History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

Setting the scene Time: late evening. Date: 28 June 1869. Place: Hale Lodge, a large house on Hale Lane, Mill Hill. Introducing the characters ‘Francis, is Elizabeth with you?’ Cecilia called from the living room to her husband who was taking his coat off in the hall.  ‘No’, he replied, ‘I was the only passenger who got off the train, was she supposed to be on it too? It’s the last one this evening’.  ‘Well, she asked us for a day off to visit her family in town and wanted to come back as late as possible. I hope nothing’s happened to her’. The young lady in question was Elizabeth Warburton, in her twenties and employed as a nursery governess to the couple’s young family. Francis Cowley Burnand and his wife Cecilia lived about 10 minutes’ walk from Mill Hill Station. He described their home as ‘prettily situated in a locality innocent of builders’. It was a rural neighbourhood without streetlighting, made up roads or pavements but since 1868, conveniently served by trains on t...