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History
southbristolvoice
www.southbristolvoice.co.uk
September 2016
He gave Knowle a park, and
“T
HIS may seem a silly question,” one of the mums said at the Grand Opening of the playground in Perrett’s Park on April 2, 2015, “but why is it called Perrett? Is it after somebody?” Such is the fleeting nature of celebrity. The conversation ended as the currently famous Don Cameron arrived and began to tinker with one of his balloons. A crowd gathered round as the great balloon slowly inflated and drifted silently a few feet upward on its ropes. A cheeky dad said it was his daughter’s birthday and asked if she could have a ride. She was hoisted up into the balloon’s basket. Seventy-odd years ago it was a different story. There were other balloons then, barrage balloons, sinister dark shapes protecting the city from the Luftwaffe. Each balloon was held fast to
Charles Perrett is little known today, but he founded a landmark or two, reports Doreen Lindegaard
the ground by a steel hawser, strong enough to destroy any aircraft that collided with it. The cable was locked into heavy metal rings set in reinforced concrete. The rings were made to last and so they did, re-discovered during excavations for the playground. Charles Rose Perrett was, in his time, certainly somebody
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famous – in his adopted city of Bristol at any rate. He originally had the idea of a park for Knowle before the First World War. The scheme was sadly overtaken by events and it was not until New Year’s Day 1923 that a James Ellis of 240 Bath Road wrote to the Western Daily Press suggesting that the local councillors, who included Mr Perrett, should try to secure land at Crowndale and Bayham roads before it was snapped up for building. The letter may have been a ruse to engage the media, for it is likely to have been discussed round a family dinner table; Mr Ellis was Cllr Perrett’s half-brother. Thus, that spring, Charles Perrett managed to obtain an option on 10 acres, formerly part of the Greville Smythe estate, two thirds of which was allotments. Mr Perrett stated that 18,000 people would be served by the park and offered to donate £500. The council considered the proposal and the cost:
10 acres of land £1,000 Fencing £900 Layout £1,000 Cost of road: £2,135 Sub-total £5,035 Less Perrett’s donation (£500) TOTAL: £4,535 The land was acquired in November 1923. In April 1925, the final total was £5,100, which included a new road. Mr Perrett had provided six seats for the elderly and it was hoped that a fountain would be installed. The Country Boy: 1843-1873 Charles Rose Perrett was born in poor circumstances in the hamlet of Marston, near Devizes in Wiltshire, to an unmarried girl, Eliza Perrett, aged 17. Eliza lived with her widowed mother Mary and younger sister Maria. Marston even now is a very small place, boasting a post box, a phone box, a bus stop and a village green with a duck pond. Baby Perrett came into the world on January 6, 1843. Unlike most other children of the time, he stood out by having two Christian names. A middle name, if used, was generally the mother’s or grandmother’s surname or was included to
Tales from the cemetery
Another of our unique stories about people commemorated in Arnos Vale cemetery flatter a rich relation. The latter category could, at a pinch, apply to young Charles, as the name ‘Rose’ is likely to have been his father’s surname. In the small world of Marston we have to assume that everybody knew of Eliza’s ‘trouble’ and two suspects enter the frame. They were brothers, local farmers, James and Job Rose. As a leap in the dark, I suggest that Mary Perrett and her daughters laboured on the Rose farm and that at some time in 1842, Eliza became pregnant by one of the brothers. Though I should know better than to give a dog a bad name, the younger of the two, Job, seems to me to be the more likely candidate, though there is not one jot of proof. At the very least, Job Rose had a reputation. In the year before Charles Perrett was born Job had appeared at the Devizes Petty Sessions charged with an assault on one of his neighbours, Thomas Potter. As reported in the local press: “As Potter was going into his field, he met Rose on horseback who gave him the customary salutation “Good morning”. “Fine morning,” Potter replied. “And you are a fine fellow,” Rose said, sarcastically, “and a shabby fellow too.” “Having thus departed of his good manners, he quickly parted with his temper too. He descended from his horse and ... dealt him three or four blows about the face and head.” Job Rose said that if the magistrates knew of the circumstances they would deal • THE VOICE is very grateful to local historian Doreen Lindegaard, who has researched the life of Charles Perrett at length. This is a much condensed version of her efforts; we hope to find a way of publishing the full story in due course.
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