History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

This story looks at the beginning of the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad and how they dealt with gangs who stole motor cars in the 1920s and 30s. With the growing ownership of cars after the First World War, criminals began stealing them to carry out burglaries and jewel raids and then make a quick getaway. The ‘Police Flying Squadron’ was set up in October 1919 and its name was soon shortened to the ‘Flying Squad’. To begin with, the dozen officers, led by Detective Superintendent Fred Wensley, were equipped with two covered, horse-drawn wagons leased from the Great Western Railway. They concentrated on known criminals. When a group of pickpockets was spotted the detectives would slip out of the van and mingle with the crowd before making an arrest. The Met was organized into 22 separate geographic divisions and the Flying Squad provided a means of chasing criminals across London. In the 1920s it was expanded to 40 officers. ‘Prince of Motor Thieves’ In 1919 The Times said that the n...

This is story of a famous detective who lived in West Hampstead and some of his unusual cases. The press called him ‘Debonair’ Drew as he was the best-dressed and most elegant detective in Scotland Yard. The underworld called him ‘Tricky’ Drew because they both admired and feared him due to his detection skills and the many disguises he adopted. Unfortunately, there are no good photos of him and this one is from a newspaper in 1908 where he is escorting a witness to court. Edward Drew started his career at Vine Street on 21 November 1881 and had served 27 years in the Metropolitan Police when he retired in October 1908 aged 49. His pension record shows that he was born on 19 March 1859, in Bow East London. He was 5ft 11, with grey hair and hazel eyes. He received an annual pension of £224 (worth about £24,000 today). His father Timothy Drew was born in Ireland in 1815 and became a Metropolitan police constable who left the service in 1861. By 1891 Edward Drew now a Detective Sergeant, ...