Herbert George Odell

Herbert George Odell was a businessman and locall politician active in the Ilford area.

He was Mayor of Ilford in 1930-31.

A resident of Goodmayes, he had a number of businesses as an estate agent, bookseller and proprietor of private "twopence a week" lending libraries. The latter business had collapsed by 1936, when Odell found himself being pursued for unpaid rates by a number of councils around England. He was sentenced to three months imprisonment, suspended on condition he made payments to the court. Asked why he did not file for bankruptcy, he stated that he had "held his head up for sixty years" and wanted to pay his debts. He was, however, put into receivership, making the final payment to his debtors in 1967.