How many of us have walked along Du Cros Drive in Stanmore unaware of the colourful character who gave his name to the road?

Sir Arthur Du Cros (1871 - 1955) was a stereotypical Edwardian gentleman - racing cyclist, car enthusiast, supporter of the military use of aviation, philanthropist and successful businessman.

He made his money as Managing Director of the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company, and founder of the Dunlop Rubber Company, and so wealthy was he that during the First World War he personally paid for three ambulance convoys. In 1908 he was elected Conservative MP for Hastings, which he continued to represent until 1918. He was seen as an opponent of the suffragettes, who were very active at the time, so they actually burned down his house in Hastings as a protest.

He purchased Canons, in Stanmore, in the 1890s. In 1914 he employed C.E.Mallows, the famous Arts and Crafts architect, to redesign the gardens and part of the exterior of the house, and the garden he created, comprising the North and South terraces, was seen as one of the greatest of the Edwardian era, and influenced such well-known garden designers as Gertrude Jekyll.

Arthur Du Cros mixed in the highest social circles. He put Craigweil, his house in Bognor, at the disposal of George V in 1929, and earned the town the exalted name of Bognor Regis. He was a friend of Frances, Countess of Warwick, to whom he lent £60,000, writing the loan off when she fell on hard times. She was one of Edward VII’s mistresses when he was Prince of Wales, and when she threatened to publish the personal letters that the Prince had sent her, Du Cros was charged with avoiding her blackmailing the Royal Family.

Du Cros himself was married three times. His first marriage to Maude Gooding ended in a rather scandalous divorce in 1923, after he left her and their children. When she asked him to return home he wrote to her to say that "it will be quite impossible to ever resume this life of misery which is ruinous to health and to all feelings of dignity and self-respect". He was then married and widowed twice before his own death at his home, Nancy Downs House, in Oxhey, Watford, in 1955.

From the 1920s, Du Cros suffered a series of financial disasters and so put Canons up for sale. It was bought in 1929 by North London Collegiate School, who were looking for a new site to enable them to move from Camden Town. Ironically North London Collegiate School had been founded in 1850 by Miss Buss for the specific purpose of giving girls the same academic education as their brothers, and many old girls and Head Mistresses had supported the suffrage movement which Du Cros was so against. The remainder of the Estate was divided up into various parts; one of the two largest areas – the formal gardens near the house and the open land that it overlooked - was purchased by Harrow Council and became Canons Park. Much of the remaining land, including a seven-acre lake and a smaller lake, was sold to various developers to create the Canons Park Estate, which was constructed during the 1930s and comprises around 320 houses.

On Saturday 12^th June 2010, from 1pm – 5pm, as part of the London-wide Open Garden Squares Weekend, Canons will be hosting a day of family fun. The 18^th century mansion and grounds, and Mallows’ early 20^th century South Terrace and herbaceous border, will be open to the public, as will the George V Memorial Garden in adjoining Canons Park, and the Grade 1 church of St Lawrence, Little Stanmore.

Children’s activities at Canons will include a treasure hunt, plant pot decoration, cookery and old fashioned games. There’s a chance to enjoy some of the wonderful 10 acres of its grounds, talks about the house and gardens, and there will also be historic food tasting and a gardener on hand to answer your queries.

For further information see http://www.opensquares.org/detail/Canons1.html or telephone 020 8951 6430