History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

Do you remember playing conkers at school? You drilled through a horse chestnut, put a knotted string through the middle and tried to hit your opponent’s conker with your own. The winner was the one who broke their opponent’s conker. It was a popular game, the chestnuts were free, and there was always a spare bit of string lying about, so what could possibly go wrong?  The fatal conker game On 14 October 1901, two school friends were playing the game after school in the street near their homes. 12-year-old Edward Churchill lived at No.14 Ariel Road and his friend Joseph Statham, also 12, lived at No.2 Loveridge Road, close to the corner where the boys were standing. Joseph aimed at Edward’s conker which he hit but it did not break. Unfortunately, the blow shattered Joseph’s own conker. Angry at the outcome, Joseph picked up a broken piece and without thinking, threw it across the road, as a horse-drawn van was passing by. The driver was Charles John Jones, aged 26, who worked for t...