John Roll Way

Yesterday & Today
How we lived then & How we live now
fosney
Posts: 836
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2017 4:18 pm

John Roll Way

Postby fosney » Sun Mar 12, 2017 1:31 pm

John Roll Way

Do you sometimes wonder how the Council chose the names for roads - Bill Winter, a member of the forum has brought to my attention, John Roll Way - who was John Roll, you may ask? In fact, John Roll was Bill Winters wife's grandfather. A Councillor for the Borough of Bermondsey till his retirement in 1937.

The photograph from the Bermondsey Labour Party Magazine of 1937 shows the General Purposes Committee of 1930 of which Bill Roll was a member.
1CouncillorRoll2.jpg

Standing: L - R Cllr B.C.R. Henley, Aldman A. D. Balman, Cllr J. W. Roll, Cllr H. Bench
Seated: L - R Cllr W. Fairburn, Mrs S. Amoss, Aldman J. Kirby, Cllr A. C. Starr, Mayor, Aldman A. A. Moss M.A., Cllr S. E. Philpott, Cllr F. E. Benfield.

Statement made after Cllr Roll's Death

Labour has lost a stalwart fighter in the death of the late Councillor J. W. Roll. Comrade Roll was a waterside man who was a pioneer of the Trades Unionism among the Dockers and who also stood as the first Independent Labour Candidate in a Local Government Election of this area. He ran as an I.L.P nominee for Ward 2 at the Vestry Election in 1898 and was at the bottom of the poll with 23 votes. (The old vestries were the precursors of the Borough Councils). Labour representation was then unknown on any public body. He was elected on the Council for Ward 6 in 1919 and he topped the poll in that Ward and at each subsequent contest till November 1937 when he retired.
"Bill" Roll was one of the most outstanding and honest and fearless champions of the working class who ever took part in local politics and public affairs. He suffered for his principles but never faltered. We owe him a great debt of gratitude.
He has gone to rest and his memory remains to encourage those of us that are left. His name lives on in the Borough as the Council named John Roll Way after him in the 1980s which is behind Bermondsey Underground Station.

Obviously a man who laid the foundation of Bermondsey as we remember it.

Article from the South London Press on 26th November 1937 page 21.
CouncillorRoll.jpg

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kiwi
Posts: 4802
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2017 2:53 am

Re: John Roll Way

Postby kiwi » Thu May 17, 2018 11:21 pm

John Roll Way,corner of Keetons Road,Bermondsey, c2014..jpg
John Roll Way,corner of Keetons Road,Bermondsey, c2014.
JOHN ROLL WAY.png


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