Lillington Street, Pimlico
17 April 1941
By Madeline Cole
At 12.50am on 17 April 1941 a parachute mine landed on 39 Lillington Street, just off Vauxhall Bridge Road in Pimlico SW1. Number 39 and numbers 74-76 were completely destroyed. A huge pile of debris was left where the houses had stood, opening up new views of the nearby St James the Less Church (1861).
One corpse was recovered by 4.07am and placed in 16 Charlwood Street to await retrieval. Ambulances were sent when the reports first came in, but local wardens asked for further ambulances at 4.45am. The urgency of the situation made it necessary for them to repeat the request and ask for the ambulance to hurry at 5.15am. They also sent for a stretcher car ten minutes later and another stretcher car was urgently requested at 9am Several hours later, the wardens were still recovering bodies, this time from a basement.
An ARP report for 8.10pm that evening noted that another body found at 39 Lillington Street had been taken next door to number 38, which was not as badly damaged. A message taken down at 8.53pm confirmed that a mortuary van had attended the scene. In total, 41 people were found dead from this incident.
This night was not the only one on which Lillington Street received bomb damage. On the night of 19 April 1941 bombs fell between houses 41-59 at around 7.40pm. One body was found very soon after that and the attending warden recommended that it be removed as soon as possible, since it was in a very bad state.
Lillington Street no longer exists between Charlwood and Tachbrook Street, but is instead covered by the Lillington Gardens housing development (built 1964-1972).
Lillington Street with St James the Less Church (background), April 1941
Copyright Westminster City Archives
ARP report, Lillington Street, 17 April 1941
Copyright Westminster City Archives
ARP report, Lillington Street, 17 April 1941
Copyright Westminster City Archives
Lillington Street, rear of Cambridge Buildings, April 1941
Copyright Westminster City Archives
Lillington Gardens housing development, 2012
Madeline Cole
Bomb Map: Lillington Street SW1
Cppyright Westminster City Archives
Former site of Lillington Street, Pimlico