Vol 12.11 N D Allbless

Non-Hampton & Richmond Borough related posts.
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Les1949
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Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2021 3:59 pm

HAMPTON, AROUND AND ABOUT

Things you may not know, or didn’t know you knew!

No 11 N D ALLBLESS
Club Founder & Vice-President

Nowrijee Dadabhoy Allbless was born in India and was educated in Bombay and then at Cambridge University. Called to the Bar, he commenced practice in Bombay before travelling to the UK, settling first in Teddington before moving to Hampton. In 1901 he was living in Nightingale Road and in 1911, Acacia Road.

In 1921 Allbless accepted the position as one of several Vice-Presidents with the newly formed Hampton FC. However, prior to that, Allbless had been very involved in life in Hampton in various capacities.

In 1899 he was elected to the Urban District Council, retired but was then re-elected in 1902. He was also a Trustee of Hampton Grammar School and in 1901 was also Chairman of the Hampton Division on the Middlesex County Council.

Whilst on the Urban District Council there occurred a local ‘spat’ over the purchase of Rosehill, a property overlooking what is now the A308. The owner, Major Lampard, offered the house to the council for £3,300, at a meeting in August 1901 it was agreed to purchase it. There was one dissenting voice, the Chairman, George Sanders. After several more meetings, including a public meeting and heated debates in the local press, George Sanders resigned his position at the end of 1901. The upshot was that eventually, Alderman Allbless was elected Chairman in place of Sanders. Sanders was offered a position on any committee that he wished to serve on but refused, obviously a bit miffed!

Part of Rosehill was later handed over as a free Public Library – a function that it still carries out.

In 1917 Alderman Allbless can be found as Honorary Secretary of St Mary’s Hospital (now Hampton Care).

During World War 1 a War Savings Committee for the Hampton District was set up, under the Chairmanship of Alderman Allbless. People were asked to make donations of 6d
(2 1/2p) until 15s/6d had been saved (77 1/2p) and then a War Savings Certificate would be issued – to be repaid at the end of the war.

In 1925 the Vicar of St James’s in Hampton Hill wrote urging his parishioners to vote Allbless back in as ‘he is involved in keeping ‘The Lord’s Day’ free of commercialism’.


In July 1933 Alderman Allbless was presented to the Prince of Wales, on the occasion of the opening of three bridges across the River Thames: Chiswick Bridge, Twickenham Bridge and Hampton Court Bridge. Alderman Allbless was the only surviving member of the ‘Committee to improve Hampton Court Bridge’, first set up 25 years earlier. Even back then it took a long time to get any major projects completed (HS2 anyone?).

Alderman Allbless passed away on 15th November, 1935, aged 75 after a life of service to the community of Hampton.

The Old Historian
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