Timeline for Godalming from 1837

Godalming

Year

General History

VICTORIAN

Gas Works established at the Wharf.

1837

Accession of Queen Victoria.

Milford School founded.

1840

Inmates of Godalming Workhouse in Moss Lane moved to Guildford Workhouse.

1841

Last ‘view of frankpledge’ (guarantee of good behaviour of people living in each tithing by their tithingmen) held at Godalming.

1842

Godalming National School moved from The Mint to Moss Lane.

1843

Railway reached Guildford.

1845

Irish Potato Famine.

Control of Deanery Manor passed to the Church Commissioners.

1846

Church of St. John the Evangelist consecrated at Farncombe.

London and South Western Railway extended from Guildford to Godalming (Old Station on corner of Meadrow and Chalk Road).

1849

Godalming Borough Police Force merged into the Surrey Constabulary.

Julius Caesar (cricketer) first played for England

1851

1853

Cholera epidemic in Britain.

Earliest known photograph of Godalming High Street by H C Malden.

1854

Crimean War started.

Crystal Palace opened at Sydenham.

Farncombe National School founded.

Godalming Choral Society formed.

1856

Crimean War ended.

Ockford toll house buried under new railway embankment and toll house moved to Ockford Road.

Nightingale Road Cemetery’s first burial.

1857

Godalming Police Force re-established.

1858

Japan opened up after centuries of exclusion.

Railway extended from Godalming to Portsmouth. (Battle of Havant) Godalming Railway station opened.

1859

Publication of On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin.

Godalming Public Hall, Bridge Street opened.

1861

American Civil War started.

Deanery Manor sold off by Church Commissioners. Part purchased by Charterhouse School.

1865

American Civil War ended.

Church of St. John the Baptist, Busbridge, consecrated.

Hascombe School founded.

1867

Congregational Church in Bridge Street built.

Busbridge School founded.

1868

Most of Great House, Bridge Street burnt down.

1869

Suez Canal opened.

Godalming Voluntary Fire Brigade established.

1870

Forster Act made elementary education available to all children in England and Wales.

Married Women's Property Act.

Franco-Prussian War.

Wey and Arun Canal closed.

1871

Charterhouse School moved from London to Godalming.

Godalming British School in Bridge Road rebuilt.

1872

Godalming and Farncombe Water Company established.

Gertrude Jekyll moved to Munstead.

1878

Frith Hill waterworks built.

1880

Electric Lighting experimentally installed. First public electricity supply in the world.

Helen Allingham (artist) moved to Sandhills

1881

Godalming reverted to gas street lighting and public electricity ceased

1884

Grammar School set up in hall beside the Red Lion.

1885

Godalming Police Force merged into Surrey Constabulary for the second time.

1889

Jubilee Celebrations

1887

Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

Area of Borough of Godalming extended to include Farncombe.

Sewerage treatment plant opened at Unstead.

Rayners Garden Buildings established, still trading in 2012.

1888

Responsibility for turnpikes passed to County Councils.

Godalming Baptist Church built.

Edwin Lutyens first met Gertrude Jekyll, at Seale

1889

Whitaker Wright bought Lea Park, now called Witley Park.

1890

Boer War starts.

The Duchess of Albany opened The Meath Home of Comfort for Epileptics, now called The Meath.

Grant of a Coat of Arms.

1893

Godalming formed into two civil parishes, ‘Godalming’ and ‘Godalming Rural’.

New Drainage System established.

Godalming Fire Brigade taken over by the Borough.

Aldous Huxley (author) born in Godalming

1894

1895

National Trust founded by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Canon Rawnsley.

Godalming Technical Institute opened.

1896

Jubilee Celebrations.

Borough Road Pumping Station built.

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

Farncombe Station opened.

1898

Small Catholic Church opened in Croft Road.

Hugh Thackeray Turner (Architect) bought site for his house 'Westbrook'

1899

Eashing Cemetery’s first burial.

1900

EDWARDIAN

1901

Accession of King Edward VII.

Coronation celebrations.

Generating station built in Borough Road by the Urban Electric Supply Company Limited.

1902

Coronation of King Edward VII

Boer War ends.

Methodist Church (now the United Church) built on the Causeway.

1903

First flight by an aeroplane.

Local Educational Authority took over the British School.

Whitaker Wright committed suicide.

Fire Station built in Queen Street.

1904

Farncombe School opened.

Fire at Rea and Fisher's Tannery

1905

St Edmund’s Catholic Church built in Croft Road.

