1876 Queen Victoria was declared Empress of India.
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.
1877 The Duchess of Teck unveiled a drinking fountain at Kew Bridge that had been presented by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Troughs Association. It was moved to the original market site near Chiswick Roundabout and is now at the entrance to Western International Market at North Hyde but gave its name to the Fountain Leisure Centre.
1883 Land was secured for St Paul’s Recreation ground. It was purchased by voluntary contributions and a memorial erected to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee celebrating her 50 years on the throne.
Hannah Longden who had left her job as a maid at Boston House and moved to work near Derby was accused of murdering her new born baby and hiding the body under floorboards in a cupboard when she was working at Boston House. The body had been found after she had left her post and a new maid sleeping in her room complained of the smell. As there was no evidence that she had ever had a child or had left in suspicious circumstances she was acquitted and a verdict of wilful murder by some person or persons unknown’ was returned.
The District Railway opened Boston Road Station in May. It was renamed Boston Manor in 1911.
Sewage Pumping Station opened on Town Meadow.
1885 The declaration of the results of polls on the Butts ceased.
1886 Home Rule was granted to Ireland
1886 The second St George’s Church was built. The present tower was added in 1913.
1887 Queen Victoria celebrated 50 years on the throne.
The Local Government Act meant that Middlesex County Council was formed to take on duties and administration that had previously been done in local parishes.
Dockers went on strike claiming 6d an hour when working.
1888 The Local Board, later Brentford Urban District Council (formed 1894) had offices at Clifden House and remained there until 1927.
Brentford Football and Sports Club was founded.
1889 The 17th century vicarage at St Lawrence’s was demolished together with the neighbouring house said to have been the home of Sir William Noy. A new vicarage was built on the site.
A Wesleyan Church was built at the corner of Windmill Road and Clifden Road.
1890 A Public Library was opened in Clifden House until the present building opened in 1904.
The Princes Hall opened next to the Star and Garter Hotel, Kew Bridge as a hall and beer garden. It was later used as a swimming pool,
roller skating rink, dance hall and film studio.
1890/1 The Thames was frozen between The Hollows and Brentford Ait. Boatmen who were unable to work as they could not leave loaded boats had to claim relief from the Justices.
1891 Middlesex County Council bought the hall in the Market Place for use as a Magistrates Court and added the rear section of the present building.
1892 Keir Hardie was elected as the first Independent Socialist MP.
1893 A 2 acre enclosed site was provided for a market. Informal trading in the road at the foot of Kew Bridge had been causing obstruction of the road. The market later expanded to cover 6 acres and part of it was covered in 1906. It became the largest fruit and vegetable market outside Covent Garden but trading ceased in 1974 when the market moved to North
Hyde.
Numbers 24 and 26 The Butts became the Cottage Hospital financed by subscriptions.
1895 Free elementary schooling was introduced.
1896 The Swimming Baths opened in Clifden Road. Nowell Parr the surveyor to Brentford Urban District Council designed the building. The Duchess of Teck opened the Brentford Union Workhouse Infirmary in Isleworth. It later became the Isleworth Infirmary and then the West Middlesex Hospital.
1897 Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee when the country celebrated her 60 years on the throne.
1897 The Primitive Methodists built the Jubilee Chapel in New Road.
1898 The Fire Station opened on the corner of the High Street and Ferry Lane. It was another of Nowell Parr’s designs.
Brentford District Council members were told that unless something was done to clean up the canal there could be a serious epidemic in the town. It was pointed out that the canal had been built for trading purposes by an Act of Parliament so the pollution should be cleaned up by the company.
The bridge over Brentford Lock was destroyed in a flood down the canal.
1899 Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking were surrounded by Dutch settlers in South Africa thus provoking the start of the Boer War.
1899 The Vestry Hall designed by Nowell Parr was built in the Half Acre. It contained a hall that seated 600 people and had a stage, committee rooms, offices and a soup kitchen. The County Court was held there from 1907 until it was demolished in 1963. The Police Station was built on the site and a purpose built County Court built in Alexandra Road.
1900 A second lock was built on the canal above Brentford Bridge.
The History of Brentford 
Hi, I have been looking at my ancestry and come upon my family living in an address in Brentford, Hanwell, but I cannot find the address on the internet. The address is 8 Park Terrace. I wondered if you would have any record of this address existing in Brentford and what happend to it please.
Two years on and I’ve just come across your request! Did you ever find an answer?
My guess is that the problem is the confusion between old/new names for areas in Greater London and between where people actually lived and how that fitted in to the local government and/or church parish system.
Hanwell is a separate area to Brentford, lying to the North. There is a Park Road in Hanwell (see Google Maps) so it is possible that there was once a row of houses in Park Road called Park Terrace – may not have been a separate road. You might be able to find out by looking for an old street map of Hanwell.
Hope that helps!
My great grandfather, James Harris, was the proprietor of the Coach & Horses in the late 1880s. My grandfather, Frederick Nelson Harris (b1891), remembered working there with his Hartwell step sibs. The table was set with roast beef one end, baked ham the other and all manner of sides and condiments in between. He called it a ‘comfort stop’.
I used Brentford Swimming Baths from around 1977-1981 as a child, I attended Cavendish Primary in Edensor Rd, Chiswick, and our mandatory swimming area was located there in Brentford, which we used to go once a week with our teacher in a coach. From what I remember, the main pool was fully functioning back then, there were green painted wooden-doored single changing room cubicles on the side of the pool area. It was always very well heated, There was a greenish-blue and white ceramic tile theme (the white being the pool,) and you had to disenfectant dip before entering the pool, though the pool water was chlorinated too. The deep end was reasonably deeper than modern standards perhaps. There was a tracksuited lady that managed the pool area, not any other visible staff. As kids we had fun there. We were once fortunate to also use Chiswick Swimming Baths, in Edensor Rd,the final summer before it was demolished in the summer of 1979/1980? to become a lorry park lot, that was an old open-air historic site which had edwardian/art deco theme.
IV been resurching my family tree, knowing a lot of family came from Brentford back in the 1800s and early 1900s., Names being Lawrence and Ayres. I found that my grandparents ran the Magpie and Crown in 1891, Alfred and Emily Lawrence. If anyone has any information I would love to hear.