Place Name
Charles Hubert Grinling (1861 – May 24, 1947) was a prominent member of the nascent Labour movement; after finishing at Oxford he was ordained deacon in 1884 and was one of the original residents at Toynbee Hall. In 1889 he came to Woolwich as Secretary of the local Charity Organisation Society. He became a Labour councillor when Woolwich became a Metropolitan Borough in 1900 becoming chairman and was involved in a wide range of activities and associations aimed at improving housing, education, health services and the provision of open spaces for recreation. His name is particularly associated with the Woolwich Council of Social Service which he established in 1925. Its aim was to survey and coordinate existing social services and its headquarters was his own home at 71 Rectory Place. On May 3, 1837 he was given the first ever Honorary Freedom of the Borough of Woolwich at a ceremony at the Town Hall in Woolwich. George Bernard Shaw was a visitor to the home he shared with his wife, Ethel. In his spare time he was a member of the Woolwich and District Antiquarian Society, and Surrey Archaeological Society. Charles Grinling Walk was named in his honour in 1955.
