History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

Alfred George Stapleton was born in 1899 in Finchley. During the First World War he signed up as a boy sailor in April 1915 and began at the training ship HMS Arethusa on the river Thames. He then joined Admiral Beatty’s battle cruiser HMS Princess Royal in May 1916.  Alfred quickly found himself in the middle of the conflict when he was on the bridge of Beatty’s flagship at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May to 1 June 1916. This was the largest naval battle of the War when the British Home Fleet took on the German High Seas Fleet off the north coast of Denmark’s Jutland peninsula. The plan was to intercept a sortie by the German Fleet into the North Sea. With help of a captured code book, the British had decoded the German radio messages and left their bases before the Germans put to sea. The fleets engaged and Princess Royal was hit by two shells in the first three minutes. During the battle she received a total of nine hits and 22 men were killed and 81 injured.  The British ...

To commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the Battle of Jutland, we tell the story of Arthur Townsend Johnstone, a naval officer who was killed that day on HMS Defence. He is remembered on a family memorial in Hampstead Cemetery , Fortune Green Road . The Battle of Jutland took place on 31 May 1916 , off the west coast of Denmark . It was the only major fleet action of World War I and was the largest naval battle of all time. It only lasted 12 hours, but more than 6,000 British sailors were killed and 14 ships were sunk. The German loses were 11 ships and over 2,500 men. HMS Defence The battle cruiser Invincible had disabled two German light cruisers and Defence and Warrior from the First Cruiser Squadron were attempting to sink them when they were hammered by fire from the German battleships. The Defence was hit by two salvos and the rear magazine exploded, sinking the ship killing 900 men. The Warrior was set on fire, but managed to escape. Recent studies show ...