Radcliffe Road, Salisbury

There are two derivations that I can see for the name of Radcliffe Road, although neither may be correct.

As discussed in the entry for Romer Road, the theme for the road names on this estate could be:

• military figures who have been awarded the Order of the Bath, or
• people with some connection with India

Robert Radcliffe was awarded the Order of the Bath, whereas Cyril Radcliffe has a strong connection to India.

Robert Radcliffe

Robert Radcliffe was made a ‘Knight of the Bath’ in 1509. His father had been executed for participating in the Perkin Warbeck conspiracy – the son getting knighted seems to have been a signal by Henry VIII that Robert was seen as loyal.

Cyril John Radcliffe

Cyril Radcliffe was one of the architects of partition in India after the war. He was chairman of the two boundary commissions that followed on from the Indian Independence Act of 1947.

He was born in 1899, and served in the First World War in the labour corps – this was the only form of service he could do, due to his poor eyesight.

After the war he completed his education at Oxford, and became a barrister. He suspended his legal career on the outbreak of the Second World War, and he joined the Ministry of Information, becoming the Director General in 1941.

His post-war career was dominated by work on government commissions and public inquiries. His prominence in this field was such that Sir AP Herbert spoke of ‘Government by Radcliffery”.

The Naming of Radcliffe Road

My guess is that neither of these Radcliffes are the derivation of the name ‘Radcliffe Road’.

There seems to me to be a strong, natural theme to the names of Romer Road, Godley Road and Wavell Road – Sir Robert Romer, Field-Marshal Viscount Wavell and General Sir Alexander John Godley were all respected military men. Also their names are too unusual for their proximity in the same area to be a coincidence.

On the one hand, Cyril Radcliffe was not any sort of military man, and on the other Robert Radcliffe seems to be of no great achievement beyond loyalty to Henry VIII. Neither Radcliffe seems to fit.

If you know a better derivation for the name of Radcliffe Road, please let me know.

Update: Gen. Sir P.P. de B. Radcliffe

Update: Neither of the above ‘Radcliffes’ are the correct derivation of the road’s name.

I recently read a passage in a small booklet called ‘The History of Harnham’, published by the Women’s Institute in, I think, 1954, which gives a brief history of ‘Government House’ in East Harnham, once known as ‘The Cliff’. The booklet says that

The property was purchased by the War Department on March 28th, 1928. From that time it became known as “Government House” and was for many years the official residence of G.O.C. Southern Command.

G.O.C., in this context, stands for ‘General Office Commanding’¹. The book then lists the names of some of the G.O.Cs saying that

These names are world famous, their owner have helped to make the history of our country. It is an honour and a privilege to be allowed to include them in our little book.

. The names are:

• Gen. Sir W.N. Congreve, from 16/04/23-16/06/24
• Gen. Sir A.J. Godley, from 16/06/24-16/06/28
• Gen. Sir A.A. Montgomery-Massingberd 17/06/28-28/02/31
• Gen. Sir C.F. Romer, from 01/03/31-18/02/33
• Gen. Sir P.P. de B. Radcliffe 19/02/33-09/02/34
• Gen. Sir J.T. Burnett-Stuart 26/04/34-25/04/38
• Field MArshall Lord Wavell 26/04/38-27/07/39

Given that other roads on the same estate are named Godley Road, Romer Road, and Wavell Road, it seems reasonably certain that Radcliffe Road is named after Gen. Sir P.P. de B. Radcliffe.

Visiting Salisbury?

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Footnotes

1. GOC – What does GOC stand for? Acronyms and abbreviations by the Free Online Dictionary. [↩]