Wandsworth is a setting in August Epp’s history of displacement and makeshift belonging. After his father disappeared and his mother died, August left university and joined a group of anarchists, artists, and musicians squatting on derelict land near Gargoyle Wharf, beside the Thames; later, he brought a rescued police horse there and kept him as a friend and working companion.

Setting and Refuge

August arrived in Wandsworth without a place to live. He had been studying history at university, but after a nervous breakdown he quit his studies and joined the squatters on derelict land near Gargoyle Wharf. The account presents the place not as a settled home but as an improvised refuge: a community formed in the wake of his family losses and departure from university.

Frint and the Hyde Park Protest

At a protest in Hyde Park, where more than fifty thousand people were present, a police officer forced his horse to charge the protesters. After other protesters pulled the officer from the horse, the riderless animal panicked. August mounted him and rode clear of the crowd and police to a pond with a fountain, where he let the horse drink and cool off. He then rode the horse back to Wandsworth and kept him there, naming him Frint, meaning friend in Plautdietsch.

Work and Companionship

Frint became part of the Wandsworth community rather than merely an animal August had rescued. He carried wood and other materials, in keeping with the expectation that every member contribute work. Described as well-trained and fit, the horse joined practical life at the squat; August’s account also makes clear that he regarded him as a friend. Wandsworth thus connects a public confrontation in Hyde Park to a more intimate, everyday bond built through shelter and shared work.