Lexham Gardens

Lexham Gardens
Lexham Gardens in 2009
Postal codeW8

51°29′45″N 0°11′31″W / 51.4959292°N 0.1919530°W / 51.4959292; -0.1919530

Christine Granville blue plaque at no 1
Christine Granville blue plaque at no 1
Learie Constantine blue plaque, 101 Lexham Gardens, Kensington, London, his home from 1949 to 1954

Lexham Gardens is a street in South Kensington, London.

Although somewhat irregular in shape, the largest part of the street runs west to east from Earls Court Road to Cromwell Road.

The Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, London is at 5–7.[1]

Lexham Gardens figures in Part 6 of the BBC miniseries (1979) based on the novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Garden

Sir Cyril Taylor, the educator and social entrepreneur, purchased the freehold of a one-acre garden square, near to his London home in Lexham Gardens, by auction in 1989.[2] With the assistance of designer Wilf Simms, he redesigned and replanted the garden, and saved it from the hands of property developers who wanted to build an underground car park underneath. In the garden's first summer of 1991, Lexham Gardens was awarded first prize in the All London Garden Squares Competition, competing against entries from 100 other squares.[3]

Notable residents

Notable residents included the cricketer Learie Constantine, at no 101.[4][5]

Sir Alexander Carmichael Bruce, the second Assistant Commissioner "A" of the Metropolitan Police, lived at no 82.

Sir Juland Danvers, administrator and civil servant in India, lived at no. 103 after his retirement.[6]

The civil engineer Horace Bell lived and died at no 114.

Kenny Everett, the comedian, radio DJ and television entertainer lived at no 91 from 1981 to his death in 1995.

Derek Nimmo, character actor, producer and author lived in Lexham Gardens.

The actor Denholm Elliott was born at no. 48.[7]

On 15 June 1952, Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent Christine Granville was stabbed to death in the Shellbourne Hotel, 1 Lexham Gardens, by an "obsessed" Dennis George Muldowney, who was hanged on 30 September.[8]

Charles Bean, the Australian official war correspondent of World War I and future official historian of the war, shared lodgings with the future director of the Australian War Memorial John Treloar at no 1 for part of the war.[9]

References

  1. ^ "The London Diplomatic List" (PDF). 13 December 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 December 2013.
  2. ^ Taylor, Cyril (2013). Sir Cyril My Life as a Social Entrepreneur. Amberley. p. 128. ISBN 978-1-4456-1192-1.
  3. ^ "Annual Report" (PDF). Kensington Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2013.
  4. ^ "CONSTANTINE, Sir Learie (1901-1971) | English Heritage". english-heritage.org.uk. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  5. ^ London History Tours, Adrian Sill, Jeremy Tipton. "Sir Learie lived here". shadyoldlady.com. Retrieved 10 September 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ "Obituaries - Sir Juland Danvers". The Times. No. 36903. London. 20 October 1902. p. 4.
  7. ^ "Elliott, Denholm Mitchell (1922–1992), actor". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/51023. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 31 May 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  8. ^ Long, David (2012). Murders of London : in the steps of the capitals killers. London: Random House. pp. 118–121. ISBN 9781847946720.
  9. ^ Condé, Anne-Marie (12 June 2007). "Caring for the past". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
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