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

Roger Fenton

Roger Fenton

NW1, Albert Terrace, 2

English Heritage Roger Fenton, 1819 - 1869, photographer, lived here.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Thomas Linacre

Thomas Linacre

EC4, Knightrider Street

We bet this corner of London looked more interesting in 1500.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Sir Thomas More - birth

Sir Thomas More - birth

EC2, Milk Street, 25

In April 2011 we noticed that the building holding this plaque had changed so we re-photographed it.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Kenny Everett - W8

Kenny Everett - W8

W8, Lexham Gardens, 91

Kenny Everett 25 December 1944 to 4 April 1995. Revolutionary broadcaster and entertainer lived here from 1981 to 1995. To preserve and f...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Colyer-Fergusson - W1

Colyer-Fergusson - W1

W1, Fitzhardinge Street, Orchard Court

There must be many men who were awarded the VC, posthumously or not, whose birthplaces are not marked with a plaque. Why this one? His fa...

War dead | WW1
1 subject commemorated