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My married name is Hughes but my maiden name is Elster.The name we believe means 'Magpie' in German.There is one on the family crest. There is a place called Elster in Austria near the border with Czechoslovakia, a river 'Black Elster' and also a river 'White Elster'. I lived with my parents William and Juliann Elster in a Victorian three storey house in Wandsworth Bridge Road. It was made into two flats and my mother's parents (Stephens) lived downstairs and we lived upstairs. We had a kitchen, front room, two bedrooms and toilet but no bathroom. My grandparents had a front room, one bedroom, scullery and outside toilet. The scullery was used for doing all the washing, usually on a Monday. To get hot water we had to fill a large stone 'copper' and light a fire underneath. Coming off the scullery were three coal cellars which were filled from shutes covered by cast iron covers which were in the front of the house.The coal was delivered by horse and cart in large sacks which the coalman had to carry to the coal hole. My parents (middle) at Wandsworth Bridge Road after their wedding in 1929. Rosebury Road houses are on the right of the photo and Cranbury Road ones are at the back The kitchen had a large 'range' which had to be kept clean and shining by 'blackleading'- a really dirty but necessary job. All the cooking was done on this -summer and winter. To use it, a fire had to be lit behind the grate on the right hand side. The whole house was heated by coal, even the upstairs rooms, Coal had to be carried all the way up from the cellar. Even though the house had three storeys it actually had six flights of stairs from bottom to top. My bedroom was right at the top of the house and I had great views over the neighbourhood. It was my own very special place and as I had no brothers or sisters it was totally mine. The electricity was controlled by putting sixpence or one shilling in the meter which was in the cellar. So if you were in my bedroom and the lights went out you had to go down six flights of stairs to get them on again. My father William Walter Elster was born in 1905 in Battersea .He was one of twins but the other died at the age of three months. My Grandmother Elster had six sets of twins, all boys and only three survived to adulthood. All her pregnancies were multiple so it was no surprise to me any way when I produced twins as well . Apparently they skip a generation so my kids breathed a great sigh of relief ! My Dad left Hugon Road School at the age of 14 and became a cabinet maker. His grandfather (on his mother's side ) was a billiard cue maker at Thurstons in Wandsworth so it was in the family . I still have some of the small tables that he made with lovely marquetry on the tops. My dad worked for Nash the builder and his speciality was staircases .During the war he worked for Osrams in Brook Green Hammersmith , so being a reserved occupation he was not called up .We were very fortunate there .He stayed there until he retired . By this time he was a bowler and played at the Parson's Green Club , Broomhouse Lane. He was good enough to represent England in 1954. He was also chairman of the West London table tennis league. Everything he tried he was good at. He was a brilliant pianist and at one time was teaching music . He loved "words"and got me interestad at a very early age . I still devour" books at an alarming rate . He really would have loved to go on to further education but the family couldn't afford for him not to work and I think he always regretted it ..A truly lovely man and I miss him. His Father was born 1878 in Fulham . and died in 1947 of lung cancer. I was 12 at the time and don't really remember that much apart from the fact he seemed to have been sick for years. My Dad and I always visited his parent at 46 Hugon Road every Sunday morning. I can remember him sitting by the kitchen range, winter and Summer, coughing and coughing . He was a small man as were all the Elster men with a bushy moustache and a gold watch chain . He was in the Boer War and drove a water carrying wagon . I have his army records. When I left in 1957 my mum and dad were still living at 257 Wandsworth Bridge Road. They intended to be there until they were carried out! The Council however had different ideas and wanted to sell the house as a complete package and not two flats.They actually made life pretty intolerable for two elderly people who had been tenants since 1929. So out of self preservation they moved round the corner to Cranbury Rd. It was never the same for them as the hustle and bustle of the main road and the people passing kept the stimulation going .  257 Wandsworth Bridge Road- home of the Elsters and Stephens before and after the War. As for Wandsworth Bridge Road itself I have a vague memory from the very early forties of a shop where you had to take accumulators from your wireless to have them recharged. Does anyone also remember the fish shop on the corner of Stephendale Rd? It was called Hammonds and you could get 'two pennyworth of crackling'if you hadn't got the money for fish. Also remember the shoemender in Hugon Rd who worked from literally a hole in the wall (Mr Clark) ? I am definitely not being PC here (politically correct) but there was a chap called 'Tall Tony'... reason being that he had dwarfism. I don't think that political correctness was even known then. He used to stand at the corner of Hugon Road and Wandsworth Bridge Road dressed in a cut down suit and trilby hat. He was all of 3ft 6ins. Insisted on shaking everyones hand as they passed and loved to talk to the children. Imagine the horrors that would cause now! Were we all too innocent? As far as I remember we weren't ever told to ignore him. Not really "dodgy " characters just a bit out of the ordinary. Here are some of the places where my family lived and the jobs they had; Addresses of the Elster family in Fulham over the years
1868 Cambrian Terrace ( Gt Gt.Gparents )
1878 St.George's Square (off North End Rd )
1878 Lotts Rd
1879 Factory Lane ( Gt Gparents )
1883 Farm Lane
1884 Vanston Place
1886 Stanley Rd (off Kings Rd )
1889 Victoria Rd (Pearscroft )
1889 Stadium Steet (nr Lotts Rd )
1891 Crown Street (Parson's Green )1896 Armadale Rd
1899 Hugon Rd (grandparents)
1902 DeMorgan Rd
1912 Althea St
1919 Byam St
1920 Breer St
1930 Wandsworth Bridge Rd (my parents )
1936 Hamble St
1961 Cedarne Rd
1993 Cranbury Rd (my parents )
So as you can see.......we were around the area for quite a long time
Gas workers
Hinrich Elster stoker b.1839 D 1868
Harry Elster " 1861 1938
Henry Elster " 1878 1947
Maternal side
thomas Stephens " b 1875 Ireland ( G.father )
Edward Stephens " 1906
Michael Stephens Appr. fitter and turner b 1937 Read Maureen's other articles in Schools and Churches sections and Recreation.
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Where We Lived 
