History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

In 1949 by chance, Paul Doyle met Gladys Davies on the Underground and they both got off at West Hampstead station. Gladys worked as a secretary in the West End. Over time, they developed a relationship and Paul visited her home at 31 Lyncroft Gardens. He said he was an MI5 army major undertaking highly secret work with the Special Branch. He left her house punctually at 10.00, telling Gladys he had to take a car from West Hampstead police station (then near the Underground station), on a regular journey to Scotland Yard where he was working on attachment. They planned to get married and Gladys lent him money which he needed to contest his mother’s will. He said he would get between £7,000 and £12,000 when the case in the High Court was resolved. He received over £4,000 from Gladys and her friend Ada Webster who lived in the same house. By 1955, Gladys had only £3 16s 11d left in her bank account when she went to the police. After investigating the ‘major’, Chief Inspector James ...

In the story we look chronologically and alternate between what was happening to David and his brother Tommy Nutter. David Nutter was born in Edgware in May 1939 and Tommy four years later in April 1943 while his parents were living in North Wales. Their great grandfather had been a builder in Kilburn and their mother Dorothy (Dolly) Bannister was born there. In 1937 she married Christopher Nutter who worked as a seating upholster in the de Havilland aircraft factory at the Stag Lane aerodrome in Edgware. After their marriage he and Dolly ran ‘John’s Café’ at 7 Handel Parade Whitchurch Lane in Edgware for his brother-in-law John Cross. When Christopher was discharged from the Army in February 1946, the family returned to Edgware where they lived over the café. By 1961 the family had moved to 24 Eresby Road, one of the houses built in Kilburn by Dolly’s grandfather, Edward Tribe. The entire road, which ran from Kilburn High Road to Kingsgate Road, was demolished as part of the building ...