Event    From 1939  To 1945

World War 2

Categories: Armed Forces, Tragedy

Sorry, we've done no research on WW2, it's just too big a subject. But do visit the picture source web site - it has a fascinating collection of maps. And we enjoyed these photos of current WW2 evidence in London. Also for some signs of WW2 on buildings in London see Spitalfields Life.

February 2015: Londonist did something we’ve been meaning to do for ages: they’ve brought together all the various heads of state and governments-in-exile that found a home in London during WW2.  We’ve shamelessly taken that splendid research and linked it to the associated memorials that we’ve found.

The Free French wartime headquarters were at 1 Dorset Square and at Carlton Gardens where there are two  plaques and a statue.  De Gaulle lived in Hampstead.

The Netherlands’ head of state, Queen Wilhelmina, lived at Claridge’s and had her Secretariat at 77 Chester Square where there is a plaque.  The Dutch government initially met in the Dutch Reformed Church at 7 Austin Friars but this was destroyed by bombs in 1940 which may be what prompted them to move to Stratton House, 79 Piccadilly. And the Dutch club was at Oranjehaven.

The Polish Prime Minister Sikorski based himself in the Polish embassy at 47 Portland Place. The Polish President Raczkiewicz lived at 43 Eaton Place and ran his government in exile from here.

Belgium’s government-in-exile was based at the Belgian embassy at 105 Eaton Square.

The President of Czechoslovakia, Edvard Beneš, lived at 26 Gwendolen Avenue Putney.  The Czech government in exile was run from 3-8 Porchester Gate, Bayswater Road.

King Haakon of Norway officially lived at the Norwegian embassy at 10 Palace Green W8 where there is a plaque (not at 10 Kensington Palace Gardens) but often stayed at Claridges.  Prime Minister Nygaardsvold ran his government-in-exile from Kingston House North on Prince’s Gate.

King Peter II of Yugoslavia lived at Claridges.  His government in exile was run from Kingston House, the same address as the Norwegian government.

Luxembourg based its government in exile at 27 Wilton Crescent.

King George II of Greece lived at Claridges.

We believe these were also based in London but we need more information: Denmark’s government; King Zog of Albania; Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia.

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
World War 2

Commemorated ati

11 Group Operations Room

Unveiled by Lord Dowding.

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Abbey Road Depot - WW2 ARP members lost

Bill Wallis is described on the plaque as 'ARP Stretcher Bearer'. Which we ta...

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Abney Park - CWGC war memorial

The screen wall at the back, south, of the memorial carries a number of bronz...

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Adam Faith

Adam Faith (Terry Nelhams), 1940 - 2003, singer & actor born in a house o...

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African and Caribbean Armed Forces

Unveiled on Windrush Day. A very simple design, we think the horizontal obeli...

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Other Subjects

Lieutenant Charles Campbell Wood

Lieutenant Charles Campbell Wood

Hero. R.A.F (South African Artillery). On 27 December 1919 he dived into the Thames from the upstream footway of Hammersmith Bridge and saved a drowning woman. He contracted tetanus as a consequenc...

Person, Armed Forces, Tragedy, South Africa

1 memorial
R. W. Burton

R. W. Burton

J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. staff member who died in WW1.

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
K. P. Harman

K. P. Harman

Camden Borough engineer & surveyor in 1969. Initials after his name: "B.Sc. (Eng.) F.I.C.E., F.I.Mun.E.". From the information given by Dugald Gonsal which is shown on our Memorial entry for t...

Person, Armed Forces, Engineering

1 memorial
Major General, Lord Cheylesmore

Major General, Lord Cheylesmore

Herbert Francis Eaton, 3rd Baron Cheylesmore.  Born London.  Chairman of the London County Council, 1912-13. Soldier in WW1, specialising in court-martials. Died in hospital at Englefield Green, fr...

Person, Armed Forces, Politics & Administration

3 memorials
Private Frederick William Welch Dunk

Private Frederick William Welch Dunk

Co-partner or employee of the South Suburban Gas Company. Served but did not die in WW1. Private Frederick William Welch Dunk was born on 4 July 1875, a son of of John Dunk (b.1835) and Sarah Dunk...

Person, Armed Forces

War served, WW1
1 memorial

Previously viewed

World War 1

World War 1

We'd always assumed that this war was known as the Great War until WW2 came along at which point it was renamed as World War One or the First World War. But the term was first used in print in 1920...

Event, Armed Forces, Tragedy

402 memorials
John Hunter

John Hunter

Pioneer anatomist and surgeon. Born in East Kilbride, Scotland. He left school at the age of 13 and after an unremarkable childhood, journeyed south to London to work as a dissector for his brother...

Person, Medicine, Scotland

8 memorials
Tessa Jowell

Tessa Jowell

MP, Minister in the Blair / Brown governments 1997-2010.  Born Marylebone. Her Wikipedia page gives much information about her life and together with her obituary confirms that she died, aged 70 ye...

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
David Davies

David Davies

One of the 11 "children of England" present on 7th July 1933 when The Princess Royal laid a foundation stone for a nurses home for the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.

Person, Children

1 memorial
Sidney Lewis

Sidney Lewis

Soldier. He enlisted in the East Surrey Regiment in August 1915 at the age of twelve, and fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, then aged thirteen. In the 106th Machine Gun Company of the Mach...

Person, Armed Forces, Emergency Services, Austria, France

1 memorial