During a visit to the High St out last week I came across 2 more benches commemorating famous people with a connection to Eltham
Thomas Burke was born in Eltham in November 1886 . According to his Wikipedia entry he was born in Clapham Junction, but all other references I found listed his birthplace as Eltham. To complicate matters further in his autobiography he claimed to have been born in the East End of London and that he was an orphan. This is now thought to have been the author building up his reputation as an authority on the East End of London, having been born there and grown up there. He had in fact moved to Poplar, as an infant, when his father died and he and his mother went to live with an uncle.
At the turn of the 20th century he was well known for his writing about characters and life in the East End of London, particularly around Limehouse. A number of his books were made into films.
Burke died in Bloomsbury in September 1945.
Pete's Favourite Things 