Dear Jennifer
I have just read your web site with great interest. My late mother Kathleen lived at both 19 and then 29 Thornhill Square until her marriage and subsequent move to Scotland in 1947. She was then Kathleen Giltrow and along with her mother May lived at number 29 in a ground floor flat throughout the 30s and 40s. My Grandmother lived on in the Square until about 1970. I really enjoyed the account of life in the Square written by Charles Humphreys as many things he wrote about were similar to stories told to my sister and myself by our mother when recounting her childhood memories. I wonder if they knew each other?
We often spent summer holidays in London alas not in Islington but at our Great Aunt's much larger house in Ealing.
Although my mother lived in Scotland from 1947 until her death at the age of 85 in 2009 her 'home' was always London and in particular Thornhill Square. She loved her life there and although she lived through all the hardships of WW2 she recalled with fondness the community spirit of the householders supporting each other during the Blitz, dancing to the Big Bands at Covent Garden where she met my father (who was at Sandhurst in 1945), and her beloved job at John Lewis in Oxford Street.
My sister and I visited the Square in 2008 and took many photographs to show our mother who unfortunately wasn't fit enough to accompany us. What a pity we hadn't come across the web site when she was still alive!
Kindest Regards
Gillian Napier
Ayr
Scotland
Thornhill Square 