“Oh my husband what have you done?” The sad story of an unhappy marriage.

The Queen’s Arms

Back in the nineteenth century, the Queen’s Arms was the first public house a traveller encountered on the Edgware Road before entering the village of Kilburn.

In 1843 the pub was trading as the Queen’s Arms Tavern, owned and possibly built by Robert Blore. He was in the horse omnibus business, part owner of the London Conveyance Company, and a bus yard was created at the back of the pub.

 

Queen's Arms (Marianne Colloms)

At the time, the Queen’s Arms was one of many venues popular with Londoners for a day trip into the country. Its pleasure gardens sloped down to the Kilbourne stream after it had passed under the High Road at Kilburn Bridge. On holidays the publican put on special events and shows. One Easter advert promoted (among many other attractions over three days), a grand military band, balloon ascents and a fancy fair, all culminating in a grand ball.

In 1911, the public house had a loyal band of locals who came for a drink most evenings. Frederick Whitlock the landlord didn’t live on the premises which was run by a manageress and a handful of staff who lodged upstairs.

Like many other licensees at the time, Whitlock liked his employees to be single and he believed that was true of his head barman, Arthur McNair. However, Arthur was a married man who divided his time between the pub and his rooms just a short walk away at 3 Oxford Road. This fact was well-known to the regulars, as Arthur had been at the pub for four years and his wife visited him during opening hours, sometimes asking her husband to buy her a drink.

Arthur & Elsie McNair

Arthur Edward McNair was born in Exeter and served in the Army during the 1890s. His 1892 joining up papers show that the 20-year-old was already in the pub trade as a barman. He served through the South African War and left the Army with a good character and medals. He then acted as a valet to an officer before returning to bar work.  

His wife was St Pancras born milliner Elsie Frances Annie Bratley, who was the daughter of a military tailor. The couple were married at Kensington Register Office in July 1905. He was living at 34 Earl’s Court Gardens and she was nearby, at 20 Kempsford Gardens. Accounts point to the marriage being a turbulent one and that Elsie probably had a drink problem.

The assault and appearance at the magistrate’s court

Shortly before midnight on 1 March 1911, police were called to the Queen's Arms by Fred Whitlock. He’d been in the bar when he heard a loud bang followed by two more. At first, he thought it was a bottle breaking but then he saw Arthur with a gun in his hand. 

The police arrived and found Arthur and Elsie, both bleeding but able to walk and talk. He had two small wounds on his forehead through which a bullet had passed, and she had a wound in her cheek and neck. Arthur was holding a revolver containing three spent and one live bullet. When she saw Arthur, Elsie clasped him round the neck, crying ‘Oh my husband what have you done?’

Arthur readily admitted to shooting Elsie and then turning the gun on himself. The evidence given in the magistrate’s court painted a sad picture of the couple’s life together. He was incorrectly described as a public house manager and charged with attempting to murder Elsie and attempting to commit suicide.

Both parties carried the evidence of Arthur’s actions: described as of slight build with a sallow complexion, he had a bandaged forehead and she wore a black silk scarf around her head, covering the wound on her cheek. Detective Inspector Frank Pike said Arthur was contrite when arrested: ‘I am sorry I did it. She has led me a dreadful life, continually coming to the house (pub) and abusing me.’ Neither party was seriously injured, but in DI Pike’s opinion, Arthur appeared to have made ‘a very deliberate attempt to murder (Elsie), and she had a very narrow escape from death.’

 

Elsie, with her head covered by a silk scarf at the magistrate's court

Elsie told the magistrate they were an excitable couple and had ‘hurt’ each other in the past. She went on to admit to being drunk and claimed the assault had been her fault. 
‘I was aggravating him terribly by jawing and bullying him. Do you think you will let him out with me today?’ 

The magistrate said No, it was a serious offence and that nothing Elsie had said could remove the charge against Arthur. After a second appearance before the magistrates, he was refused bail and committed for trial at the Old Bailey on 30 March 1911.

The trial

Knowing his employer’s preference for employing single men, Arthur had tried to keep his marriage a secret. This was even more important when Whitlock was on the premises although at the trial, Whitlock said he hadn’t known who Elsie was. He gave Arthur a good reference, saying he was a reliable worker. 

On the day of the shooting Elsie had visited the pub in the afternoon but left without seeing her husband. When she returned later that evening, Robert Norris, a fellow barman, said, ‘she started nagging and tantalising Arthur and went on for about 10 minutes.’ George Robinson who was drinking at the bar also saw Elsie, and in his words, ‘she started her usual performance.’ Arthur left the bar and came back with a revolver which he showed Elsie before firing at her. Elsie threw a glass of beer which hit Arthur on the back. He ran out of the bar to the rear of the pub, where he shot himself. 

The doctor who treated Elsie said she had been shot from a distance of just six to 12 inches, but the wounds were not serious. This suggests it was a small calibre gun.

Elsie again told the Judge that it was all her fault, but her recollection of the evening’s events was hazy. ‘I did not see the revolver. I felt something, but I do not remember feeling much. I fell down but did not become unconscious.’ 

Arthur said he had brought his gun to the pub and kept it there after a burglary on the premises. His intention was to frighten his wife, not shoot her but he had forgotten he had cleaned and loaded the revolver the night before.

Arthur was found guilty of unlawful wounding ‘under great provocation’ and the charge of attempted suicide was dropped. During the summing up it was stated the couple lived on very bad terms, that Elsie was a woman of ‘bad habits’ who had gone to the police on two occasions alleging Arthur had tried to shoot her. 

As he had already spent a month in prison. he was released on his own recognisance of £50 and bound over to come up for judgment if required. This meant he was free to go.

The aftermath

We can’t find either Arthur or Elsie in the 1911 census which took place on April 2^nd, a couple of days after the trial, but they were no longer living at No.3 Oxford Road. It’s likely the couple subsequently separated: in 1939 Arthur was living at Keens Road Croydon employed as a billiard room attendant, when he gave his marital status as ‘single’. 

He died aged 75 in Croydon in 1948. The death of an Elsie McNair aged 60 was recorded in Kensington in 1942.

The Queen’s Arms became No.1 Kilburn High Road and before being bombed on 26 September 1940, it was an attractive, double-fronted building with large bays at ground level. At least 13 people were killed and the building was destroyed leaving a large crater which local children used as a playground, until the pub was rebuilt in its present form in 1958.

Queen's Arms today (Dick Weindling)