History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

Grace Maud Babb was born in Plaistow West Ham in 1896, the daughter of a boilermaker. In the June quarter of 1915 she married Charles Robert Ewbank Edmundson. This was a marriage of different classes as he was the son of a wealthy solicitor living in Nutwith House, Masham Yorkshire, who was clerk to various councils and organisations. Grace and Charles’ daughter Grace Elizabeth was born on 13 September 1915 in Hitchen, so Grace may have been pregnant when they married.   Charles was educated at Asygarth School and Marlborough College and in 1913 he became a solicitor in his father’s office. When War broke out he joined the York and Lancaster Regiment where he became a Captain in July 1915 and was sent to the Front on 27 August. Aged 24, Charles died on 1 July 1916 , the first day of the battle of Somme . This was the worst day in the history of the British Army when 57,470 men were injured, of whom 19,240 died. He is buried in the Adanac Military Cemetery in Miraumont...

It was May 1942 and London was in the middle of the War, when Pauline Barker was murdered at 184 Belsize Road . The story did not receive much attention in the press. Here we use the Metropolitan Police files from the National Archives to look at the stories of the main participants in this sad crime. The house has since been demolished as part of the Council redevelopment in the area. Pauline Barker was born in Islington in 1899, the daughter of Frederick Charles Barker and Lydia Care. He was a solo harpist and she was a leading contralto with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, they married in London in 1898. But the marriage did not go well and Frederick left Lydia in 1910 and she sued for divorce in 1911. Frederick said in the divorce papers the reason he left her was because of: Her violent temper and ungovernable behaviour and constant and habitual use of filthy, disgusting and obscene language and constant disagreements for ten years which have rendered his married life...

This was a battle on the Western Front between the British Army, which included soldiers from the Commonwealth, and the French against the German Army. The 15 mile front was alongside the Somme River in Northern France. The battle began on 1 July 1916 and lasted 141 days until the 18 November. More than a million men were wounded or killed.  The first day was the worst in the history of the British Army when 57,470 men were injured, of whom 19,240 died. The original British Expeditionary Force of regular soldiers had suffered heavy losses in 1914 and 1915. The Army at the Somme were made up of the remaining regular soldiers, the Territorial Army and Lord Kitchener's ‘Pals’ battalions, composed of men from local towns who had answered his call to volunteer. As well as the ground troops, the battle was noticeable for the use of air power and tanks. There are various estimates of the casualties, but the general accepted figures for the numbers of wounded and dead for...

In 1909 two Latvian anarchists stole the wages from the Downham Mills Rubber Factory, at 3-5 Chesnut Road , Tottenham. Jacob Lepidus and Paul Hefeld lived with other immigrants in Tottenham, which at the time was nicknamed, ‘Little Russia’. The heavily armed anarchists were pursued by hundreds of police and local people. During the chase which lasted two hours and covered six miles, Lepidus and Hefeld fired over 400 rounds. They killed two people, PC William Tyler and a young boy called Ralph Joscelyne. Twenty other people were injured, several critically. This was an extraordinary event and made headlines around the world. PC William Tyler We were very surprised when our research showed that there were strong connections between the outrage in Tottenham and West Hampstead. The West Hampstead Connection PC Tyler who was killed, had been born and brought up in Child’s Hill and a memorial service was held there, at All Saints Church. At the time of the shooting Tyler ...

T his very unusual story connects the KKK, a famous haunted house and Kilburn. On 2 May 1957 the MP Fenner Brockway spoke in the House of Commons and said: I think it will be as much of a shock to you as it was to me, to learn that the HQ of the British KKK was in Kilburn! He said there were 253 agents in Kilburn, Shepherds Bush, Birmingham and Liverpool . MPs and other people had been sent a KKK pamphlet and membership form from an address in Kilburn. A Times reporter sent to the address, 80 Kingsgate Road , found it was Green’s Chemist Shop. The chemist said the man the reporter wanted was Ian Shaw, who lived upstairs. After giving the specified three knocks a woman answered the door and said Ian was out. Shaw later phoned the Times and said he would talk with the reporter as long as they did not reveal his name and address.  On the 5 May, the Reynolds News, a paper published by the Cooperative Movement, carried an interview with Ian Shaw. He said he wa...