MOORDOWN HISTORY

Does anyone have any information on a local builder/ developer named Verrier?....

It seems likely that he developed at least one of the shopping parades in Moordown during the 1920s... either Grand Parade, the Strand or Tennyson Buildings... and he was involved in building private housing around Fernheath Rd ...

Anyone know anything about him?.....

One Alfred R Verrier is mentioned on http://www.wintonforum.co.uk/wartimewinton.html as being among WW2 dead, if that helps. Here is an extract (partial screen capture) from their web page.

Findmypast.co.uk lists VERRIER ALFRED R — — 1944 British nationals armed forces deaths 1796-2005 —

Well it's an unusual name, so that could well be him... or at least from the same family. I'll see what I can discover using him as a starting reference.. Thanks Philip.

According to the Commonwealth war graves commission, Alfred R Verrier was killed in 1944 aged 21, so he would not have been the builder\developer in the 1920's, however his certificate gives his parents names, and his father was Alfred James Verrier, (http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casua ... 20REGINALD).

FreeBMD gives the following; Alfred James Verrier was born in Clutton, Somerset in 1889, he married in 1915, still in Clutton (wifes maiden name was Chard), then in 1925, Alfred R Verrier was born in Bridgend, (ages don't quite tie up with the CGWC record, but the mothers maiden name is given on the birth record so it is him). Alfred James Verrier died in Poole in 1957, aged 68. I suppose Alfred James Verrier could still be the builder/developer, although it looks like he was not resident in Bournemouth area in 1925.

Thanks for those details STM.....

I don't think Alfred James was our builder........ I've had a look at some Kelly's entries from around that time.
There seem to have been 3 'Verriers' living in Bournemouth from the 1930s.... but not in the 1920s, so unlikely to have been involved in the Moordown Shopping Parades, which of course date from the mid 1920s.

Alfred James seems to have lived in Muscliffe Lane from around 1933. He then moves to 73a, Wimborne Rd around 1943, and is still there in 1952.. but not by 1955. From STM's observations, looks like he went to Poole for his last few years?

The best candidate for our builder is Joseph Edwin Verrier, who first appears in Ensbury Park in 1931 as a 'coach painter'. He disappears in 1935, but reappears in 1938 as a 'builder' living at 'Silver Birch', Fernheath Rd. He disappears from there in around 1947. So he could well have been involved in developing the estate around his home, as originally suggested. But he's too late for the Moordown Shopping Parade development......

The 3rd Verrier is George, who lived in Parker Rd in Winton during the 1930s. But there don't seem to be any commercial entries for him.....

If only the Bournemouth Kelly's could be digitised.......volunteers anyone? I can tell you from the few dozen pages we have scanned for the site that it's not a job for the faint hearted. The 1000 page books are notoriously difficult to get to lay flat for the scanner!

Still, there's only about 1000 pages for each of about 75 volumes.......shouldn't take too long...

Thanks to Philip and STM for your input.....

I wonder who did develop the Moordown Parades then?.......

I asked the question re. Alfred Verrier on the Facebook group, "Memories of old Poole and Bournemouth, and I've had a reply from someone who was related to him by marriage, basically the family came to live in Muscliffe sometime in the 1920's,then winton, via South Wales and it seems that he was a painter and decorator. I think we can rule him out as our developer.