Chesham

A successful combination of a commuter town, industrial centre and country community, Chesham’s growth from a sleepy market town was due mainly to its Metropolitan underground railway link with central London. Chesham was the birthplace of Arthur Liberty, the son of a haberdasher and draper, who went on to found the world famous Liberty’s department store in London’s Regent Street in 1875.

Another resident of note was Roger Crabbe who, having suffered head injuries during the Civil War, was sentenced to death by Cromwell. After receiving a pardon, Crabbe opened a hat shop in the town where he is reputed to have worn sackcloth, eaten turnip tops and given his income to the poor. Perhaps not surprisingly, Crabbe was used by Lewis Carroll as the model for the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland.