Frederick Hester : A brief history in pictures - Page 23
Due to Canvey's habit of flooding, in 1904 much of the plot land that Frederick was trying to sell was temporarily under water with the spring tides and he had understandable difficulty with customers! Frederick Hester's Canvey enterprise went bankrupt and after staying on to settle up his affairs he moved to Burnham-on-Crouch where he remarried to Alice Clarke. They had four children together and he carried on redeveloping, this time 'the Pits' at Burnham-on-Crouch where he has 'Hester Place' named after him. Frederick lived to a ripe old age of 81 and died in 1934. His widow Alice went on to run a guest house for billeted soldiers during the war.
1902 Postcard of the Tea Rooms in the Winter
Gardens
I have only touched the surface here and plan more research, the story of Frederick Hester is also covered in print by authors such as Robert Hallmann (Canvey Island - A History) and Geoff Barsby (Various). I would like to give special thanks to Paul Chetwin for his extensive help with the Hester family tree as well as Janet Penn & Margaret Payne. Thanks again to John & Veronica Overland for the Frederick Hester photograph. Other publications used for research included Steve Bullock's large collection of 'Essex Countryside' magazines, Fred McCave's Bulletins (esp June 1984), 'Modern Tramway' (Vol 31 No.365 May 1968), 'The Tramways of East Anglia' by Anderson & Gillham (LRTA), The Railway Magazine (No.170, Aug 1911) and D.M.Dowd's 'Canvey Cylopaedia' (with thanks to Jan Penn as it's unpublished).
Cllr Joan Liddiard, Robert Hallmann, Margaret Payne, myself and others are encouraging the placing of a memorial plaque erected to Frederick Hester on Canvey in the future, hopefully at the Wintergardens site named after his venture there. A great man who deserves to be remembered on Canvey Island by generations to come.
Dave Bullock - 18th March 2007 : Latest Revision: 26th May 2007