History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

Nellie Seymour was an attractive actress, one of many who made a living from the stage; it was a hard life, often moving with a company from town to town. If you were lucky, you found a role in a production that stayed in a theatre for a few months. One such was ‘Sergeant Brue’ by Owen Hall which premiered in London in 1904. A musical farce, the plot centres around the police sergeant of the title, who comes into £10,000 a year, on condition he remains in the force and is promoted to inspector. Nellie played Vivienne Russell, a society lady and one of the chorus .   The cast of Sergeant Brue, Nellie is seated in the centre (Marianne Colloms) The play was staged at the Strand Theatre and the Prince of Wales Theatre, running in London ’s West End until February 1905. The ladies are carrying unusual animal heads or masks which they had to wear at some point in the performance. One critic disparaged another prop, paper hoops, because the ladies were expected to jump thro...

In the late 1950s Veronica Murray, known as ‘Ronnie’, came from Londonderry to find work in London. She eventually worked as a prostitute on the streets and clubs of Soho, and in June 1958 rented a room at 58 Charteris Road in Kilburn. When Ronnie had not been seen by her friends in Soho for several days, one of them phoned her Turkish landlord Ratomir Tasic. A shocking sight awaited him as he entered her room on 19 December 1958 . Ronnie had been beaten to death and was lying across her bed. The murder squad detectives led by Superintendent Evan Davies, found that she had been hit several times on the head with an ornamental dumbbell. Some unusual circular marks were found on her body, but the fingerprints at the scene did not match any on file. The police released a photo of Veronica a few days later but this produced no suspects and the case went cold. Veronica 'Ronnie' Murray A year later on 11 October 1959 , Mrs Mabel Hill was celebrating her birthday in L...

This is the story of two racing drivers and their record breaking cars. Ernest Eldridge was born in 1897 at 13 Burton Road Kilburn and baptised at St Paul’s in Kilburn Square. The family lived in several local addresses; Gondar Gardens in 1901, and by 1921 they were in 17 Fairhazel Gardens. After a number of different jobs, his father became a financial bill broker and had enough money to send Ernest to Harrow for his education.  When War broke out Ernest left school and joined up, serving as an ambulance driver on the Western Front. He spoke very good French and after the War he lived in Paris. He liked the excitement of driving fast cars, and gambling with the chance of winning £60,000 at Monte Carlo – he lost on the turn of a card.  Ernest Eldridge (r) with rival John Parry-Thomas (l) Beginning in 1921, he made his name by driving huge modified cars fitted with aero engines at races in Brooklands, Paris and the Indianapolis 500. His Fiat with an aer...

This is the story of two women who lived in Finchley Road and who made headlines in the early years of aviation. Amy Johnson is the best-known but Grace Drummond-Hay also had a very interesting career. Lady Grace Drummond-Hay In 1929 Lady Grace Drummond-Hay was the first woman to fly round the world in a Zeppelin airship. Born Grace Marguerite Lethbridge in Toxteth Liverpool on 12 Sept 1895 , she was brought up in the West Hampstead area. Her father Sidney Thomas Lethbridge was the managing director and later chairman of Spratt’s, the firm that made dog biscuits and animal food. The Lethbridge family lived at several local addresses; 28 Kingdon Road (1901 to at least 1904), 11 Lydford Road off Willesden Lane (1911), and then at 14 Avenue Mansions, Finchley Road from about 1918 until Sidney ’s death there in 1937.  Lady Drummond Hay In Hampstead on 9 June 1920 aged 25, Grace Lethbridge married the diplomat Sir Robert Hay Drummond-Hay, who was nearly 50 years ...

This is the little-known story about the controversial president of Malawi and his time in Kilburn when he lived with his mistress and her husband. Hastings Kamuzu Banda was born about 1898 in a small village in Nyasaland to a poor family. After his initial education from African teachers of the Livingstonia Mission of the Free Church of Scotland, he went to Rhodesia and then South Africa . He worked as a miner and then a clerk at the Witwatersrand deep mine. There he met black American members of the African Methodist Episcopal church , which he joined in 1922. The leader of the church, Bishop Vernon , was so impressed by the young man that he agreed to sponsor his education in America. In 1925 Banda travelled to Ohio where he completed his high school education. Then he went to the universities of Indiana and Chicago and obtained a degree in history and political science in 1931. He graduated as doctor of medicine in 1937 in Nashville, Tennessee. Banda came to Brit...

Esmond Road is a short, quiet, street on the Brent side of the Kilburn High Road near Paddington Cemetery .  On Tuesday 6 November 1894 , the top floor of Number 48 was the home of Alice and James Simms and their young children. About 11.15 that morning Mrs Simms opened the front door to William Carter who forced his way upstairs.  Soon afterwards, the landlady Mrs Mary Bates was talking to a neighbour when they heard shots. As it was the morning after bonfire night, they weren’t alarmed, thinking it was just children letting off fireworks. But then they heard the faint cry of ‘Murder!’ and they saw Alice Simms on the landing covered in blood.  Mary stopped a man on the road and said something terrible had happened and could he please help. He went upstairs and saw William Carter lying on the floor. PC George Allen X334 arrived soon after to find William Carter was dead with a revolver in his hand. He had shot Alice , intending to kill her and then shot ...