History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

This is an unusual story about a Chinese acrobat and magician who in 1900, was living in Willesden with his English wife. Mac Fee Lung was born in Chinatown San Francisco about 1878. The first report we could find of him was in 1896 when he was working in New York. His stage name was Prince Fee Lung and in February he was part of a double act with Dave Morrisey – ‘the grotesque gymnast’. They placed an advert for their ‘Brand new sensational comedy act’ in the New York Clipper, a theatre trade paper. Prince Lee Fung worked in several music halls in New York, but mainly at the Chinese Theatre in Doyers Street, which was run by Chu Fong, a rich merchant in Chinatown who also operated several other theatres. But it was forced to close when Chu was arrested after running matinee shows on Sunday which had been made illegal. He had been losing money for several years because he paid the actors relatively high wages and provided food and lodging. In 1897 the 60 actors led by Dr Mac Quong Lung...

This is an unusual story from 1916 in the middle of the First World War. May Pullman was a young barmaid at The Crown Hotel, the large pub in the middle of Cricklewood. François Minner aged 32, had been discharged from the Belgian Army and was one of the 250,000 Belgians who had come to England as refugees during the beginning of the War. He was working in a munitions factory and rented a room at 68 Grafton Street Fitzroy Square, near Warren Street. The Crown Cricklewood with a horse bus outside, 1904 (Marianne Colloms) On 18 April, May arrived for work at 5.00 pm and was walking to the side door of The Crown. She did not see François who grabbed her arm as she walked past. She pushed him away and told him to leave her alone. Suddenly, he took a razor from the pocket of his Macintosh and cut her across the throat. She staggered back holding her throat which was bleeding heavily.  Motobus outside The Crown, 1912 (Getty Images) Minner walked away and was stopped by Fred Howard, a flo...

Before Cricklewood became industrialised at the turn of the 20th century, it was a small village near Kilburn. Several villas were built on the Edgware Road near Childs Hill Lane (today’s Cricklewood Lane). This is a brief story of two interesting men who lived in these villas. In 1854 William Edward Kilburn married Louisa Ludham Tootal in St John’s Church Hampstead. She was the daughter of Henry Tootal, the chairman of the North London Railway Company, who lived in Finchley New Road. The NLR built today’s London Overground line to Richmond and other lines in Docklands. William and Louisa moved to Woodbrooke House (sometimes called Woodbrook) in Cricklewood, where they stayed for several years before moving to St John’s Wood. William Edward Kilburn was an important early photographer who had opened a studio in Regent Street in 1845. Here he produced daguerreotype portraits of fashionable people. The daguerreotype was invented in France by Louis Daguerre and Nicéphore Niépce and became ...