Battersea Girl: Tracing a London Life Paperback – 7 Sept. 2006

I brought this book as I have been researching my family tree for nearly ten years and both sides of my family came from Battersea dating back well into the 1800's. I was born there myself but we moved to Suffolk when I was three, many of my relatives remained there until the last one died in 2004, this being my granddad.I was gripped from the start with many of the streets and pubs (especially the Latchmere) mentioned reminding me of visiting my family when I was a little girl.I was welcomed into this amazing family and at points wondered if my own family had known members of Nell's. She really was an amazing lady and some of her ways and things she said reminded me so much of one of my great nans it was quite scary!!I found myself teary eyed when members of the family died or were ill and on a number of occasions caught myself saying 'oh no' out loud when something terrible happened.Nell lived through so much in her 100 years, such as the Boer War, WW1, WW2 and the great depression, but nothing seemed to phase her and everything she did was for her much loved family. The way she took in her nephew Charlie was so heart warming, there was never a doubt in her mind that he would be going to live with her.I think anyone who comes from or has family from Battersea would enjoy this book. The Battersea speech maybe hard for those that don't know the area to get a hold off!!, but it just added to my enjoyment!!I have past it on to my mum and dad to read and can't wait to get their feed back on it, as growing up in Battersea in the 1950's there maybe places in the latter stages of the book they remember.All in all I think Martin Knight has produced a wonderful book that not only tells us about his own family, but shows as a way of life that is no longer with us and how Battersea has change into somewhere totally different in the 126 years since Nell was born.

I wanted to read this book primarily because I am from Battersea and I did find it a very interesting read. In fact, reference was made to various areas I know very well such as the Cornet public house (once the Stanley Arms) and Wadhurst Road, where I lived for six years after leaving home. It was fascinating to read how Battersea has changed over the years and how people lived there as far back as 1850.The main character in the book is Nell who lived from 1888 to 1988 and lived in Battersea all her life. It chronicles all the changes that she endured in her life, the deaths of her parents and siblings, hard times, recession, wars, and the general hardship that was life in the first half of the twentieth century. It was a hard life and totally alien to me having only been born in 1976. We also read how in the final years of her life Nell struggled to embrace new technology and the changes in the world and generally didn't like how Battersea had become. Indeed it was not the old Battersea in which she was brought up and knew all her life.Even if you're not from Battersea I think this would still be a very enjoyable book to read. It is a good basic social history. If you were to delve into your own family history you would probably find much the same story. It is a story about ordinary folk doing ordinary things, but it was never boring. Quite the opposite, it kept me interested until the very end.

This is the life story of a survivor. It is a lesson to us all who think that life is hard nowadays. The woman who is at the heart of this story set in Battersea faced terrible hardship with stoicism. She just got on with life and could look back after 100 years with great pride.Her spirit was indomitable and those who knew her were privileged to know a great woman.I grew up and spent most of my life in Battersea (I am 60 years old now) and saw it change from a VERY tough area (when my family first moved to Battersea in 1950's my Grandmother cried because it had such a bad reputation - she lived in Putney) to one that is so different. This is the story of how it has changed over a much longer (almost unimaginable) timespan.There is a warning to us living now in this book - the Welfare State that was so hard won is being dismantled and times can be just as hard in the not too distant future. This book tells the story of the lives of ordinary, good people who had to endure grinding poverty, hardship and personal tragedy before the NHS and Housing Benefit and the Welfare State. Do we really want to return to those days?

By using the recollections of an ageing relative Martin Knights takes us back to the beginnings of 19th. century Battersea, a time when Battersea was considered 'out in the country'. By following the fortunes, and misfortunes, of a real life family we see how this pleasant area of market gardens overlooked by a hill of lavender was transformed, within 30 years into an area of the worst excesses of the industrial revolution, with two huge railway works, a gas works and various other heavy industries. We can follow the changing social patterns as they affected the lives of local people and Knight is able to show us the everyday struggles of those people which continued up until very recently. The book makes fascinating reading especially when studied in the context of the recent gentrification of the area.

Again I brought this for my sister in law she really enjoyed reading it

I completely agree with all the other reviews about this book but just to add that it is totally engrossing and i felt compelled to read it in great chunks at a time because I so wanted to find out what happened to the characters and members of the family - and what a family. Huge personalities and yet so-called "ordinary" folk - the book grabs your interest and hurtles you through the lives of these people; with many thrills, spills and shocks (and humour) along the way. What elevates it even above and beyond the characters and story is the first class writing - not always evident in other memoirs of so called "ordinary folk" - what a read...........! highly recommended

Coming from a Battersea family and with parents who both lived there during the Blitz, I found that the book gave me a really good idea of what their lives must have been like. Easy to read.