Walk: Victorian Printers
Hear about two prominent local Victorian residents who revolutionised the printing industry and brought wealth to the area. A circular walk to visit some of the related locations and the heritage they left behind.
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Robert Harrild and George Baxter lived and died in Forest Hill. One invented an inking method that revolutionised the print industry across the world, and he became a very wealthy man, philanthropist and local property developer. The other, his son-in-law, was a talented artist and engraver who invented the printing process that introduced mass produced coloured images to the world. Images of the 1854 Crystal Palace opening and a portrait of Queen Victoria are among his collectable works, though he himself became bankrupt. We will trace their footsteps around the area, hear about their notable lives and visit each of their final resting places in local churchyards.
Distance: 2.5 miles
Difficulty: medium (one steep section, one pedestrian bridge)
Time (length): 1½ - 2 hours
Route: open on GoJauntly
Walk details and information
Robert Harrild (1780-1853) and George Baxter (1804- 1867) lived and died in Forest Hill. Harrild invented an inking method that revolutionised the print industry across the world, and he became a very wealthy man, philanthropist and local property developer. Baxter, his son-in-law, was a talented artist and engraver who invented the printing process patented in 1835, that introduced mass produced colour images to the world. Images of the 1854 Crystal Palace opening and of Queen Victoria’s coronation are among his collectable works, though Baxter himself became bankrupt. We will trace their footsteps around the area, hear about their notable lives and visit each of their final resting places in local churchyards.
1. This circular walk starts at Forest Hill station, originally opened as Dartmouth Arms station in 1839.
Enclosure of Sydenham Common in 1808 had already begun the transformation of the rural landscape of our area, seen as a retreat from the City for those able to afford a villa and a household to run it.
From 1807 Harrild was a printer of books from premises in Bermondsey. Harrild developed and marketed a brand new method of inking type using a roller made of a composite material. Before long, every newspaper needed the new rollers, and from as early as 1818 he supplied presses across the country through supply and maintenance contracts. He expanded to supply all kinds of print equipment to the trade, and began to manufacture printing presses by 1832 from his rapidly growing premises in London.
2. Walk to the site of Harrild’s home in Round Hill.
He traded from properties very close to St Pauls, in Friday Street and Distaff Lane, and close to the many churches around Bread Street. A religious man, Harrild would have known the many churches in the City at that time, one of which was nearby St Antolins where he was a church warden.
Along with some 50 City churches, the 15 th century St Antolins was destroyed then rebuilt to a design by Sir Christopher Wren after the great fire of 1666, and the spire is visible in images of the City. Below are two such. First an image by S and N Buck in 1749 shows the original spire. Secondly, Canaletto’s detailed view of the City around 1750 which can be viewed at the Dulwich Picture Gallery also includes the spire.
Harrild bought land at Round Hill in 1824 and moved to his new residence, Round Hill House, then in the countryside with views across the Croydon Canal and Sydenham Common. He would have witnessed the building of St Bartholomew’s Church in Sydenham in 1827-32. Five years later, Wren’s stone spire of St Antolins had to be removed and replaced with a lighter structure. Harrild bought it and had it rebuilt in his garden where it remains to this day.
Opened in 1809, the Croydon Canal and its reservoir, overlooked by Harrild’s villa, closed in 1836 and the land was purchased by the new railway company. The reservoir, used for pastimes like swimming, skating and duck shooting was surplus to need, drained and sold for development. Harrild bought a great deal of this land and in the 1840s and 50s built new property on plots all over what we now know as the Sydenham Park Estate including in Albion Villas. This included two large villas on Round Hill, Round Hill Villa and Newark Lodge for two of his sons which are still there, though in 1925 converted to flats by well known local builder Ted Christmas. Harrild also provided a large tract of land for his daughter Mary and her husband, George Baxter. The Dartmouth Arms railway station, opened in 1839 and that and later in the 1850s the new Crystal Palace brought huge growth to the area, and the previously rural landscape changed forever as new homes were built. His sons continued his business and were to donate a large piece land on which Holy Trinity Church was built in 1867. The Harrild & Sons factory in Farringdon is now a cocktail bar and restaurant in Farringdon Road, still with its beautiful frontage.
3. Walk across Baxter’s Field, named to commemorate Harrild’s son in law George Baxter, the inventor of colour printing.
4. Walk to St Bartholomew’s Church, Sydenham and visit Harrild’s family tomb.
When Harrild died, we can see in his Will a large number of plots and villas that remained in his name including the house on Peak Hill, The Retreat, designed by George Baxter.
5. Continue to the site of George Baxter’s home, The Retreat, at the top of Peak Hill.
Baxter was the son of an established printer in Lewes in 1804. His father John grew to know Robert Harrild, and they collaborated on the composition roller development. At school, George showed an amazing ability to make perfect miniature drawings. Apprenticed to a wood engraver George’s talents blossomed and in 1827 he became engaged to Mary Harrild. He carried out some work for his father in law and initially traded from his premises too.
He designed The Retreat, and it was built on land owned by Harrild, who put it in his daughter’s name.
Baxter produced numerous very fine prints using his patented colour printing process and oil inks. These were distributed far and wide, but the costs of production made it very difficult to make profit. When his patent ran out he found himself in competition with many others, and instead licensed the secrets of his process to others. His attention to detail was extraordinary but sometimes his downfall, and his commissioned work such as the State Opening of Parliament which took him four years was often delivered late, meaning that he had missed the moment for maximising profit.
Fine collections of Baxter’s work can now be seen in the V&A, in Maidstone and in his home town Lewes town hall. Prints from his licensees are still available at modest cost. Here is one I have of the Crystal Palace, drawn from the railway embankment by Baxter in 1854 and printed in 1868 by LeBlond, a licensee who purchased Baxter’s print blocks at auction after his death.
6. Continue across Sydenham Park estate, over the railway bridge and on to Christ Church, Forest Hill.
Baxter became quite isolated from his friends and family, and eventually became bankrupt. His biographers say he was an extraordinary talent but a poor businessman, constantly frustrated that his talent did not bring the regard he felt they deserved. He and his wife lived at The Retreat until he died in 1867. She died a few years later, and The Retreat was eventually sold on. They were buried in a new family tomb at Christ Church, with a red granite obelisk marking the place, and left in place when the church was eventually redeveloped as flats.