Fiction
* Marianne Colloms and Dick Weindling in "History of Kilburn ..." 27 May 2021 Fiction
* Dick Weindling quoted by Tom Foot in "Camden New Journal", 27 May 2021 Fiction
* Dick Weindling quoted by Tom Foot in "Camden New Journal", 27 May 2021
Fact
A quick search in the British Newspaper Archive, (screenshot above) revealed at least one reference to Lillie Langtry in connection with
Alexandra Road prior to 1965 (Evening Standard) - or to 1971 for that matter (Times & Daily Telegraph).
This was published by the "Hampstead News" on the 25 May 1950 - and
there could be others before then (…)
Short Transcript
"At
one time, the street (Alexandra Road) could boast (that) it housed no less a
personage than Lillie Langtry. She lived at Leighton House which had a
covered canopy leading from the gate up the marble steps to the front door..."
Full Screen-shot
© Sidney Catley / Hampstead News
Other Details
"Another and perhaps more intimate personality (...) who lived on this road was
(...) Frederick Scarsbrook co-founder of the Hampstead News - died in 1948
at the age of 93 years... A previous occupier of the house,
incidentally, was Miss L. Streetly-Smith, at the one-time editor of this
newspaper..."
Possible Implications
Considering that Mr. Frederick Scarsbrook, co-founder of the "Hampstead News", lived nearby at 81 Alexandra Road (between 1933 and 1948) AND that before him, Miss L. Streetly-Smith - one time chief-editor of the same newspaper - had lived in the same house, other inferences are possible …
We know Miss Streetly-Smith passed away in 1933, but the evidence (below) indicates that she was living there already in November 1914 …
Is it possible that Miss Streetly-Smith might have become aware of the legend from
the moment she came to live in Alexandra Road? Perhaps well before 1914?
(we know she was living in nearby Belsize Road in 1901 - same source)
Number 81 (where she lived in Alexandra Road) was on the same side of the street and a short walk from Leighton House - an otherwise eye-catching building.
Add to it the fact that journalists tend to be rather curious by nature. Curiosity being after all, the raison d'être of their métier …
This is, of course, a research hypothesis (ongoing) but the undeniable fact is that the legend of Lillie Langtry and Leighton House, was already known to the press by 1950 and, possibly, as far back as 1914 or earlier, which means that there could have been residents in Alexandra Road that at the time remembered Lillie - and the Prince's days - or nights, as the case may be.
In Sum:
The assumption that it was all invented "in the 1960s (1965 to be precise) by a Greek actress (tour director, in fact) - trying to save her home from demolition" (really?) as it was alleged by the two local historians, supported by a laureate genealogist, and disseminated by the local and mainstream press - not to mention the 'Pedia - is at odds with the facts …
Source: The British Newspaper Archive
Addenda:
* Mr Dick Weindling quoted by Tom Foot in the "Camden New Journal, 27 May
There could be a plausible explanation or two, for the scarcity of earlier records. Again, I draw the readers' attention to my post:
