Our last post concerned the blue plaque on Talgarth Road W14 that commemorates the London home of Pan-Africanist and Ratafarian prophet Marcus Garvey, and today we will be discovering another hugely influential ideological leader who lived just around the corner...
If you head straight out of West Kensington or Barons Court tube stations you will soon wonder into a grid of beautiful white stucco terraced houses. These buildings date from the 19th century and form part of the Barons Court Conservation Area, protecting them for their architectural and historical value.
Although originally built as family houses, these buildings are now almost all converted into flats. The area is now a very popular area for young professionals and students to rent as it is a central location, the transport links are excellent and the prices are reasonable. Check out Red Residential's range of properties in Barons Court/ West Kensington here.
If you stroll along the elegant Barons Court Road you will soon see that there is a blue plaque outside number 20. This plaque commemorates the fact at this property lived a student that went on to change world history...
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in 1869 near Mumbai, India and studied in London from 1888 to 1891. He was studying Law at University College London, training to be a barrister. When he arrived in London he was just 19 years old and had an interesting time in the capital apparently taking dancing lessons and visiting the nearby Church on the corner of Castletown Road and Challoner Street. This Church has since become the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan whose "...teachings closely follow those of Mahatma Gandhi." according to their website.
After his time in Barons Court Gandhi went on to lead a fascinating and eventful life in India and South Africa before his involvement in the Indian independence movement. From about 1915 to the end of the Second World War in 1945, Gandhi fought for independence for India from the British, through encouraging civil disobedience in a totally non-violent manner. His cause was eventually successful when India was granted it's independence in 1947, and Gandhi enterd the history books forever.
Gandhi's teachings and actions have influenced world politics and philosophy hugely and this quiet corner of West London played its small but important part!
More blue plaque stories coming soon...
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