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There were two Samuel Waghorn(e)s, perhaps father and son. The two sections of this book (written in different hands) appear to represent the work of the two individuals. Samuel Waghorn I seems to have been based in the Limpsfield or Titsey area of Surrey. His regular customers included the Biscoe family (of Hookwood, Limpsfield) and Sir John Gresham (of Titsey). His business was firmly rooted in the rural community, largely comprising work on agricultural equipment (wagons, ploughs, harrows, wheelbarrows, etc). He also received an income from the rent on two houses, one at Farley Common. Samuel Waghome II (c1789-1858) may have moved to Croydon in about 1819, when he first appears in rate books, occupying a cottage in a yard off the High Street (near Mint Walk). He stayed there until 1822, and then moved to a cottage in Old Town (Duppas Lane), where he remained until 1828. From 1826, however, Samuel also appears as the joint occupier with Richard Jones (an established coachbuilder) of what had been Jones house and shop on the west side of the High Street. After 1834, Waghorn was the sole occupier, and he subsequently expanded into the adjoining property as well. These premises (numbered 83 High Street by 1851, renumbered 146 High Street in 1886, and renumbered 252 High Street in 0 931) were to remain the firms headquarters for some eighty years.

Samuel IIs regular customers in the 1820s, as recorded in this book, included well-known Croydon names such as Robert Corney (his neighbour), John Dingwall, John Battersbee, etc; as well as customers further afield in Battersea, Vauxhall, Sussex, etc. He did occasional jobs for the Brighton Coach. Samuel IIs business had become slightly more urban and perhaps higher class than Samuel Is: there are more references to work for tradesmen and on drays etc, and also on chaises and carriages. To judge from his writing and accounting methods, Samuel II was also probably better educated than Samuel I.

Samuel II died in October 1858, aged 69, but the business continued to be known as Samuel Waghorne, presumably run by his widow, Harriet (c1789-1867), and their son, Thomas (c1822-1868). In Warrens Directory for 1865-6, the firm is named Waghorne and Son.

After the deaths in close succession of Harriet and Thomas, the business was taken over in 1868 by James T Miles, and renamed Waghorne and Miles. The firm prospered in the latter part of the nineteenth century as a builder of superior carriages of various types, and, from about 1902, of motor car bodies. In about 1906 it was bought up by Marchant and Sons, a firm of coachbuilders established at 34 Tamworth Road in about 1873. Marchant and Sons took over the High Street premises, and continued to operate from that address until the 1950s.

Harry Guy Simmons (1909-1964) worked as a service mechanic for Croydon Corporation Electricity Department. During World War II he served in No. 9 platoon, G Company, of the 32nd County of London Battalion of the Home Guard, which was made up of Electricity Department staff. He was initially a volunteer, but was promoted to Lance Corporal in about August 1942.

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.

JR Bex, Builders and undertakers, was established by James R Bex in about 1889. It was based at Wyche Grove, South Croydon. The premises were initially unnumbered, but from about 1928 were assigned the number 25: after World War II, the firm extended its business into no 23 - previously a private house occupied by Walter J Bex - and used 23 Wyche Grove as its address. From the turn of the century until about 1916 it also had a timber yard situated on the opposite side of the road.

In about 1873 the firm was taken over by W Cullen and Sons Ltd and it subsequently operated under that name.

The firm appears to have run the two sides of its business in tandem. Some of its account books relate specifically either to building work or to funeral direction, but many relate to both.

Abel Garraway was the son of Daniel Garraway, grocer. Daniel died in 1832, when Abel inherited his copyhold property in Croydon, notably a messuage near the Cornmarket. He also owned some freehold property. He later seems to have lived in Hackney and Mitcham, and died in 1860.

Mrs Caroline (Carrie) Spratt was a dresser at the Grand Theatre (High Street, Croydon) at the same time as her husband was stage door keeper there.

J H C Mackmin was the Chief Quantity Surveyor for Croydon c.1930s - 1974.

William Charles Berwick Sayers was a member of a small but remarkable group of librarians who distinguished the British public library service during the early decades of the Twentieth century. Most of his career was spent with Croydon Public Libraries, first as deputy to L. Stanley Jast, and then as Chief Librarian. But his work as a practising librarian, though well above average, and in its day outstanding in the provision of library services for children, was eclipsed by his success as a writer and teacher of librarianship, particularly in the field of library classification.