1906

Town Council moved from Pepperpot to new Council Offices in Bridge Street.

Godalming Council School opened in Meadrow.

1907

Suffragists' visit Godalming.

1908

London Olympics.

1910

Accession of King George V.

Coronation celebrations.

Empire Picture Palace opened in Station Road.

Godalming, Farncombe & District Commercial Association (Chamber of Commerce).

Last Court Baron held at the Kings Arms & Royal Hotel in Godalming.

1911

Coronation of King George V.

Jack Phillips, telegraphist on the Titanic.

1912

RMS Titanic sank.

Scott's expedition to the South Pole.

Suffragists march came through Godalming with Gertrude Jekyll's banner following the town band.

1913

WAR &
INTER-WAR

Phillips Memorial opened. Architect Hugh Thackeray Turner; Planting by Gertrude Jekyll

1914

First World War started.

1918

First World War ended.

Spanish 'flu epidemic.

Charles Burgess made Honorary Freeman of the Borough.

1920

Public Museum proposed in upper portion of old town hall (Pepperpot).

1921

Death of George Mallory on Everest.

The Godalming Carnival to raise money for Surrey County Hospital.

1924

New Chapel at Charterhouse.

Milford Village Hall built.

Godalming Operatic Society formed.

1925

Godalming Extension Act ‑ Parts of Godalming Rural and Witley included in Borough.

1928

1929

Wall Street crash.

Godalming County School opened.

Thomas Ethelbert Page made Honorary Freeman of Godalming, second person to hold the honour.

1930

Surrey Review Order. Further extension of Borough to include part of Shalford.

1933

St. Marks Church and Hall opened on Ockford Ridge

Guildford and Godalming by-pass opened.

1934

Jubilee celebrations.

The First Church of Christian Scientist opened in Ockford Road.

The Regal Cinema opened in Meadrow.

1935

King George V's Silver Jubilee.

Rotary Club of Godalming formed (now two clubs).

1936

Accession and abdication of King Edward VIII.

Accession of King George VI.

Crystal Palace destroyed by fire.

Coronation celebrations.

Godalming Band formed to play for coronation of King George V1.

Railway electrified.

1937

Seond World War

The Home Guard set up

1939

Second World War started.

Farncombe Wanderers Cricket Club founded.

1945

World War II ended.

POST WAR

Godalming Music Festival started

1947

Austin Playfoot of Eashing ran with the Olympic torch from Merrow to Guildford.

1948

London Olympics.

Godalming United Football Club formed by former pupils of Godalming Grammar School.

1950

Pullman’s leather mill closed.

Wilfrid Noyce was a member of the team that climbed Everest.

Winkworth Arboretum passed to National Trust by Wilfrid Fox.

1952

Accession of Queen Elizabeth II.

Everest climbed for first time.

Coronation celebrations.

Godalming & District Scouts formed.

1953

Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Round Table founded.

1954

Wilfrid Noyce killed while climbing the Himalayas – Wilfrid Noyce Centre opened.

1962

High Street renumbered.

1964

Godalming Masonic Hall Association formed by the Lodges that met in Queen Street, Godalming.

Godalming railway station received a facelift, courtesy of a joint venture between British Rail and the Friary Brewery.

1965

Widespread flooding by the Wey.

1968

The Great Flood.

Godalming Wool Fayre.

1970

Bury’s designated public open space.

1973

Godalming Borough became part of Waverley Borough.

Godalming Swimming Pool at Broadwater opened.

1974

Bargate Wood Estate planning permission given and completed in 1980s.

1976

Jubilee Celebrations.

Waverley Borough twinned with the Mayen-Koblenz district of Germany.

1977

Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee.

Godalming Youth Orchestra formed.

1979

Godalming Photographic Club formed.

Waverley Council offices opened.

1980

Centenary of Public Electricity.

Beaver Scouts started.

Godalming twinned with Mayen.

1982

Godalming twinned with Joigny.

Godalming Lions Club founded.

1984

Hurricane in Godalming.

1987

Hurricane hits Britain.

Godalming Relief Road, Flambards Way, opened.

1991

Go Godalming founded.

1994

First Heritage Open Day.

THIRD
MILLENNIUM

Millennium Celebrations

2000

Millennium Celebrations

2001

World Trade Centre destroyed.

2002

Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee.

Music in the Park Concerts commenced.

2005

Keeping Memories Alive, a community project, started.

2006

GOLO first independent town society lottery started.

2008

Jubilee celebrations.

2012

Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee