Arthur Mayer, Born 1884
CHEF
Arthur Mayer was the third of five children born to Erhardt Mayer, a Swiss baker and confectioner who had emigrated to England for work, and his English wife Annie. He was baptised, Arthur Henry Grisogon Mayer. The curious choice of Crisogon may hint at Ottoman ancestry as it was a popular Hellenic name in the late 19th Century. The Mayers settled in Ickworth Park Road in Walthamstow, a brand new terrace of yellow stock brick, with mains running water; an important consideration at a time when typhoid was rife. Arthur followed in his father’s footsteps and become a chef. He was offered a position in Belfast at the newly opened Grand Central Hotel, on the Royal Avenue. With its 200 bedrooms each boasting 'fresh laundered Irish linen', a 'Louis XV' style dining room and an elegant palm court, it was the city's most luxurious hotel. Soon after his arrival in Belfast Arthur fell ill, and sadly died in Belfast at the age of 23. His body was returned to his family, and he was buried in the romantically overgrown graveyard at the Walthamstow church of St. Peter in the Forest, within Epping Forest.