# Wimpole Street

Wimpole Street is a street in Marylebone, central London. Located in the City of Westminster, it is associated with private medical practice and medical associations.
No. 1 Wimpole Street is an example of Edwardian baroque architecture, completed in 1912 by architects John Belcher and J. J. Joass as the home of the Royal Society of Medicine. 64 Wimpole Street is the headquarters of the British Dental Association.

## History

The name Wimpole comes from the Wimpole Estate in Cambridgeshire, which in the 18th century was the seat of the Harley family, who developed the street.

### November 1935 fire

At 6.30am on 10 November 1935, there was a fire at number 27, where 5 people died. It was the house of dental surgeon and otorhinolaryngologist, Philip Julius Franklin. Franklin had been born in the US in 1878, the son of Julius Franklin of San Francisco. He had married Ethel Julia White, of 127 Portsdown Road on 18 February 1903 at the New West End Synagogue, by Hermann Adler, the chief rabbi of the UK.
He had trained at King's College Hospital Medical School. His wife, 55 year old Ethel was killed. He worked with the Royal Society of Medicine in the laryngology section, and worked in a clinic on Vincent Square. His phone number was Mayfair 868. His son would be Alfred White Franklin, who deduced the prevalence of child abuse in the UK. Philip died in January 1951. He had been staying at Bourne End.
On 11 November 1935 a letter published in Times by dentist NJ MacDonald of 58a Wimpole Street. On Monday December 9 1935, the fire was discussed in parliament, by Alec Cunningham-Reid. His first wife's sister was the wife of Lord Mountbatten.
The possibility of a single emergency number was announced in May 1936, and by the GPO on 16 February 1937. On 1 July 1937, the 999 number came into operation.
Three million UK homes had a telephone. The new number was first announced on 30 June 1937, in parliament, by the Conservative MP for Grimsby Sir Walter Womersley. Glasgow was added a year later, then everywhere else by 1948. Liverpool was added on Christmas Day 1945. Plymouth, Truro, and Kingsbridge were added at the end of 1945. Leicester was added on 1 February 1947. Lincolnshire and Peterborough were added on 3 February 1947.

## Residents

One of the residents most associated with the street was the poet Elizabeth Barrett, who lived at 50 Wimpole Street with her family from 1838 until 1846 when she eloped with Robert Browning. The street became famous from the play based on their courtship, The Barretts of Wimpole Street. The play starred Katharine Cornell, and when she retired, she moved to E. 51st St. in New York. As she was now neighbour to two other actors who also starred in the play, the street was nicknamed "Wimpole Street".

### Musical residents

The first complete English performance of Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem was performed on 10 July 1871 at 35 Wimpole Street, the private residence (from 1851) of the composer and pianist Kate Loder. The arrangement, which came to be known as "the London version", was for piano duet (played by Loder and Cipriani Potter) with soloists and choir. Around 30 voices were used in the performance.
Paul McCartney lived at the home of the Asher family at 57 Wimpole Street in 1964–1966 during his relationship with Jane Asher. At this address John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in the front basement room, while McCartney wrote the tune to "Yesterday" in a box room at the top of the house.

### Other notable residents

On the corner of Wimpole and Wigmore Street took place a legal case about causing a "nuisance" between neighbours, in Sturges v Bridgman (1879).
Arthur Conan Doyle, who created the character of Sherlock Holmes, worked and wrote in 2 Upper Wimpole Street in 1891. A green plaque has been installed to commemorate the cultural heritage of the City of Westminster.
In 1932, Paul Abbatt and Marjorie Abbatt opened a toy shop, Paul & Marjorie Abbatt Ltd, designed by their friend, the architect Ernő Goldfinger, at 94 Wimpole Street. The shop was unique in that children were allowed to touch and play with the displayed toys.

## List of residents

* Jane Asher, No. 57
* Richard Asher, endocrinologist and haematologist, No. 57
* Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer, No. 36
* Sir Thomas Barlow, physician to Queen Victoria, No. 10
* Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard. No. 82
* Elizabeth Barrett Browning, No. 50
* Sir Robert Walter Carden, 1st Baronet, No. 64
* Wilkie Collins, No. 82
* Ethel Gordon Fenwick, No. 20
* Sir Henry Goldfinch, No. 11
* Henry Hallam, No. 67
* Edward James and Tilly Losch, No. 35
* Sir William Milbourne James, Judge of the Court of Appeal in Chancery and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, No. 47
* Sir Paul McCartney, No. 57
* David Rowlands (surgeon), No. 57
* James Samuel Risien Russell, Guyanese-British physician, neurologist, No. 44
* Sir Henry Thompson and his wife, pianist and composer Kate Loder, No. 35
* Sir Frederick Treves, 1st Baronet, No. 6
* Octavius Wigram, No. 36

## Fictional residents

* Henry Higgins (Pygmalion and My Fair Lady), No. 27a. (No. 75 was the inspiration for the 1964 movie set design.)
* James & Maria (Bertram) Rushworth (Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
* Elizabeth Barrett (Flush: A Biography, by Virginia Woolf), No 50

## In popular culture

Virginia Woolf memorably describes Wimpole Street in Flush: A Biography, beginning: "It is the most august of London streets, the most impersonal. Indeed, when the world seems tumbling to ruin, and civilisation rocks on its foundations, one has only to go to Wimpole Street...".
The street was also given as the home of Henry Higgins by George Bernard Shaw in his play Pygmalion and in the musical adaptation My Fair Lady, with 27a given as the address. 22a Wimpole Street is referenced in the Monty Python sketch 'Secret Service Dentists'.