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Johnny Hubbard |
Johnny, the tramp with cash stash
Museum may showcase tale of former market porter who left family a surprise £35,000
THE story of tramp Johnny Hubbard, a former Smithfield Market porter who left his family a mystery inheritance of £35,000, could become a feature at Islington Museum.
Johnny, a former amateur boxer whose father John ran a fish stall in Angel’s Chapel Market until the late 1950s, spent more than 40 years sleeping rough and living on the streets around the City.
His remaining siblings, Bill, Peter, Elizabeth and Winifred, had virtually lost touch with the brother they grew up with in Grant Street, Angel.
Their surprise inheritance came to light after Johnny’s death at the age of 74, thanks to investigations by probate research company Hoopers, based in Clerkenwell, which specialises in tracing missing heirs and beneficiaries of wills. It featured on BBC TV programme Heir Hunters.
Johnny was involved in a fight with a fellow Smithfield worker in the 1960s, banged his head and was never the same again.
Younger brother Bill, who went on to build up a successful business – Hubbard’s Office Furniture in Gray’s Inn Road, Clerkenwell, recalled their tough childhood.
“There were nine children and mum died when I was seven,” he said. “Dad was a pretty violent person. There was a pub behind his fish stall and he drank brandy most of the day in winter to keep warm. He was often drunk.
“We had no electricity in those days and shared an outside toilet. If I asked for dinner money I’d get a clump round the head. I would have to steal a shilling from on top of the gas meter.”
After the fight which resulted in his mind deteriorating, Johnny was admitted to the notorious Victorian-built Friern Barnet mental hospital, which has since been shut down.
Bill remembers visiting his brother at the hospital, known as Colney Hatch, and being appalled by the conditions.
“Patients were tied or chained to beds,” he said. “I remember someone crying out: ‘I’m not mad. I’m not mad. Let me go home.’”
Johnny was given brain surgery despite the family’s misgivings, but his behaviour became worse.
Often violent and unable to hold a job down, he took to the streets.
Bill remembers last seeing his estranged brother in Islington’s Upper Street about 25 years ago and giving him some money and his phone number. “I told him to keep in touch and ring me if he needed anything,” he said.
Later it emerged that in recent years Johnny had been living in a hostel in east London, where he died.
As for the money, Bill is still mystified about where it all came from. “I’ve been told some of it may have been left by a distant relative, but it was no one we knew,” he said.
“I suspect a lot of the money is social security payments which have accrued over the years.”
Islington Council’s Lib Dem heritage chief Councillor Ruth Polling said: “The Hubbard story is wonderful stuff and could make an interesting presentation.
“The family should contact the museum at Finsbury Library.” |
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