Heath Close is a small development of 10 large houses on a cul-de-sac leading to Waterlow Court. The close is a turning on the western side of Hampstead Way and lies opposite the Heath Extension. These are high status houses, designed by Parker and Unwin as a unified group and are very similar in appearance and size.

60% have 9 rooms and 40% have 10 rooms. The average is 9.4 rooms per property. This is similar to other houses near the Heath Extension, but much larger than other roads, especially in the Artisan’s Quarter.


Who lived there?

The key features were:

• 49 people present on census night: 18 males & 31 females. 60% of the households had children under 16.
• There were 12 children under 16 years of age (just under a quarter of the population at 24.5%).
• The most common family size was one child (50%), whilst a just over a quarter (2 families) had two children, one family of three (all adult) children and one of 4All heads of household were male
• All heads of household were male. Of these, two were households with a single male head and the only other permanent residents of these homes were servants. The remaining 75% of household heads were married men.

• There were 4 visitors, no boarders or paying guests.
• Two-thirds (63.3%) of the population were female due to high incidence of live-in female servants. 70% of the households had at least one servant, and 50% had two.
• Average age of the head of household was 47.2 yrs and where married. The average length of marriage was 14.8 years.
• Only 3 or (6%) were over 65 years old, all were heads of household.

Where were residents born?

The geographical origin of residents was different from some areas of the Suburb and they were the least likely to have been born in London.  

• Only one head of household was born in London (10%)
• One in the Home Counties (10%)
• Two (20%) were born abroad (USA and Russia)
• 60% were born in England beyond London/Home Counties

Thus 20% only were born in London and the Home Counties, which was significantly different from some other roads, such as Coleridge Walk where three quarters of residents were London born, Willifield Way where the figure was 65% and Hampstead Way where it was 67.4%.  However, this is typical of patterns of migration in geographical studies which generally show that lengths of voluntary migration are greater for those who are more highly educated.  In fact, the proportion of London born residents is inflated somewhat by the presence of servants, although they also increase the percentage of residents from other English counties.  Similarly, residents of Heath Close were more likely to have been born outside the British Isles (10.2%).

Key
?        Unknown
A        Abroad
E        Other English counties
H        Home Counties
I          Ireland
IOM    Isle of Man
J        Jersey
L        London
S       Scotland
W      Wales


What did residents do?

• Difficult to generalise based on small numbers
• Professional and managerial occupations dominant: e.g. solicitor, architect, tea merchant, director of wholesale produce importer, congregational minister.
• No married women in employment
• 13 females were live-in servants
• Gerald Brooke: Joined the business in 1899, learning the business from behind the counter in Leeds. She succeeded his father (founder of the business) in 1910 as chairman of Brooke Bond tea, continuing until 1952.  He greatly expanded the business, including developing PG Tips and plantations in Kenya.