Thorold Road, IG1

The name Thorold Road might at first appearance reflect a Lincolnshire association since, while not a village name, there are two pubs called ’The Thorold Arms’ – one in Marston and the other in Harmston. The Reverend Henry Thorold lived in a vicarage in the former. A housemaster at Lancing College, he wrote for the acclaimed ’Shell Guides’ to the counties of England.

More likely is the theory that the name is derived from James Edwin Thorold Rogers (1823-1890) who was Liberal MP for Southwark. He had been influential in the ‘National Liberal Land Company’. The company was renamed the ‘National Land Company’ in 1893.

While not landowners in Ilford, the Balfour Group and the National (Liberal) Land Company had close political links and it was the Balfour Group – trading locally as Hobbs and Company – which developed Thorold Street.

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