Lind Road is named for Swedish opera singer, Johanna Maria Lind.
Born in Stockholm in 1820, Johanna Maria Lind ’the Swedish Nightingale’ settled in Surrey from 1855.
Hans Christian Andersen wrote several of his stories with her in mind. There’s also a theory he wrote the Snow Queen about her after she failed to return his affections.
Lind first performed in London in 1847. In honour of her Surrey connection, there is Lind Road and a pub called the Nightingale on Carshalton Road. No recording of Lind’s singing exists.
After 1865, the lord of the manor Thomas Alcock developed the streets of the ’New Town., east of the High Street, but left it to an assortment of builders to put up cramped terraced housing here for the working classes. Shops and several pubs lined Lind Road.
