History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

In June 1905, Grace Hawthorne starred in the title role of the play ‘Josephine’ at the Kilburn Empire. Born in America as Priscilla Cartland, she was discovered by manager William W Kelly who brought her to London in 1886 and gave her the stage name of Grace Hawthorne. Known to his colleagues as ‘Hustler’ Kelly, he made sure Grace was the first American actress to take the capital by storm. They were very successful with a play called ‘A Royal Divorce’. This about Napoleon and the Empress Josephine and was performed across the country for many years from 1891. With help from Kelly, Grace became the lessee of the Princess's Theatre in Oxford Street and several other theatres but ran into financial difficulties. She wore extravagant costumes which cost £1,500 and had run up debts of £14,000 when she went bankrupt. Grace and Kelly ended their professional partnership, but William continued touring ‘A Royal Divorce’ with his wife Edith Cole playing the role of Josephine.  The actor Joh...

This is the extraordinary story of a KGB officer who defected in London. It is mainly about the Russian spy, with a short account about what little is known about his agent who lived in Cricklewood. Most of his files at the National Archives have not been released, but Christopher Andrew who wrote the authorized history of the MI5, provided some details of the case in his book ‘The Defence of the Realm’. Books by Nigel West and others, as well as newspaper articles, have been used to piece the story together which sounds like something straight out of a spy novel. The Trigger On 30 August 1971, at 1.30 in the morning, PC Charles Shearer and PC George Paterson were on duty in a police panda car. When they came into the Tottenham Court Road, they saw a Hillman car in front of them which did not have its lights on and was being driven erratically. They decided to follow and pulled the car over in a side street near Warren Street Tube station.  The driver was quite belligerent when he ...

This is a story about two terrorists in the 1970s and the West Hampstead policeman who was involved in both cases.   PC Bob Brown Born in Croydon, Bob Brown joined the Met in 1969 and was stationed at West Hampstead for 15 years. During this time, he was regularly involved in the policing of the annual Notting Hill Carnival and the experience he derived from these large scale urban policing events served him well during the Brixton Riots in 1981.  Although local crime was the mainstay of PC Brown’s daily brief, he also took part in two cases of international terrorism while serving at West Hampstead police station. They had moved from West End Lane to a new building in Fortune Green Road in 1972. Astrid Proll Anna Puttick had been working for ten months at the Finchley Road Garage, when on 15 September 1978 she was arrested by Special Branch, supported by West Hampstead police officers including PC Brown. The garage at 265b Finchley Road, which has since been demolished, was ...

In the summer of 1905, Mrs Treadwell the wife of a plumber at 74 Granville Road South Kilburn, packed some sandwiches for her ten year old daughter Ethel and eight year son old William, who were going out to play in a local park. They left their house and met up with eight other children all aged between six and ten who lived in the same poor part of Kilburn.  Instead of going to the park they decided to play on the grass in front of Brondesbury Park Mansions, a small block of flats at 132 Salusbury Road. Brondesbury Park Mansions, Salusbury Road today. It was a hot day and they were thirsty, so they knocked on the door of flat No.9 to ask for a drink of water, but there was no one home. Then led by ten year old James Wilkins, they broke a window at the back of the house and climbed in. They went into the kitchen and found a large cake and some bacon which they ate. Then they consumed the whisky in a decanter. In a bedroom they found jewelry and a wardrobe full of clothes. After th...

This the story of a 1916 murder, but it is a very sad case. Mathilde Curtis was a nursery governess aged 35, and her sister Ellen was a music teacher aged 32. They were staying with their aunt Ade Curtis, who was also a music teacher at 5 Finchley Road, a large house close to St John’s Wood station.  On Saturday afternoon 8 January, they had gone shopping and returned to the house just before 1.00. At lunch Ellen whispered to her aunt, ‘Auntie, I’m going to be murdered’. She left the dining room to go to the bathroom followed by Mathilde. The servants heard a thud, and Mathilde ran out of the house holding a table knife dripping with blood. She shouted, ‘Its done, she is dead’. Ellen was found lying in the bathroom with her throat cut. Inspector John Elliot of S Division arrived at the house and arrested Mathilde who was taken to Portland Town police station. She said, ‘I hope I shall be hanged. I have prayed for it for weeks. We both have. She asked me to do it. It is for the best...

This is the story of the famous artist Frank Dicksee who lived at No. 3 Greville Place from 1897 until his death in 1928. Greville Place is off the Kilburn end of Maida Vale, and the house has now been sub-divided. The unusual Dicksee family name is traced back to Frank’s grandfather Richard Cox. He and his brother John were unwillingly press-ganged into the Navy in 1807. After several miserable years at sea, they deserted and used Richard’s nickname of ‘Dick C’ to become Dicksee. They returned to Swallow Street in Soho where they worked as ‘boot closers’ making the leather uppers of shoes, hidden in the cellar under their house. They were only able to lead a normal life in 1815 when an amnesty was granted on naval deserters.  Richard’s son Thomas Francis Cox was born in 1819, and the family moved to 23 Howland Street in Bloomsbury when Swallow Street was demolished to build Regent Street. The family latter changed their name from Cox to Dicksee.  Thomas Dicksee showed an earl...

On the afternoon of 9 June 1910, 50-year old business man William Samuel Frost left his office in Bishopsgate to return to his home in Ruislip. At Baker Street station he got into an empty first-class carriage on the Metropolitan express train which did not stop between Baker Street and Kilburn. A few minutes later a man got into the carriage and sat opposite.  When the train entered a tunnel, without any warning, the man suddenly pulled out a Colt revolver and fired two shots at Frost which fortunately missed him. Frost grabbed the man and fought for his life. A third shot hit him in the chin and in the fierce struggle the gun fell to the floor. The man had opened the carriage door and Frost was able to kick the gun out of the door. He shouted for help as the man attempted to push him out of the train, and Frost tried to pull the communication cord but there wasn’t one.  As the train slowed on the approach to Swiss Cottage station, the assailant jumped out and ran back down t...