Place Name
A father and son are the inspiration behind this street name, although Thomas Hood junior (January 19, 1835 – November 20, 1874) probably has the greater claim. The younger Hood was a Victorian humourist and poet born in Leytonstone. He wrote his first book of poems, Farewell to the Swallows, while at Pembroke College, Oxford. But he became more widely known as the editor of Fun magazine and, in 1867, Tom Hood’s Comic Annual. For a while it was claimed his children’s story, From Nowhere to the North Pole, had been plagiarised by Lewis Carroll for Alice in Wonderland, an accusation that Carroll quickly dismissed. Alternatively, it could be named after his father, the poet and humorist, also called Thomas Hood (May 23, 1799 – May 3, 1845), whose poems included The Bridge of Sighs and The Song of the Shirt. He wrote for Punch magazine amid many others.
