On 7 October 1890 Captain P.J. Fitzpatrick was buried in the Old Cemetery, Ipswich in what is still an imposing plot. He was laid to rest next to Bridget Fitzpatrick (his wife/sister?) who was buried on 7 March 1881. In 1881 Captain Fitzpatrick was the owner (and occupier?) of Rozare Cottages – numbers 105, 107 and 109 Lacey Street – built in 1875.

In 1884 Captain Fitzpatrick had number 103 Lacey Street and named it Waveney House. He had been Lord Waveney’s batman during the Crimean War. Following Captain Fitzpatrick’s demise his (second?) wife sold the house in 1891, by auction at the White Horse Hotel in Tavern Street. It was bought by William Parmenter of Whitton for £415.

The house was rented out for a number of years to tenants (by different owners?). In 1927 an unsuccessful attempt to sell the property was tried, when it was being rented by a Mrs Cresswell for £35 per annum. In 1952 the house was purchased by Jack and Rene Daniels. Jack was the string bass player in the band at the Ipswich Hippodrome and he offered the house as theatrical digs to visiting artistes, including many famous names.

If research is correct, Lord Waveney was Sir Robert Alexander Shafto Adair, born in 1811 in Flixton Hall, near South Elmham. He was Lord Lieutenant of County Antrim, a Colonel in the Suffolk Artillery, Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria, also M.P. for Cambridge (1847-52 and 1854-57). He died in 1886 so it could be possible that he attended any housewarming ‘do’ at number 103 – i.e. ‘Bobby Shafto’ was in our street!

The Ipswich Hippodrome ran from 1905 to 1957 and its last few years of productions included A-list entertainers such as Bruce Forsythe, Roy Castle, Peter Sellers, Anne Shelton, Lita Roza, Shirley Bassey and Wilson, Kepple & Betty, any one of whom might have stayed in the attic of Waveney House.

[Thanks to Ray Atkinson for permission to reprint this from Lacey Street News, Winter 2017/18. Ray got in touch because he was keen to use material from our recent article about Rotherham House in Lacey Street.]