History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

Before Cricklewood became industrialised at the turn of the 20th century, it was a small village near Kilburn. Several villas were built on the Edgware Road near Childs Hill Lane (today’s Cricklewood Lane). This is a brief story of two interesting men who lived in these villas. In 1854 William Edward Kilburn married Louisa Ludham Tootal in St John’s Church Hampstead. She was the daughter of Henry Tootal, the chairman of the North London Railway Company, who lived in Finchley New Road. The NLR built today’s London Overground line to Richmond and other lines in Docklands. William and Louisa moved to Woodbrooke House (sometimes called Woodbrook) in Cricklewood, where they stayed for several years before moving to St John’s Wood. William Edward Kilburn was an important early photographer who had opened a studio in Regent Street in 1845. Here he produced daguerreotype portraits of fashionable people. The daguerreotype was invented in France by Louis Daguerre and Nicéphore Niépce and became ...