History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

Today the long building in Cricklewood Broadway at Nos. 249-289 near Mora Road, includes the Leyland SDM decorating and DIY centre, a Gym and several other businesses.  This is the intriguing story of how the site was used by various companies over time. It has been re-built and the numbering has changed. Site of Rolls Razor factory from the 1954 OS Map British Caudron, Cricklewood The French Caudron Brothers began building their own design of aircraft in 1910. William Hugh Ewen was a pioneer Scottish aviator who formed the W.H. Ewen Aviation Co Ltd, with a flying school in Lanark in June 1911. They moved to Hendon the following year, where in April he obtained a license to manufacture the French Caudron aircraft. When he left the company, its name was changed to British Caudron, and in January 1915 they took over the building in Cricklewood Broadway previously built for Messrs Morgan and Sharp, car body builders (Morgan & Sharp only appear in the 1914-1915 Street Directory). W...

In the middle of WWI large numbers of servicemen were returning home with permanent injuries. In Manchester Henry Lesser Rothbard an India Rubber manufacturer, was disturbed because so many men could not get work. He wrote to hundreds of employers across the country and then sent a pamphlet to Parliament in 1915. He suggested a scheme in which every company with more than 10 employees, should ensure that no less than 5% of the workforce were disabled ex-servicemen. He wanted royal patronage for the idea which would be called The King’s National Roll Scheme (KNRS). Every business who took part would be able to use the King’s Seal on their office stationary. Although some interest was shown the scheme was not implemented. In 1917 a Rothbard Parliamentary Committee was set up to assess the feasibility of the scheme. By Xmas 1918 over 500,000 men had been discharged with permanent disabilities. In May 1919 about 38,000 had registered at employment exchanges and the scheme looked more appea...