Mrs Cox's laundry?
Query:
The following query was posted on the website message-board by John Blackwell, on 04/08/2002:
“Does anyone have info on a Cox’s laundry at 7/9 Bonchurch Road? It might have been called the Albion laundry. The laundry was run by my great-great-grandma Sarah Cox (nee Major), as her husand preferred his job as engine driver, occasionally on the Royal train. I don’t recognise the man in front of the laundry van and the year could be anything from pre 1880 to 1920’s.”
Response:
The following response was posted on the website message-board by John Blackwell, on 04/08/2002:
“7/9 Bonchurch Road are private houses, contemporary with the building of the street, so were presumably the ‘offices’. Next door is a block of later post-war housing on the site of the laundry. The 1939 street directory shows no laundry (so it had closed by then) and a gap in numbering from 11-15 inclusive.”
Comments about this page
When we first came to this country in 1951, we lived in Bonchurch Road. Great site.
I live in Bonchurch Road and believe that there was a huge fire which destroyed the laundry. There is some fascinating film footage at Hove Museum.
There was also a fire in the mid 1980’s which destroyed the Sunnybank laundry and glasses frame factory half way down the road.
My aunts worked at Cox’s Laundry: my aunt Joyce Tullett was in charge of the ironing room and Daisy also worked there.
I recall a Bonchurch Laundry being on the west side of Whippingham Street at the junction with Shanklin Rd. It was surrounded by dense evergreens which made for great cowboys and indians stuff.
I currently live on Sandown Road, I have lived here for 8 years ever since I was 3 years old. I would be very interested if anyone has any information or pictures about Sandown Road. I find it very strange that it has not been mentioned in any of these pages , but its a very interesting site. Editor’s Note Thank you Jazmin, we are very pleased you enjoy visiting the site. As to your point about Sandown Road, we rely on people to send in material about places. Maybe you might be interested in doing some research of your own and then we could put it on the site.
I lived in Bonchurch Road from 1976-1980 when my parents moved to Portslade (I was 6 when we moved). I remember we lived in the flats next to the frame factory which burned down. I also remember playing along the old railway line which ran adjacent to the road.
My nan used to live in Bonchurch Rd in the late 50s early 60s. Her name was Rose Dunning. Anyone know her?
Reply to Jazmin-
I lived in Sandown Road. I was born in Brighton General hospital in 1961. We lived at no 58. I was about 14 when we moved further down the road to Coronation street. I have a photo of myself and a friend on the doorstep of 58. I can remember the Fabians lived above us, Mrs Ireland lived opposite, then there was the Patchings, Longlands, Sandfords, Chapmans,Thomas’s, Bretts. I also remember the street party. I went to Fairlight primary school. My maiden name was Williams.
Hope this helps you.
According to the 1901 census, a John Cox lived at 7 Bonchurch Road, and he is listed as a Laundryman, age 33 and single. He appears to be a match for John G Cox on the 1881 census, the son of a George Cox, builder’s caster, of Brighton.
Living next door at 5 Bonchurch, is my great aunt Clara Breeds (Mrs Albert Baker).
Ellen Turk, laundress, is in a separate household at 5 Bonchurch.
John Cox (b1839) and his wife Annie (b1842) started as a labourer in a soap factory and an ironer. By 1880 John had opened a laundry at 5 Albion Hill. Annie continued the business at 7-9, Bonchurch Road until around 1917. The John Cox listed in 1901 is likely to have been a relative, but it was not her son. As far as I can ascertain the couple had one son, James, born around 1860.
The laundry was operated after this time under new proprietors, most notably William Huggett, who operated an earlier laundry at 43 Bonchurch Road.
As far as I am aware, there is no connection to Cox’s Pill factory.
Although I can’t remember much about it, I lived for a while at 35 Bonchurch Road where my brother David was born in 1948. My uncle Leslie and aunt Nell (Hobden) also lived there. My uncle was blown out of bed the day a German bomb exploded in the railway cutting. We later moved to Picton Street, no 8 and then no 38.
I have just noticed the name Joyce Tullet working at Cox’s laundry and wondered if this could be the same Joyce Tullet that worked at the Soft Water Laundry, in Robertson road, with my mum and dad, May and Don Carter.
I grew up living in Sandown Road no’ 63 and have a lot of fond memories living there and I sometimes drive down the road remembering all the people who lived there in the past. It really is a trip down memory lane for me. Great times
I lived at 109 Bonchurch Rd in 60s with my parents Bill and Dorothy and older brother John, sister Dorothy and younger brother William, having moved from 39 Lincoln St where we had a greengrocers shop. I remember the railway ran along the back of the house and waving to the driver who always waved back and walking to fairlight school where I would always stop at the shop for my Beano comic. We moved to Yorkshire approx 1966/67 when I was 12/13. My mums maiden name is Simmonds. She was born to a large family on Washington Street. If anyone remembers my family I’d be delighted to hear from them. Reply to this site, I read it regularly.
My grandmother Lily Rhodes was listed as being a Laundress Wash, she lived in Bonchurch Road at the turn of the century. Does anyone know if there was a register of all employees who worked in the laundry in Bonchurch Road or where I might obtain one?
My great grandmother Rose Morley, later Devenish lived at 85 Bonchurch Rd circa 1904 and later (1911) talked about not being able to get the smell of a fire out of her head. Wondering if anyone knows when the Bonchurch laundry fire was? Thanks, Liz.
I have just come across this site and found it fascinating. I lived in Seville Street that ran parallel with Bonchurch Road with the railway cutting in between. Once a day about 11am the train to Kemp Town Brewery would pass and we would stand on the garden wall clinging to the railings to watch this steam train pass.
On the 1901 census my grandmother was living in Bonchurch Road. She is listed as her occupation ‘Launderess Wash’. I am trying to find out which laundry she may have been employed at only to find that there were nine laundries listed in Bonchurch Road, where do I start?
Christine, working in laundries was listed in the 1919 Medical Officer of Health report for that year, as one of the largest areas of female employment in Brighton; your grandmother may have worked for all of them at various times.
Thank you Geoffrey Mead for the info.
Add a comment about this page