The 1935 Fire in Kilburn

In the early morning of Thursday 23 May 1935, a fire broke out in Salusbury Road in West Kilburn near the junction with Lonsdale Road. Leopold Rabbitts, who the press wrongly call Mr Rabbit, was woken up by the frantic barking of Jock, his little wire-haired terrier. He found the room full of smoke and realising there was a fire, he quickly got his wife Gertrude and his teenage children Kathleen and John out to safety. He shouted to neighbours to raise the alarm. Then he went back to get Jock, but the flames forced him back and he fell down the stairs.

The fire had started in Samuel Sidders and Son, a printing company where Leopold Rabbits was the caretaker, living above the works at No.115 Salusbury Road. The strong wind spread the fire quickly and soon several buildings were ablaze. In addition to the printing works, these were; Deacour Bros, briar pipe makers at No.107-109, Avery-Hardoll, who made garage petrol pumps at No.111, Harvey Nichols, the major Knightsbridge shop, who had a warehouse here, and Green and Edwards furniture depository at Nos. 117-121.

British Movietone News have a very short film about the fire here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU2ca_MM-e0

Fortunately, there was a police station and a fire station further down Salusbury Road and officers were quickly on the scene. But the fire spread, creating a sheet of flame along the road, and extra engines were called in. Thousands of sightseers made the firefighters’ job even harder. A dozen engines and a hundred firemen worked for five hours to get the fire under control. 

 

Fire Station next to Willesden Council Offices in Salusbury Road

The wall separating the furniture depository from the 1,000 pupil Salusbury Road School began to buckle, and firemen sprayed water from the roof and windows of the school onto the wall. The flames were 50 feet high and the blaze could be seen ten miles away.

 

Salusbury Road School

It took until 8am to bring the fire under control, and only the walls and the mass of burnt debris remained of some of the seven houses and four factories which covered a 100-yard stretch of the road. Nine families lost their homes, but fortunately no one had been killed or injured.

The next morning, a group of workers tried to enter the printing works and had to be removed by the police, while children were delighted to find there was no school that day.

When a fire chief handed the burnt dog collar to Leopold Rabbitts he burst into tears and said, ‘The poor little feller who saved us all is lying there dead. It was my dog Jock.’

It seems that the buildings were repaired and most of the people and companies were still there the following year. In fact, Sidders and Son, the printers stayed in Salusbury Road for the next 50 years before it was sold to Drydens Printers in 1985.

This photo of Salusbury Road was taken about 1915 from the corner with Victoria Road on the right. The dome in the distance was the Queens Park Electric Cinema on the corner with Lonsdale Road, which had opened in 1911. At the time of the 1935 fire it was called the Troc Cinema, which closed in 1940. This was the worst fire in the area and occurred in the buildings beyond the cinema and in the distance of this photo. There has been some rebuilding in the area and Nos.111-115 is now AMC Networks (UK), a TV company.

Surprisingly, in January 1936 there was another serious fire at the Aron Meter Manufacturing Co, on the opposite side of Salusbury Road. There is dramatic film of it here when the paint store explodes.
https://www.britishpathe.com/video/news-in-a-nutshell-67/query/Kilburn

My thanks to Adrian Hindle-Biscall for finding this clip.

Royal London Society for the Blind

A few years after the fire, the Royal London Society for the Blind (RLSB) built a large workshop and model factory at Nos.105-109 Salusbury Road (the site of the pipe factory).

The Society had been formed in 1838 by Thomas Lucas. 

A school was set up in Swiss Cottage in 1847, which was enlarged in 1887 when Eton Avenue was formed through the grounds. They moved to the new site in Salusbury Road in 1938, where they stayed until 1997 and then moved to Park Royal.

The Salusbury Road building had over 200 blind craftsmen and women who made baskets and repaired boots and shoes.

On 16 October 1952 Charlie Chaplin attended the World Premiere of his film Limelight at the Odeon in Leicester Square, with the proceeds donated to the RLSB. He had visited the workshop in Salusbury Road the previous week.

Crowds watching Princess Margaret arriving in Leicester Square

Princess Margaret meeting Charlie Chaplin and Claire Bloom

A second famous visitor was Helen Keller who came to the workshops on 5 February 1955.

Born in Alabama in 1880, aged 19 months she had an illness which left her deaf and blind. The story of how teacher Anne Sullivan worked with her was made into a film, The Miracle Worker (1962). This was based on Helen Keller's autobiography. She became a famous speaker and author who travelled to 39 countries across the world. When Anne Sullivan died, Scots-born Polly Thomson became her secretary and travelling companion.

 

Left to right, Helen Keller, Polly Thomson and Miss A. Magee, Welfare Officer of the RLSB

Today, 105-109 Salusbury Road is a Sainsburys and Co-op.