History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

‘A Jersey Lily’ by John Everett Millais, 1878 Lillie Langtry, known as the ‘Jersey Lily’, was a mistress of Bertie the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII. It is widely believed that she lived in South Hampstead and today her name is remembered by Langtry Road which runs off Kilburn Priory, Langtry Walk in the Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate, and the Lillie Langtry pub at 121 Abbey Road, on the corner with Belsize Road. The Lillie Langtry was built in 1969 to replace a demolished Victorian pub, The Princess of Wales, named in honour of Alexandra, Edward’s wife. In 2007 it was briefly called The Cricketers before the name reverted to The Lillie Langtry in 2011. Lillie Langtry’s address is given as Leighton House, 103 Alexandra Road which is now demolished and lies under the Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate. It was thought that Bertie visited her there during their affair which lasted from about June 1877 to June 1880. The dates are approximate as there is little evidence of...

I went to school with a bank robber, but I did not know it at the time. In January 1962 four men from Kilburn were arrested while attempting to break in through a window at the rear of the Barclays Bank in Kenton Road Harrow. In court the men were described as: Brian Shrimpton (19) a labourer from Palmerston Road; Brian Phillips (23) a driver also from Palmerston Road; David Francis Murphy (17) a labourer from Brondesbury Villas Kilburn, and John Stainer (18) a van boy from The Avenue Brondesbury. They had been in the Prince of Wales pub in Kingsbury when they were overheard planning the raid. But their luck was out - they did not know that the men at the next table were three policemen from the Flying Squad. The Kilburn men drove off in a van to check out the Kenton Road bank, then they went to The Cabin café at 80 Palmerston Road in Kilburn and back to Kenton to do the bank raid.  They were unaware that they had been followed all the way by the Flying Squad and were totally surpr...

‘Truth’ was a society weekly magazine begun by Henry Labouchere in 1877 and it continued under different owners until 1957. It was read by the upper and middle classes and had a circulation of about 30,000. There was regular coverage of society events, the theatre and sport. But it also carried out investigative journalism, often focusing on exposing financial swindlers.    Henry Labouchere   In 1909 Truth targeted the ‘Munich Artists’ Guild’ which they said operated the well-known free portrait trick using house to house selling. An example was given of a woman who ordered two free enlargements of her photograph and then received a demand for £3 16s for the works when framed and completed. Truth wanted its readers to know the address of the ‘Guild’ was 21 Cowper Street Leeds. Later Truth named Armin Gross as the man behind the scam, and they pursued him at every opportunity. The 1911 census showed 31-year old Armin Gross living with his family at 21 Cowper Street Leeds...