I'm not sure why the name of Bendemeer was chosen, but, as has already been mentioned in a previous thread, there was a small town in New South Wales founded back in the early 1850s that bore this name, and also a district in Singapore. The word had certainly been popularised following Thomas Moore's 1817 poem "Lalla-Rookh", which contains the lines: "There's a bower of roses by Bendemeer's stream; And the nightingales sing round it all day long", referring to a stream that ran through the ruined city of Persepolis in modern-day Iran, the name of which is derived from the Persian words "bund" (embankment) and "amir" (local ruler).Bendemeer and Gladwyn were built on what had previously been "Half Moon Field", named after the Pub facing it on the other side of the Lower Richmond Rd, and owned by John Temple Leader, who also owned the land later used for Rotherwood, Ashlone, Danemere, and Leader's Gardens (a gift to the town by his heirs in 1903); much of the land to the west of Putney Hill up to Luttrell Avenue; the land used for Lytton Grove on the east-side of the Hill; and land to the west of the High St, used for Rossdale, Borneo, Blackett, Bangalore, the east-side of Westhorpe, and short stretches of Clarendon Drive, Hotham & Felsham. As early as the 1840s Half Moon Field had been used as a cricket ground, and was alternatively known by the name of whoever was the landlord of the Pub at the time.....so, Finch's Field, then Wentworth's Ground, and then Guy's Ground. There appears to have been a small stand in the north-west corner. The only other buildings in the Field at that time were the ancient Windsor Cottages in its south-west corner (demolished 1907) and Spring Garden Cottages in its north-east corner by the River.Adverts for the Ground show that, apart from cricket, it also offered quoits, a bowling green, and a skittle saloon (probably in the Pub).The northern end of the Field and the old towpath were frequented by gypsies for part of the year, which didn't please the Vestry and many of the locals. Complaints over the decades mentioned that "the area is infested with trampers and gypsies who live in tents and caravans under no set sanitary regulation, which results in the production of infectious diseases", and that "riotous and disorderly scenes are enacted daily and nightly, with roundabouts, shows, shooting galleries, and cocoa nut (sic) throwing". After the Embankment replaced the old tow path in 1891, the Vestry complained to Leader's agents that the "gypsy encampment is very much interfering with the comfort of the numerous ratepayers who use the riverside promenade", and Leader, long since based in Italy, was accused by the "Putney & Wandsworth Borough News" of being an absentee landlord "who draws large revenues from Putney, and contributes little if anything to the local burdens".The first new buildings on the Field were the boathouses from the late 1850s onwards, then the creation of the "Half Moon Estate" between 1891 and 1907 (which solved the "gypsy problem"), consisting not just of Bendemeer and Gladwyn, but also the Leader-owned land used for Rotherwood Rd.
David Johns ● 1932d