Beyond the Point

Seaside Town

Hello all! Do you know wbout Frederick Hester, the man who promoted Canvey in the early 1900′s to make it a fantastic seaside town? In the early 1900′s an entrepreneur had a dream of turning Canvey into an Island holiday resort. His name was Frederick Hester. He was born in Fulham in 1853, the son of George Hester and Catherine (nee Potter). Frederick married Sibyl (nee Brewster) and they had seven children together, some of which were to help their father in his Canvey project. “F.W.B. Hester” in the poster below was Frederick’s estate agent son, Frederick William Brewster Hester, who was born in 1876 and named after his Mother & Father. He was to play a big part in his Father’s project and remained on Canvey all his life. Many changes were going on in these days. For example the expansion of the LT&SR railway line from Fenchurch Street to Southend-on-Sea. Frederick took advantage of the Benfleet Station, which is virtually on the Island as it was potentially an ideal holiday resort for Londoners to get out of the crowded city and get a glimpse of how life is different here, compared to the noisy and busy London.! Posters like this one would have posted around London to try and promote the Island.

Hesters' advertisement for Canvey-on-Sea

As you may of read in our previous post, he built a tram line in the Island. Of course, their version of a tram was a horse and cart!  BTP Liam and I walked through where it would have been. You can watch what we did at Beyond the Point TV Although it was just a horse and cart, Hester did have plans to make it a proper railway line with electric. He started building a generating station but it wasn’t ever finished or used. The images below show what remains of the wall that would have been for the ticket office to Wintergardens Greenhouses, which would have been a tropical experience. It was obviously built in Hester’s time and it’s the place where you would pay for a ticket. You can see a few metal spikes in the wall, which would have been bigger for security purposes. They were cut down in around the 80′s due to health and safety reasons.

The Ticket Office Wall

The Ticket Office Wall

One of the spikes on the wall

Frederick Hester dreamed of Canvey being the next Southend-on-Sea or even better by building a two and a half kilometer two-storey Pier which he planned would reach the Chapman Lighthouse. The photo below shows his pier with a Thames Barge unloading materials onto a small locomotive that ferried the materials to shore – Frederick certainly planned on joining the Pier with his railway that ended in this area. Marlboro House, the first building the Hester’s built on Canvey, can be seen on the far left.

Hester's Pier

His pier can be seen in the image below (curtsy of the CCA and CanveyIsland.org.uk) Only 122 meters were built and it was later taken down and replaced by the Chapman Sailing Club.

Hester's Pier

The pier today, a picture from when we filmed our guide to the jetty