The Ten Little Kilburn Burglars

In the summer of 1905, Mrs Treadwell the wife of a plumber at 74 Granville Road South Kilburn, packed some sandwiches for her ten year old daughter Ethel and eight year son old William, who were going out to play in a local park. They left their house and met up with eight other children all aged between six and ten who lived in the same poor part of Kilburn.

Instead of going to the park they decided to play on the grass in front of Brondesbury Park Mansions, a small block of flats at 132 Salusbury Road.

Brondesbury Park Mansions, Salusbury Road today.

It was a hot day and they were thirsty, so they knocked on the door of flat No.9 to ask for a drink of water, but there was no one home. Then led by ten year old James Wilkins, they broke a window at the back of the house and climbed in. They went into the kitchen and found a large cake and some bacon which they ate. Then they consumed the whisky in a decanter. In a bedroom they found jewelry and a wardrobe full of clothes. After their feast, they left with rings, blouses, bonnets, ribbons, a compass, and pen knives, and went home.

Ethel told her mother that a woman had given her two rings and a blouse. Sarah Treadwell did not believe her and contacted the other parents. When the children owned up to what they had done, the parents took them to the Kilburn police station the next morning. The stolen items were returned. Detective Sergeant Cole told the children how serious burglary was and they later appeared at the Willesden magistrate court. The Chairman of the bench said the older boys would be given four strokes of the birch rod, and he relied on the parents to punish the other children.

The illustration shows the children dressed in rather smart clothes, but in fact they were all from poor families.

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History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

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