Little do people know but South Norwood has a wonderful history, and many famous people have embarked a pilgrimage to South Norwood (or nearby) as some point in their life.

Émile François Zola (1840 – 1902)  was a French novelist who lived at The Queen’s Hotel, 122 Church Road, Upper Norwood 1898–1899. He was a major figure in the political liberalization of France and in the exoneration of the falsely accused and convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus, which is encapsulated in the renowned newspaper headline J’Accuse.

Émile Zola risked his career and more on 13 January 1898, when his “J’accuse“,was published on the front page of the Paris daily L’Aurore. The newspaper was run by Ernest Vaughan and Georges Clemenceau, who decided that the controversial story would be in the form of an open letter to the President, Félix Faure. Émile Zola’s “J’Accuse” accused the highest levels of the French Army of obstruction of justice and antisemitism by having wrongfully convicted Alfred Dreyfus to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island. The case, known as the Dreyfus affair, divided France deeply between the reactionary army and church and the more liberal commercial society. The ramifications continued for many years; on the 100th anniversary of Zola’s article, France’s Roman Catholic daily paper, La Croix, apologized for its antisemitic editorials during the Dreyfus Affair. As Zola was a leading French thinker, his letter formed a major turning-point in the affair.

Zola was brought to trial for criminal libel on 7 February 1898 and was convicted on 23 February and removed from the Legion of Honor. Rather than go to jail, Zola fled to England.

From October 1898 to June 1899, Zola lived in Upper Norwood until he could return to France in time to see the government fall.

South Norwood has had it’s fair share of radicals and I see the future being no different.