Who exactly was Islip Odell ? He was a builder, based in Upper Clapton, who worked for Sir William Middleton when he developed his estate in Haggerston, making an agreement with him for the development of the eponymous Middleton Road in 1840 and also supplying the bricks for the building of Middleton’s country estate, Shrubland Park in Suffolk. Middleton’s surveyor was called George Pownall, who may have been responsible for the layout of Albion Square. I missed out that one side of Albion Square was occupied by Albion Hall, leased by the Kingsland, Dalston and De Beauvoir Scientific Institution, which gives some clue to the aspirations of the neighbourhood. It taught chess, French and book-keeping and hosted the local choir.
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
Just came across this, curiously the church where we were married in 1983 was St John’s in Tottenham N17 (now St John’s and St James’s) we had our reception in the hall behind (now sadly demolished) but inside the doorway was a foundation stone stating that is was the Islip Odell memorial hall and from what I remember of the inscription was laid by his wife. Used to be in the cubs and scouts that met in that hall and if we had a quiz a favourite question was “where is the Islip Odell memorial hall?)!
Thank you ! Charles