until 2016.

At the time that the first omnibuses appeared, Weybridge was but a small, fairly compact town and although Walton had some similar characteristics, it was still often referred to as a village. Nearby Hersham was definitely a village, parts of it quite rural in nature, and after the arrival of the railway, the area between these three places was steadily developed with housing such that it is now virtually continuous urbanisation.

Both Walton and Weybridge are situated on the traditional Surrey side of the River Thames, as opposed to Sunbury, Shepperton and Staines, which were in Middlesex until 1965. Following the abolition of the latter administrative county, with most parts of it replaced by London Boroughs, Staines and Shepperton have fallen under the jurisdiction of Surrey County Council, being now in Spelthorne Borough. Meanwhile, Walton, Hersham and Weybridge are now in Elmbridge Borough, whilst nearby Addlestone and Chertsey are in Runnymede Borough.

From 1922 onwards, the principal bus operator in Walton and Weybridge was the London General Omnibus Co. Ltd, which was joined by its subsidiary Green Line Coaches Ltd in 1930. Both were subsumed into the new London Passenger Transport Board in 1933 and eventually the London Transport green ‘country’ buses and Green Line coaches were hived off in 1970 to a new entity within the National Bus Co., London Country Bus Services Ltd. Aspects of these major undertakings have been extensively researched and written about by many experts over a long period and in great detail, including their formation, development, the political influences, their vehicles and the services operated. However, the title of this book would not be satisfied if no reference was made within, so their local activities are included to give some context in respect of Walton and Weybridge.

Conversely, little detailed research has seemingly been undertaken regarding the smaller concerns which pioneered some of the bus services later run in the main by London Transport. It is this part of the public transport story, along with the history of some well-known local coach operators, that this book seeks to properly record. It is hoped the book forms a useful addition to already available material covering not only the buses but also other aspects of local social history.

INTRODUCTION

Walton-on-Thames and Weybridge are adjacent towns, being situated about fifteen and seventeen miles respectively from central London. The original village of Walton developed about half-a-mile from the River Thames, away from the immediate flood plain, whilst Weybridge is situated at the junction of the Rivers Wey and Thames, at the point where the latter is at its most southerly. There was a bridge of some sort across the Wey since at least 1571 and whilst the one built in 1865 at the entrance to the town on the winding road alongside the Wey Navigation, from the Chertsey direction, is still extant, traffic volumes and weight demanded that a new bridge and section of highway extending westwards from Balfour Road be opened after the Second World War.

The Wey Navigation was part of an inland waterway system linking London and the Thames, across Surrey and Sussex to the south coast at Littlehampton or onwards to Portsmouth. It saw commercial barge traffic from 1653 to 1969 but is still available for pleasure traffic as far as Godalming. The through route to the coast ceased in 1871 with the abandonment of the Wey & Arun Navigation, although restoration started in 1971 and is still slowly ongoing.

The first bridge across the Thames at Walton was wooden and built in 1750, but required a more substantial replacement in 1786. This, in turn, was replaced in 1864 and, much later, was supplemented with a supposedly temporary structure in 1953 as the old bridge had become weakened following wartime bomb damage. The 1864 bridge was demolished in 1985, whilst by 1999 the supposedly temporary structure was life-expired, necessitating another temporary structure alongside. A new permanent bridge, which had been planned for since the 1950s but could not proceed due to funding issues, was opened in 2013.

The name Walton is thought to be of Celtic origin, having been identified as a corruption of Weal(as) Tun, literally ‘Welsh Town’. Being only four miles or so from Hampton Court, Henry VIII found the area good for hunting and had Oatlands Palace built in 1538, between Walton and Weybridge. It survived until 1650. By the 1830s, the area was noted as having many large houses and mansions. Much of the land was part of huge estates, such as Ashley Park, Oatlands Park and Portmore Park, owned by very wealthy or influential families. Starting in the late Victorian era and continuing for several decades, the majority of this land was sold, much of it for housing development.

The coming of the railway, the proximity to London and the pleasant rural wooded and river-side environment all attracted many to come and live in the Walton and Weybridge area, hence they have become noted commuter dormitory settlements. The population of Walton and Hersham increased from 13,000 in 1911 to 18,000 in 1930.

That of Weybridge rose modestly from 6,300 in 1911 to 7,000 in 1930. The combined population of the Walton & Weybridge Urban District Council area was 29,000 in 1939, 39,000 in 1948 and 51,000 in 1971.

The large Walton ecclesiastical Parish was reduced when separate Parishes were established for Hersham in 1851 and Oatlands in 1869. However, the area was administered in local government terms by the Urban District Councils of Walton and Weybridge, which were established in 1895. They were united as the Walton and Weybridge Urban District Council in 1933, finally becoming, with Esher Urban District Council, the new Elmbridge Borough Council in 1974. The latter derived its name from the ancient administrative area known as The Hundred of Elmbridge. It was the local councils that were responsible for licensing hackney carriages, omnibuses, drivers and conductors until 1931.

