History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

Stammering or stuttering (as it is called in America), is a condition that disrupts the normal flow of speech and when acute can profoundly affect a person’s life. During the late Victorian and Edwardian period, a house in Willesden played an important role in helping people who stammered. Tarrangower Tarrangower was named after a gold field in Australia. A large, detached house in Willesden Lane, it was built by John Marrian probably using money inherited from his wealthy father John senior, who died on 13 September 1881 leaving £69,089 (worth about £9.6M today). But John Marrian junior did not live very long to enjoy his new house as he died there on 28 March 1886. When it was offered for sale in June, it was described as ‘a very perfect modern residence’ having 10 bedrooms and a billiard room and library. The gardens and grounds with a tennis court were about an acre. Later the house was numbered 178 Willesden Lane.    Tarrangower By 1891 Sir Bradford Leslie was in residenc...

This is the story of two tragic events from the 1960s and 1930s which occurred near to each other in Willesden. The Willesden Plane Crash At 7.10 on the evening of Wednesday 29 May 1963 people saw a light aircraft flying erratically low over Willesden. It attempted to climb before it suddenly plunged, and with a loud explosion and tremendous flash crashed into a large three-storey block of flats called Marlow Court at 224 Willesden Lane.  The emergency services quickly sent eight fire engines and three ambulances to the scene. They found the aircraft had crashed on the roof, breaking through the ceiling of Flat No.31. The fuselage of the red and white Auster was embedded in the lift shaft, leaving the tail intact. Firemen had to use a portable crane and cutting equipment. It took over an hour to reach the two passengers who tragically had died on impact.    Photo on the roof of the flats (Getty Images)  Fortunately, the occupant of Flat 31 had just gone out for dinne...

This was the Coroner’s opinion of David Miller, who had failed to help his lodger rescue two of her young children from a fierce fire that gutted 90 Willesden Lane. The blaze was discovered shortly before 2pm on Friday 19 June 1908. No. 90 still stands, in a parade of three-storey shops with flats above, between Torbay Road and Callcott Road. In 1908 it was occupied by David who ran his tailoring business on the ground floor. He occupied the basement and first floor, while Annie and Alfred Reid paid Miller a weekly rent of 6 shillings and 6d for the rooms on the second floor. 90 Willesden Lane today (Dick Weindling, 2020) David Miller’s father Abraham was born in Poland and came to England in the 1870s. He was a tailor living in Mile End in 1881 with his wife and five children; David was the youngest, just four months old, born in or near Spitalfields. Abraham Miller had moved to 90 Willesden Lane by 1899, when he advertised his business in the local paper, offering a var...