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Jabez Spencer Balfour was born in Leith in 1834. Balfour was the most popular man in Croydon up to the years 1892, after which he was the most reviled. When Balfour moved to Croydon he lived at London Road then later at Wellesley House which stood approximately where Wellesley Road multi-storey car park is now. After Balfour took an interest in practically every movement in the town he was a natural choice for Charter Mayor in 1883. Balfour soon became top of the list for Burgesses of the Central Ward. Balfour became associated with a group of companies of which the Liberator Building Society was the principal one whoever this society failed in 1892 and Balfour fled to South America as a result of this. Due to the collapse of this society many thousands of small savers had lost their life savings. It wasnt until this happened and he fled to South America that the public found out he had swindled a huge number of people out of a huge sum of money through this building society. Balfour was eventually caught in South America, tried and sentenced to 14 years hard labour and was jailed on 28th November 1895. Balfour was accused of and found guilty of fraud. He was released in 1906 and died in 1916.

Phyllis Devereux was born on 14th March 1914 in London, the third of six children. After a period of living in Wales, she moved to Shirley in 1920.

In 1930, she started work as a draughtswoman for The Metal Propellor Company, Purley Way and later worked for the London Passenger Transport Board at Thornton Heath Pond followed by a period with Engineering, a technical journal. During the war, she worked for the Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company at Teddington followed by periods of employment with the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and the Kuwait Oil Company. Between 1949 and her retirement in 1970, she worked at the Geological Museum, Knightsbridge. She currently lives in Caterham.

The Womens Voluntary Service (W.V.S.) was initiated in June 1938 by the Dowager Marchioness of Reading. Its aim was to mobilise and make use of as many of the countries women as possible. In April 1942 the Housewives service was established to take over the outdoor air raid work of the W.V.S. Its main responsibilities were to tend for the injured and distressed, to help with clean up operations and to ensure those who needed to were rehoused. The W.V.S. continued after the war and in 1952 after her accession to the throne, Queen Elizabeth II became its new Patron. In 1966 it was decided that the word Royal should be granted to the service thus the Womens Voluntary Service became the Womens Royal Voluntary Service (W.R.V.S.) The service still continues today and is responsible for such services as Meals on Wheels, Child Contact Centres, hospital and prison visits and national disaster assistance.

The wife of Dr. Alexander Sandison, Mrs Evelyn May Sandison was the (W.V.S.) Deputy Housewives Organiser for the County Borough of Croydon.

The Housewives Service in Croydon was established to reinforce the work of the local Wardens and Casualty Service by tending to the injured and distressed, running Incident Inquiry Points to help people find missing relatives and to assess the extent of damage to buildings. They also helped to clear rubble from incident sites and to find new homes for those in need. The Housewives Service were often the first to arrive at a crash site as they lived locally and therefore were seen as an invaluable service especially as many members ran Aid Houses from their own homes where medical supplies were kept in case of emergency.

The visit to Arnhem was organised under the auspices of the Anglo Netherlands Sports Partnership. As well as the Mayor and Mayoress (Ald. and Mrs H.Regan, (who broke her wrist during the trip)), the party consisted of Ald and Mrs Lewin, Councillor Turner and other members of the Committee plus 17 table tennis players under Mrs C.A.Bourne and a football team managed Mr Mr S.A.Browne and captained by Fred Stevenson. Croydon played three football matches, winning the second and losing the first and third.

As well as various visits, including the Airborne Cemetery at Oosterbeck and the Arnhem Bridge, the Croydon party marched in procession through the streets of Wageningen on Easter Sunday. A report of the visit appears in the Croydon Times, 19 April 1947. L.Woolnough, of the Norbury team, was a member of the football team. (CT 12 April 1947) and was then resident at 28 Weybridge Avenue, Thornton Heath.

Mollie Isobel Moors was the daughter of Ernest James Moors and Elsie Newton. Her grandparents, Charles John Moors and Martha Duckett ran a drapers business at 71-73 High Street Croydon from 1882 - c. 1925 and their son, Mollie's father joined them in the business. in 1911 he married Elsie and they lived at 82 Edridge Road, Croydon. In 1921 Census, they have three children, Norah Rendall aged 8, Ruth Pattie aged 6 and Mollie Isobel aged 1. At one point he left Croydon for Devon, eventually moving to Littlemeads, South Knighton Devon, where Mollie lived later in her life. Mollie started out in a career in the theatre, training at the Croydon Repertory Theatre school of Acting and performed in this company and others. Her acting career was interrupted by the war during which she drove ambulances during the blitz and then worked in the Women's Land Army Timber Corps. After the war she moved to Devon and became a Chiropodist and became involved in amateur dramatics.

Mary Alicia Neville-Kaye (16 January 1911 - 17 December 2007) attended Whyteleafe County Grammar School for Girls, 1921 - 1929 (see http://www.semperfidelis.org.uk/announcements.php checked 23 Jan 2008).

Mary joined the staff of Overbury School in September 1939 and was immediately evacuated to Brighton. Following her return to Croydon, she was evacuated to Lee in Devon in June 1940. The log book (SCH1/2/1) records that she rejoined the staff on 11 January 1943.

She was later, briefly, Teacher In Charge (14 June - 30 August 1949) at Overbury before becoming Head of Purley Oaks Infants School (30 August 1949 - 23 July 1954) and then the first Head of the new Fairchildes Infants School, New Addington from 31 August 1954 until her retirement on 09 April 1976.

She was awarded an OBE in 1984 for her forty year service with the St John Ambulance Brigade (see Croydon Advertiser 22 June 1984). At the time of her death she was resident at Whitgift House, Brighton Road.

Maria Mee Cooper (b c1819) was the second wife of George Cooper (c1812-1880), surgeon, of 4 George Street, Croydon. Alfred ('Fred') (c1852-1875) was the eldest of their four children (although George had at least two older children, George and Henrietta, by his first wife).

Margot Sanders (c1923-c1959) was the second daughter of Mr and Mrs LW Sanders (?of 68 Grosvenor Avenue, Carshalton Beeches). She left Woodford School in late 1939, and went to work for the Legal and General Assurance Co. By 1944 she was serving in the WRNS. After the war she married Edward Gasior (a Polish soldier stationed at Norton Camp), and they emigrated to Canada in about 1948: they had two children, Simon and Anna. Margot died in Canada in c1959. . Her parents retired to Taunton in 1946, but her father later returned to live with his elder daughter in Carshalton. (Sources: The Woodfordian; and a note on the end flyleaf of the report book).

Woodford School was a private girls school in Dingwall Road. It was founded in 1867, and closed in 1945.

F Company was formed in February 1941 by local residents of five factories, local farms and other local residents. Approximately 420 were members of the company in total, at peak numbers reached 345. Headquarters located at 66, Purley Way, Croydon. The company was under the command of Major S.J. Smith.

Leslie Robinson (d.o.b. 7 May 1922) attended Selburst Grammar School for boys from Sep 1933 until Jul 1938; his admisson, as pupil no. 2854 is recorded in admission register SCH119/2/9. He passed his general school certificate and on leaving school became a Clerk with the Sea Insurance Company Ltd.