There are very few aircraft hangars in England that predate the 1914-1918 war but Sundridge has the oldest airplane hangars in the country and they are Historic Listed buildings see Historic England Images and the 1988 Grade 2 listing.
Serge de Bolotoff was a Russian Prince who designed the the two seater biplane the De Bolotoff SDEP which was manufactured at Sundridge.
De Bolotoff claimed to be the fifth person in the world to fly in a powered aircraft and he had attempted to build and fly an aircraft to fly across the English Channel to contest a prize offered in 1908 by the Daily Mail.
An interesting illustrated history of his aircraft types is here.
His aircraft production at Sundridge halted in 1927 when de Bolotoff Engineers ceased manufacture. However the aerodrome continued to use the hangars during World War 2 as an aircraft recovery unit handling damaged aircraft. After the war the hangars with the addition of a concrete wartime addition became farm buildings until in 1988 because of their significance they were listed by Historic England.
Many years ago I spent nearly a year visitng Kingswood House in Dulwich one day a week. The mansion and grounds by the 1970's had been acquired by Southwark Council. In the 1950's a large London County Council housing development encroached onto the grounds and and the mansion was developed as a council library and was used by community groups. A Day centre for the elderly was developed by the council on the ground floor and terrace. The building is currently used as a wedding venue.
Prince Serge Vincent Constantinovitch de Bolotoff was born in 1889 in Saint Petersberg Russia the child of Constantine de Bolotoff and Princess Marie Wiasemsky. In 1908 he took a sublease of Kingswood House in Dulwich from the owner the estate of John Lawson Johnston the inventor of Bovril.
The Princess his mother and he moved into Kingswood House with his sister and two brothers. The staff included 7 live in servants (including three hospital nurses) an unspecified number of outdoor servants and two gardeners who occupied the lodge. Despite all this his name did not appear on the lease and the de Bolotoff mother and son did not finance the lease;payments were made by loans from others. The situation arrived in Court and the judge found against the family who were forced to leave Kingswood House in a scandal of publicity.
In 1914 after successful arms trade with Russia the de Bolotoffs lived for a time at Kippington Court Sevenoaks a grand house in seven acres.
However financial scandal followed and the withdrawal of backing for de Bolotoff Engineers brought the collapse of the business in 1927.
In August 1918 the daughter of Harry Selfridge Rosalie Selfridge married Serge. The recent TV series Mister Selfridge brought the de Bolotoff name to the public again.
Serge was constantly in court defending financial actions against his mother and himself. However his memory is preserved as an early aviator at Coombe Farm.
He is buried at Putney Vale Cemetery see Find a Grave
© Henry Mantell Downe and Farnborough Online Parish Clerk 2013-2020
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