Hilda Irene Finch (1905-1985).
My great-aunt.
Hilda was born on 22 August 1905 in Croydon, Surrey, the eldest daughter of Walter Finch and Annie Budgen. She grew up at 45 Bynes Road, Croydon, and later at 259 Brighton Road, Croydon, addresses where Walter ran the family bakery business.
On 29 December 1929 she married Percy Stuart Gooda – variously a butcher and wholesale meat salesman – at St Paul’s Church, Herne Hill, South London. The marriage certificate, included in the divorce papers at the National Archives, describe her as a baker and Percy’s father Robert as a butcher. Walter Finch was one of the witnesses and the couple were said to be living at 10 Winterbrook Road, Herne Hill, at the time. They would go on to live at 107 Chaldon Road, Caterham, which was a butcher’s shop.
The marriage didn’t last long as Hilda petitioned for divorce in 1935, by which time she’d moved back to live with her parents. The papers revealed that Percy had committed adultery with an Edna Hagan (or Oram), a specific example given for July 1933 at 59 Croydon Road, Anerley. Both Percy and Edna denied the claims about them and he asked for the petition to be set aside. However, Sir Alfred Bucknill, in the final hearing at the High Court, said that Hilda had proved her case and dissolved the marriage. After the split Hilda lived with her sister Evelyn for a few years in Northwood Avenue, Coulsdon, Surrey. She was listed in the 1939 Register as living at 9 Warham Road in Croydon, working as a chief clerk.
In 1940 Hilda was married a second time, to Harry Leonard Rollins – known to everyone as Len. Born in Fulham on 9 February 1907 to parents Harry George and Lucy Maud Rollins, he was an officer in the Royal Navy VR during the war but then took over a pub and restaurant called The Denmark at 102 Old Brompton Road in South Kensington. Electoral roll records have the couple living there from at least 1949 to the 1960s. It’s now closed and operating as a restaurant. During this time, newspaper reports show that Len served as a local councillor and was a member of the Rotary Club.
On closedpubs.co.uk, a former regular shared his memories: “The Denmark was one of the most popular pubs for ‘trendy’ young people in the late 1950s and early 60s, when young bachelor men and girls lived in flats in South Ken and Chelsea and could afford the prices. The landlord was called Len, I recall. Nice chap – always smartly dressed. Frequent users were Mike Davies, one-time British No 1 tennis star …”
Another visitor was American singer Johnny Ray – there are cheesy staged photos online of him supposedly playing darts and shove ha’penny there – while a regular who hailed from Canada recalled that it was a popular spot with present and former Greenwich Naval College students, and that Len was the man to ask whether any were in town.
Hilda’s niece recalled: “As far as I recall Hilda and Len had a share in the Richmond Arms at Goodwood [dad has suggested the Goodwood Hotel]. They had this while they were still running The Denmark pub in Old Brompton Road. It was not a particularly successful venture, unlike The Denmark.
“There were a lot of well known people of the time who frequented the Denmark, like Tommy Trinder, Jack Warner (Dixon of Dock Green) and many others. Through the security police from Buckingham Palace, who drank there, Hilda was introduced to the Queen’s dresser, who became a personal friend. She never went into the pub but to the flat upstairs. Hilda and Len were invited to a number of events at the Palace including garden parties and staff balls etc. As with all these things, it was fairly hush hush but they did meet the Queen several times.”
The Kensington Post of 23 November 1951 reported on a celebrity visit to the pub – boxing light-heavyweight champion of Europe Don Cockell. He was there to adjudicate on their games night finals and present prizes, but also served behind the bar with his wife and showed off his Lonsdale Belt. The same newspaper reported on 14 August 1959 that Len and Hilda had won second prize – a cut glass vase – in a competition organised by brewers Courage for their colourful window boxes.
In The Tatler of 25 May 1955, a correspondent wrote about the peculiarities of some London pubs. Hilda and Len’s pub got a mention: “Here, Lt-Cdr H L Rollins has in the saloon bar a remarkable collection of model ships, model lighthouses which revolve and flash their lamps, and ships sailing realistically. In the public bar there is a unique collection of model coaches of all periods perfect in every detail. There are adequate snacks in both bars and first-class straightforward English fare of high quality in their dining room, which is upstairs.”
Len’s father lived with them for several years at the Denmark.
Len and Hilda had a daughter in 1947. She later owned a house in Angmering, Sussex, where we stayed for a week in the early 1970s for our summer holiday. Len died on 4 February 1969, while still living at the pub. He left more than £7,000 in his will.
The Kensington Post of 6 June 1969 reported on a collection for charity that Len had started before his death: “A bottle of sixpences for cancer research started by local council Len Rollins, just before he died in February, will be opened this evening by show business celebrity Jack Warner of Dixon of Dock Green fame. Councillor Rollins, a well known Rotarian and a council member for some years, died from heart failure soon after he had begun to save sixpences in the bottle.
“His wife Hilda, of the Denmark public house, Brompton Road, asked friends and relatives for contributions to the bottle instead of flowers. The amount collected was £84 but because the bottle was still not full, Mrs Rollins placed it in the bar. Now it is so full of sixpences that “it’s a job to lift it,” according to Mrs Rollins. The Denmark is also running a customer sweepstake to guess the value of the coins in the bottle..”
Hilda died in 1985 after living for some years with dementia. Her death was announced in The Times as having occurred on 25 February. At the time she was living at 27 St Botolph’s Road in Worthing. Hilda left effects worth more than £35,000.
There’s more about The Denmark at Pub History.
Sources: BMD records held at Ancestry.co.uk, Findmypast.co.uk, Surrey Records Office. Family memories. British Newspaper Archive and websites quoted in text. Residence confirmation from Surrey and London Electoral Rolls at Ancestry.com. Divorce records are held at the National Archives, ref J 77/3414/4220. Wills: probatesearch.service.gov.uk
His father is listed as a butcher on his marriage certificate in 1948, and in the 1939 Register, he is listed as a wholesale meat salesman, which amounts to the same thing. I’m peripherally linked to his second wife Jessie Whinnerah.
My Mother apparently came from luton, Grandma, her mother, was brought up in a london pub, maiden name Finch married name Davidson. My grandma’s mother I think was brought up in a butcher’s london, which is strange as she kept saying she used to sit on the queens lap, my great grandmother was called Grassey, she was a real lady, but full of very tall tales. But I do know her father used to wind the clocks in Buckingham palace. They had such jewellery that they didn’t own a diamond ring worth less then 30,000.00. My grandmother Thelma and great grandmother grassey were very darling if you know what i mean. Somewere in amongst this place and time their might of been a diamond dealer.
I sea a certain amount of connections here and I’d love to know more as I was placed in a children’s home, very young and would love to know
Emma
Hi. Thanks for your mail. I’ve had a look at my family tree and there is no Davidson in it either as my side of the family or someone who’s married into it. And I certainly don’t recall any stories about people working at Buckingham Palace. Sorry about that but I think this must be another branch of the Finch family. Good luck in hunting them down. Stephen