An influential, wealthy landowner and benefactor in Weybridge, Hugh Locke-King, had the Brooklands motor racing circuit constructed south of the town, opening in June 1907. The land within the circuit was developed as an airfield. Vickers started building aircraft there in 1911 and they were joined by A.V. Roe, Tommy Sopwith and Harry Hawker. The famous Hawker Hurricane fighter plane first flew at Brooklands in 1935. Thus, Brooklands was instrumental in nurturing two new forms of technology: highspeed motor cars and aviation. To support the latter, some industry producing aircraft components was established in the area and later, Vickers-Armstrong developed a major manufacturing plant at Brooklands itself, latterly producing famous civil aircraft such as the turbo-prop Viscount, the VC10 jet and parts of Concorde. Completed aircraft would be flown out on the Brooklands runway for testing at Wisley Airfield, a few miles away.

The motor racing circuit closed on the outbreak of the Second World War, never to reopen afterwards. Parts of it had been built on to house activities related to the war effort and since then, much of the track has disappeared under housing, a retail complex, warehouses and a major office development, home to several multi-national companies. British Aerospace finally closed the former Vickers works in 1988, resulting in many redundancies and a significant loss to the local economy. The race track clubhouse, together with some other original buildings connected with motor racing and some that were once part of the Vickers complex, survive as the Brooklands Museum.

Hersham was once quite separate from Walton, being about two miles from its centre. However, they are now virtually contiguous, with extensive housing development since the coming of the railway, the sale of farm land and the break-up of the large estates. Its name is said to derive from the Anglo-Saxon Haverichesham, a settlement on a river bend, the river being the Mole. Hersham also expanded when many people arrived to live in pleasant surroundings whilst being able to access London easily for work. Until 1936, Hersham had to share a railway station with Walton, but then got its own, awkwardly clinging to the high railway embankment adjacent to the bridge over the Molesey Road, some way from the centre of the village. The road network also had to be improved due to increasing traffic, with the narrow road to Esher being replaced by a wide dual-carriageway in 1966 and with a Hersham Bypass being opened in 1977 to take through traffic away from the centre of the village.

A short distance away, at the top of Burwood Road, is the Whiteley Homes Retirement Village, with its bungalows in beautiful grounds and iconic octagonshaped road layout. It was originally conceived and funded by Bayswater, London department store owner William Whiteley, known as the ‘universal provider’, who after his unfortunate assassination, left a substantial sum in his will for the purpose. Construction started in 1913 but was not completed until after the First World War.

In 1807 it is recorded that horse-drawn coaches ran from Weybridge to Ludgate Hill in London and also to the Old White Horse Cellar in Piccadilly. Before the coming of the railway, there was a daily service from Weybridge and Walton to London (Fleet Street), which may well have also carried the mail. By 1829, a coach also ran from London to Chertsey, operated by Thomas and George Lacoste, which traversed the grounds of Oatlands Park near Weybridge. However, it seems that it was more than fifty years later when the first local omnibus services commenced, which is where our story begins. At that time there was still a daily coach service from Richmond to Windsor, with the horses being changed in each direction at The Bear public house in Bridge Street, Walton.

London Transport STL 1055 is about to enter Walton High Street in 1952 on its way to Botleys Park Hospital on service 461A. Known as ‘Godstone STLs’, due to their initial garage allocation, this low-height type was introduced in 1934 on service 410 from Reigate to Bromley, which passed under a low railway bridge in Oxted. Some were allocated to Addlestone garage from 1950 until 1952. Note the vacuum-operated sliding door, unusual on a London bus of that vintage. C. Carter/Philip Wallis Collection

The maroon-liveried Bedford OB coaches of the Walton-on-Thames Motor Co. Ltd maintained the station bus service from 1947 until 1970. LPH 482 was the first to arrive and is seen outside the station in the 1960s, alongside a Ford Anglia car first produced to that style in 1959. Roy Marshall

A less-common rear view of a typical London Transport RF en route from Kingston to Staines on service 218 in about 1977. RF 507 is in Molesey Road, Hersham, just north of the Barley Mow Roundabout. Mark Worley

Ordered by London Transport but delivered after the formation of London Country in 1970, AEC Swift SM 106, seen later in ‘National’ green livery, is in Staines on longstanding service 462, which originated as service 162B and ran through Weybridge from 1926 until 1986. Steve Fennell

AEC Reliance/Park Royal coach RP52 of London Country’s Green Line fleet, at the Chertsey Bridge terminus of service 716 in 1976, having arrived from Hertfordshire via central London. Mark Worley

One of the vehicles regularly used during Ben Stanley’s second period as a local bus operator, was JTM 114V, a fifty-five seat Bedford YMT with Duple Dominant body, acquired new in June 1980. Its owner after Ben Stanley ceased trading was Richards Bros. of Cardigan in west Wales. Alan Wade Collection

THE WALTON STATION OMNIBUS

In a similar fashion to many places in Britain, the station at Walton-on-Thames is situated some distance from the centre of the town it was named after; it was actually nearer to Hersham. Railway engineers were often encouraged to pick the easiest and cheapest route whilst in places opposition came from wealthy local landowners who had no desire to see the trains, perceived by some as noisy and dirty, from their properties. So Walton & Hersham station, as it was originally named, is about one-and-a-half miles from the town’s commercial centre, but its location did not hinder the extensive residential development that often follows the arrival of a railway, especially in prime London commuter territory, such as found in Surrey.

