High up on the other side of the Gravesend road is Stansted, the perfect downland hamlet, built on a switchback of hills, with a large village green in the valley, and an impeccable flint church, complete with giant yew tree outside the door. At the edge of the churchyard an art nouveau black granite memorial, surmounted by scroll-carrying angels, commemorates Sir Sydney Hedley Waterlow, one of the founders of the great Waterlow printing firm, who lived at Trosley Towers near by. Waterlow's was a typical Victorian success story. Born in 1822, he began printing in 1844 in partnership with his brothers, starting with £120 from their father. They made their fortunes from cornering the market in railway printing and stationery. Waterlow was a philanthropist as well as a businessman. As Lord Mayor of London in 1872, he was responsible for opening the Guildhall Library to the public. He held. many offices in the City, and found time to be Liberal M.P. for Maidsione and then Gravesend.
Taken from The Companion Guide to Kent and Sussex by Keith Spence
1973 Collins. This book is in Longfield library.
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