History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

In the late Victorian period, Kensal Green was still known as Kensal New Town which had been built in the 1840s, following the 1838 opening of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Great Western Railway which passed nearby. Viscount Howard as he was called, was a member of the local Conservative Association, and popular with the ladies of the Primrose League. He was also very well known in the Kensal New Town pubs. He lived at 72 Kilburn Lane for over 20 years, which he rented at 8sh and 6d a week.                                72 Kilburn Lane today He was born in Walsall in 1840 as William Little Howard, the son of a respectable solicitor. Aged 19 he joined the Royal Navy, and in 1862 he was a clerk at the Admiralty but was obliged to retire because he went bankrupt. He continued to spend more than he earned, and when his father disowned him, William had to live on his wits using various scams and fraud...