History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

Gustav Steinhauer was the German spymaster before and during the First World War. He had worked for the Pinkerton Detective Agency in Chicago and had been the Kaiser’s bodyguard when he visited London in 1901 for Queen Victoria’s funeral. In disguise, Steinhauer travelled to England several times to set up a spy network before the War.  Gustav Steinhauer in Naval Uniform He recruited three German hairdressers, Karl Gustav Ernst, Wilhelm Kronauer and Otto Kruger, who acted as intermediaries to receive and forward letters from his agents. Ernst had a shop at 402a Caledonian Road, Kronauer was at 31 Fortune Green Road (near today’s famous Nautilus fish restaurant in West Hampstead), and Kruger was at 334 Kilburn High Road. During the Kaiser’s visit to England in May 1910 to attend the funeral of King Edward VII, Special Branch followed a senior German officer to Ernst’s shop where he stayed overnight. This was suspicious, so a Home Office Warrant (HOW) was issued, and the GPO intercep...

Newspaper photo of Kusel and Linda Behr Kusel Behr and his brother Samuel were partners in a very successful company of egg importers called Behr & Mathew in Southwark. They imported millions of frozen eggs from their factory in Shanghai for use in food products across Europe. They had other factories in Berlin, Paris and Hamburg. In 1920 the Behr brothers bought out the Mathew’s family interests. The Behr family had originated in Lithuania. Kusel had married Linda in 1909 and they had four children. Kusel and Linda travelled extensively and lived in America, South Africa and for seven years in Shanghai. They had come from Shanghai to London in May 1923 and later bought No.368 Finchley Road. This was a large house called Lyndale Hall, opposite Lyndale Avenue just north of the Hendon Way. Today this has been replaced by a block of flats. 1954 OS Map  Up until 1923 Kusel had generally been in good health, but at the end of December that year he had a bad attack of bronchitis and ...

This small shop in Exeter Parade, Exeter Road was next to the Kilburn Underground Station from 1955 to at least 1974. It was run by Ray ‘Professor’ Foxley, a quietly spoken and very talented New Orleans style pianist who played with the Mick Mulligan, Ken Colyer and Chris Barber jazz bands. His nickname of Professor was a tribute to New Orleans stride pianists such as ‘Professor Longhair’. Ray was born in Birmingham and after the War he led bands in the Midlands before coming to London in the 1950s. Ray and his wife Doreen lived at 68 Whitefriars Avenue in Harrow for many years. He died in London in 2002. My friends and I would go to the shop regularly on a Saturday to listen to records in the tiny booths which were covered with acoustic pinboard walls. I bought my first jazz records by the Modern Jazz Quartet and Gerry Mulligan there. My friend Dan Shackell remembers getting Gene Vincent’s ‘Lotta Lovin’ in 1958.           Site of Foxley's Exeter Parade in ...

What are the chances of finding two safe blowers in West Hampstead? Even more unlikely is the fact that they were both living there in 1955. But surprisingly, there is no obvious link between the men. The First Raid at Stanstead On the night of 3-4 February 1955 thieves blew open the safe in the wages office of Skyways Ltd at Stansted Airport, and stole cash and National Health stamps. Leading from the safe to the door were two strands of wire, and in the passage the police found a live unused detonator. The next day, presumably acting on a tip-off, Detective Superintendent Tom Bradford and members of the Flying Squad went to a house in West End Lane. The number was not given in the newspaper reports and it was rather oddly called a bungalow, but there is no obvious house like this in the road. Eddie Rice, aged 34, still dressed in pyjamas, opened the door and said, ‘I have been expecting this. You are lucky because I was going to leave here tomorrow. Things were getting too hot’...

As the local population grew, several buildings were opened to provide amusement in Cricklewood.  The Cricklewood Dance Hall and Skating Rink, 1920s In the 1920s at No. 200 Cricklewood Broadway  (over time the numbering changed), there was a dance hall, a roller skating rink, and a cinema all next door to each other. This postcard shows the dance hall and skating rink. The Palace, or Electric Palace cinema (which was out of view on the right-hand side of the above picture), opened in November 1910 and continued to the early part of WWII. It was built by converting existing shops, and was part of a small chain of 11 London cinemas which was registered as a limited company in January 1909. There were performances of films from 2.00 to 11.00 daily, and the Cricklewood cinema was licensed for 400 seats. One resident remembers going to the Saturday morning children’s sessions in the 1930s. He saw, ‘Cowboy films, The Three Stooges and cartoons. There was a piano player for the sil...