History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

This is the story of a largely forgotten IRA campaign which was carried out in England just before the outbreak of World War II.  In April 1938 the IRA in Dublin drew up a document called the ‘S (for Sabotage) Plan’. It was decided, for the sake of diplomatic correctness, that a formal declaration of War should be presented to the British Government. The ultimatum, which demanded the removal of all British troops from Ireland, was delivered to Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, on 12 January 1939. Scotland Yard’s Special Branch and the Government unwisely treated it as just another idle threat. This was a mistake. Carrying out the S-Plan On the 16 January eight bombs exploded simultaneously in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, and Alnwick in Northumberland.  Suspects in known centres of Irish population, such as Kilburn, were subjected to intense questioning and their homes searched by the police and Special Branch. But the IRA was one step ahead, having deliberatel...