Plaque

Lord Ashfield - W1

Erection date: 1984

Inscription

Albert Henry Stanley, Lord Ashfield, 1874 - 1948, first Chairman of London Transport, lived here.
Greater London Council

Note the use of London Underground’s own typeface, Johnston Sans.

2020: This house was up for sale and the estate agents noted that Ashfield lived here 1918 - 1940. They add "The home hosted key meetings in the run up to the Second World War when Lord Ashfield and senior members of Neville Chamberlain’s Government planned the “Underground Downing Street” for the War Cabinet at disused Down Street Tube station. He personally oversaw the top secret conversion work, walking from South Street where his home’s principal rooms were often filled with complicated floorplans of London’s vast underground rail network. The subterranean complex was ready in late 1939 and it was used by Chamberlain and later Winston Churchill, and had the codename “The Barn”. It eventually became redundant when the Cabinet War Rooms under Whitehall became fully operational in 1940."

Site: Lord Ashfield - W1 (1 memorial)

W1, South Street, 43

The estate agents say the house "was built by J.J Stevenson in Queen Anne revival style between 1896 and 1898."

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Lord Ashfield - W1

Subjects commemorated i

Lord Ashfield

Transport organizer and politician. Born Albert Henry Knattriess at New Norma...

Read More

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Lord Ashfield - W1

Created by i

Greater London Council

Replaced the LCC. The GLC was abolished, some say, because Mrs Thatcher could...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

Edith Nesbit

Edith Nesbit

SE13, Elswick Road, 28

Plaque unveiled by Fern Ravandi, her great-granddaughter.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
West Square

West Square

SE11, West Square, Garden

The West Square Residents Association has provided an excellent history of this Square on a notice board at the gate. We have transcribed...

1 subject commemorated
Bush House - US Presidents, possibly

Bush House - US Presidents, possibly

WC2, Aldwych, Bush House

Our photos was taken during a 2018 exhibition 'The Classical Now' during which these two muscle-men came over all modest. The 2 huge fig...

Peter Moorhouse

Peter Moorhouse

SW6, Bishop's Avenue, Fulham Palace Gardens

Londonist brought this engaging multiple memorial to our attention. Information about visiting Fulham Palace. Bishop Porteus looks out c...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Mary Millington

Mary Millington

W1, Great Windmill Street, 42 - 44

The unveiling of this plaque coincided with the release of a documentary film about Millington.

3 subjects commemorated

Previously viewed

donkeys of Covent Garden

donkeys of Covent Garden

100,000 costermongers' donkeys worked in and around the market.  The picture source says: "In the 1860s there were as many as 2,000 donkey barrows on a Saturday morning in Covent Garden Market."

Animal, Commerce, Animals

1 memorial
Roger Fry

Roger Fry

Artist, art critic and member of the Bloomsbury Group. Born Roger Eliot Fry at 6, The Grove, Highgate. 8 years later the family moved next door into number 5.  Primarily a landscape painter, he cha...

Person, Art

2 memorials
Marylebone Station Centenary

Marylebone Station Centenary

NW1, Melcombe Place

April 2015: this plaque and coat of arms have been removed. We didn't search the station for them so it's possible they have just be re...

3 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Emily Yeates

Emily Yeates

Born Horton, daughter of William Wlllson Yeates. See there for information about her family. Buried in St Michaels churchyard Horton,13 February 1835.  

Person, Children, Friend / family

1 memorial
Clement Attlee

Clement Attlee

Politician. Born Clement Richard Attlee at Westcott, 18 Portinscale Road, Putney. In 1919 he became the first Labour mayor of Stepney and entered parliament in 1922. He served as Dominions Secretar...

Person, Politics & Administration

5 memorials