Many attribute John Cator as being responsible for turning the village of Beckenham into a significant town in the late 1700s - a process that accelerated after his death in 1806 with the arrival of the railway from the 1830s.

The wealthy timber merchant (and later property merchant) from London, John Cator became 'Lord of Beckenham Manor'/Lordship of the Manor of Foxgrove in 1773. He already had a sizable land holding in Blackhealth (aka the 'Cator Estate' - found at the top of Blackheath high street) and had become renown for buying land for construction. His landholdings when he moved to Beckenham were originally fairly small but quickly changed when he bought Beckenham Manor (Beckenham Place Park).

With his new title he had sizable land holdings much of which is modern day Beckenham, in fact the Cator family estate spread from Shortlands to Sydenham Hill and they were one of the largest landholders in the area. Their mansion house can still be found at Beckenham Place Park.

He was married to Mary, the daughter of the well-known botanist Peter Collinson, who is reported to have provided his son-in-law with a number of exotic trees and shrubs of American origin for Beckenham Place.


When the railway arrived linking London with the outer areas that had previously been too far to travel from, the Cators realised that their estates were ripe for residential development. They brought about a development of large detached houses with generous gardens appealing to the wealthy bankers and merchants from the city. The roads and avenues were built with equally generous proportions and all lined with the original mature trees that once stood in the original woodlands. As demand for the larger houses reduced, the Cators started to develop more modest sized properties towards the end of their main building period.


John Cator died in 1806 at the grand old age of 80 and is buried in St George's Parish Church churchyard. With no surviving children to pass on his fortune it passed over to his nephew John Barwell Cator. However, the new Lord of the Manor spent little time in Beckenham and the estate was neglected for some time.

Eventually another Cator, Peter Cator, Joseph Cator's seventh son (and John Barwell's youngest brother) obtained planning permission to develop the estate.

The woodland and park fortunately survived only because the mansion and park were, at that time, leased to Sir John Kirkland, and were thus not available for development.