It was on 21 May 1838 that the London & Southampton Railway opened from Nine Elms (now Vauxhall) via Clapham, Wimbledon, Surbiton, Esher, Walton, Weybridge and Byfleet, to a rather remote place called Woking Common. The present Woking town centre did not exist at that time, with Woking then being what we now know as Old Woking. From Surbiton to Walton, the line was built largely on an embankment over low-lying ground. Bridges were constructed with sufficient headroom for horse-drawn traffic, meaning that even today double-deck buses are precluded from serving several key roads. Beyond Walton towards Weybridge, substantial excavations to form deep cuttings were required.

In 1839 the railway company was swallowed up by the London & South Western Railway, with the line being extended towards Southampton in 1840 and to Waterloo in 1848. The new steam trains were largely beyond the means of many folk, whose income did not permit them to afford the fare. However, the arrival of the railway opened up the opportunity for easy access to work in central London and it was usually the better-paid or those of means who used the trains.

The attractiveness to those people of a nearby station meant that in due course, a number of large dwellings were built along parts of Ashley Road, Hersham Road, Rydens Road and around ‘The Halfway’, which is a crossroads where Hersham Road meets Rydens Road and Station Avenue. Subsequently, houses were built on the northwest side of Station Avenue, as was the Ashley Park Hotel, opposite the main station entrance. With an increasing number of gentlemen commuting each day to jobs in the City and as an attractive way of avoiding a long walk from the town, an omnibus service (horse-drawn of course) to link with the trains was established.

The proprietor of the omnibus was Isaac Stowe. He was born at Brington in Northamptonshire around 1839. He had been in Walton since at least 1859. On the 1881 census he was listed as a domestic coachman, working for G. Atkinson at ‘Cottimore’, a large property in Walton in then-rural Cottimore Lane, with separate houses for the coachman, butler and gardener. It is also said that he worked as a coachman for Sir Henry Fletcher at Ashley Park, although ownership of the estate passed to the Sassoon family around 1860. In 1884, Stowe started in business on his own account as a fly-proprietor, that is, an operator of horse-drawn cabs and other conveyances, with an address in Bridge Street, Walton.

Subsequently, from about 1891, to supplement the cab activities, one, later two open-topped double-deck omnibuses with seating for about twenty people were introduced on a fixed route and timetable which was co-ordinated with the departure and arrival of certain trains. The buses ran from Annett’s Corner in Walton, by the ornamental drinking fountain near the junction of Church Street, High Street and Bridge Street, to the station via High Street, Hersham Road, Halfway Green and Station Avenue. This was the basic route that would be followed by several other omnibus operators to the station, for many years to come. Shortly before the appointed time, the conductor would ring a hand-bell to signify impending departure. The fare from town to station was 2d.

Church Street in Walton, near ‘Annetts Corner’, was the starting point of the horse-drawn omnibus to Walton station. This one may well have been that run by Isaac Stowe & Sons. Already, an early motor vehicle is making an appearance. Elmbridge Museum Collection, Elmbridge Borough Council

By 1897/98 Stowe moved to Ivy House in Church Street, Walton, with a coach-house and stables at the rear. In the 1890s, his son Albert James was working in the business, followed by younger son Frederick, and the family then traded, logically, as Isaac Stowe and Sons. Stowe’s omnibus horses were also used from about 1906 to pull the town fire engine and if an alarm was received, the bus would be abandoned and the horses taken to the fire station, which was the old ‘lock-up’ in the High Street. Any passengers had to make alternative arrangements or walk. In 1906, Walton Council employed a cab inspector from New Scotland Yard to inspect the local hackney carriages. Amongst those he censured was the omnibus, probably Stowe’s. Isaac Stowe passed away on 15 March 1909, aged seventy, with the business already being run by Albert Stowe. The buses and horses were moved to accommodation once part of the property known as The Hurst, in Bridge Street. John Seaby, another well-known local cab proprietor, took over Stowe’s original premises in Church Street. It is thought that activities were maintained for a while longer and then the business, including Ivy House, passed to Alfred Reynolds, another fly-proprietor.

By the late Edwardian period the number of petrol-driven vehicles on the road was steadily increasing as significant advances in engineering and vehicle reliability were being made. Private cars were mainly for the rich but the motorised taxi-cab or ‘hackney carriage’ was beginning to replace the horse-drawn cab outside Walton station. The earliest local operator to introduce motor taxis was Love & Sons. In December 1908 an application for a licence for a motor car to ply for hire was received by the Sanitary Committee of Walton Urban District Council (Walton Council), together with a request for driver’s licences for Harry and Ernest Love. These were all granted.

The Love family came from Ryde on the Isle of Wight. There were seven sons in 1891. Harry Love senior was a coach builder who had been declared bankrupt in 1884. He was discharged in March 1901, aged 47, probably moving about a couple of years before to 2 Thames Street, Walton with his wife Mary Jane (formerly Laming) and family. Harry