History of the House
| Pre 1877 | 
|
| 1877 | Frederick Eggar sold the land to James Cholmeley Russell.. See the Abstract of the Title for details of all 19th Century activities |
| 1905 |  Land brought by Susan Sumpster. |
| February 1907 |   .Mortgage taken out by Susan/Bertha Sumpster to build Bridge House. |
| March 1914 | Bull, Sumpster and a maid living in the house. |
| July 1914 | Sumpster Family living here? |
| 1918 | Miss Bertha Sumpster sells house to Mrs Isabel Mary Sumpster |
| 1921 |  Brought by Richard Alexander Garrett. |
| 1956 |  Brought by Dennis William Saunders |
| 1972 | Sold |
| 1975 | Garage built and Granny flat conversion |
| 1984/5 | Sold |
| 1988/1989 | Converted into 4 flats |
| 1990/1991 | Bridge House Management Company formed |
| 2002 | Freehold transferred |
| 2003 | Freehold transferred |
| 2012 | Freehold transferred |
Michele & Graham,
fascinating stuff, putting flesh on the bones of the house. Scary how much of the history of the house is part of our lifetime! (Well Louise’s, anyway. Thanks for this. L & T
Just found your website and see that James Cholmeley Russell owned the land from 1877 to 1905. I’m doing research on JCR and would be interested to hear whether you have any further information please. See the link to my biographical blog on JCR
Hi Nick,
We have a copy of the extract giving some details of the land before the house was built. I’ll scan it and send it to you. The indenture for the sale of the land to Susan Sumpster doesn’t have a lot about JCR but you can have that as well if you like.
Yes please to both – many thanks. I will link back to you on the JCR site
Nick Booker
Thank you so much for setting up this page & for all your research. My name is Rachael Smith but my maiden name is Rachael Sumpster & I am researching my family tree. You don’t know how helpful this is & i thank you.
Hi Rachael,
We are slowly piecing together the history of the house and its occupants. Anything you can tell us about Susan would be great. What does intrigue us is why she built the house – was there ever a Mr Sumpster?
Hi Graham,
I can tell you lots about Susan & her family. So she was born Susan Froud in 1841 in Hartley Wintney & on 28 June 1866 she married Urban Sumpster at St Michael the Archangel, Aldershot. Urban was a grocer with a shop in Union Street, they had seven children, 2 girls & 5 boys. Urban died in 1899 at which time they were living at 45 Grosvenor Road. His estate which was split between Susan, his son Walter & another was valued at just over £26k which in today’s money would equate to £3.3m – so he was a very successful business man! At least 2 of their children had shops in Aldershot, Walter had a gents outfitters at 8 Union St & Arthur had a News agents & stationers at 16 Union St. Urban & Susan are both buried along with other family members, at the cemetery in Redan Road. They have a rather fancy memorial reflecting their wealth. Bertha was one of their daughters & Isobel May was their daughter in law, married to Walter Sumpster mentioned already. In the 1911 census the residents of Bridge House are listed as Arthur Sumpster Head of the household, plus his brother Edgar William Sumpster & a servant. There is no mention of Susan because she was staying at a boarding house with Bertha in Southsea that day. I am like you, building on this imformation all the time & I am happy to share or answer any questions. Feel free to email me direct. Regards Rachael