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

Haile Selassie and Bob Marley

Haile Selassie and Bob Marley

NW6, Maygrove Road, Maygrove Peace Park

The quotation is from an address by Haile Selassie to the United Nations on the 4th of October 1963. It was used by Bob Marley in his son...

2 subjects commemorated
Octavia Hill - NW1

Octavia Hill - NW1

NW1, Ranston Street, 29/30

This charming street, still largely as built, was designed by Elijah Hoole. Most of it (5-11 and 21-37) is listed Grade II. It replaced t...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Edward Gibbon - SW15

Edward Gibbon - SW15

SW15, Upper Richmond Road, 139

Plaque unveiled by Professor David Wormersley who has written many books on Gibbon.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Killed at Royal Hospital Chelsea - WW1

Killed at Royal Hospital Chelsea - WW1

SW3, Royal Hospital Road, Royal Hospital Chelsea, Middle Court

Both the 1918 and the 1945 events caused death and destruction at the north east wing of the Hospital, where there is another plaque.

Civilian war dead | WW1
8 subjects commemorated
Braeside - nursery

Braeside - nursery

IG10, Connaught Avenue, 1, Godiva House

2023: the building seems to be used by the Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery and also by the Godiva Printing Shop.