Blackshirts Salute the King and Queen
Silver Jubilee 1935 - King George and Queen Mary drive past the Black House on the Kings Road, Chelsea and are enthusiastically greeted with the Fascist salute.
[Image - Blackshirt June 14, 1935 (click to enlarge)]
[Image - Blackshirt June 14, 1935 (click to enlarge)]
The Black House (formerly known as Whitelands College) was a former women's teacher training college situated on the Kings Road in the London Borough of Chelsea. In 1930, the college moved to buildings in Southfields, near Putney, leaving the building in Kings Road empty.
The building remained empty until the autumn of 1933 when the lease was purchased by the British Union of Fascists and it became their National Headquarters. The new Headquarters became known as the Black House.
The following article was first published in Blackshirt, August 26th - Sept 1st, 1933:
We have been in our new Headquarters in Kings Road, Sloane Square just a fortnight; and you never saw such transformation in your life!
When we first saw Whitelands College - now renamed "Fascist Headquarters" - we realised that, at last, we had found the ideal home. Its numberless enormous offices; its rows of dormitories; its ideal kitchens; its mess rooms, club rooms; and, above all, its spacious interior courtyard, were just what we wanted.
A rare view of the Courtyard. Blackshirts drive a car bearing their insignia
Embed from Getty Images
September 1933, BlackShirts lined up for inspection in one of the dormitories
The article continues:
Here was room to house many of our loyal men in comfortable, cheaply rented rooms; to give them good meals at reasonable prices. These things were most necessary, for the B.U.F. is not rich; and it is our desire to make our new Headquarters pay for itself; as most of our outside branches pay for themselves.
The signing of the lease meant a spell of hard work. First of all, the building had thoroughly to be cleaned, for - although perfect in every structural detail - it had been empty for years, and was very dirty. So we got busy with mop and pail, with paint and distemper. Electricians swarmed here and there, talking their unintelligible jargon of fuses and circuits; the Post Office really got a move on, and a telephone exchange of five public lines, and more than a score of private extensions, was rapidly installed.
Our own Blackshirts, stripped to the waste, loaded lorry after lorry with furniture and effects from the old building and brought it here. Ungrudgingly they worked till late every night, until the whole move was done.
In the front part of the building, spacious and well-appointed waiting rooms have been installed; and smart Black Shirts stand to attention in the doorway to answer questions; to show visitors to their appointments. In the club-rooms, those not on duty disport themselves in pleasure. There is Boxing, fencing, cricket, ju-jitsu; a wealth of health-giving sports.
"Gandhi" and his minions serve innumerable cups of tea, coffee, and good meals to a seemingly endless queue of hungry and thirsty members. In the offices themselves, officers of the movement deal efficiently with their respective duties.
Almost overnight, somehow, the British Union of Fascists seems to have grown unrecognisably! Fascists from outside branches, and other visitors who knew us at our old address in Lower Grosvenor Place, now stare at us in awe; for in accommodation we exceed a Government Department; and in activity we seem to have been galvanised into a maze of hurry-skurry.
And it is because we like our new building so much, that we want you to see it too! It doesn't matter in the least if you are not an active Fascist - we have thousands of real supporters, who, for various personal reasons, have not actually joined up with us.
So, next time you are passing - give us a look in. There will be a smart, courteous Fascist at the door ready to receive and to welcome you. Come in - and meet the British Union of Fascists at: -
Here was room to house many of our loyal men in comfortable, cheaply rented rooms; to give them good meals at reasonable prices. These things were most necessary, for the B.U.F. is not rich; and it is our desire to make our new Headquarters pay for itself; as most of our outside branches pay for themselves.
The signing of the lease meant a spell of hard work. First of all, the building had thoroughly to be cleaned, for - although perfect in every structural detail - it had been empty for years, and was very dirty. So we got busy with mop and pail, with paint and distemper. Electricians swarmed here and there, talking their unintelligible jargon of fuses and circuits; the Post Office really got a move on, and a telephone exchange of five public lines, and more than a score of private extensions, was rapidly installed.
Our own Blackshirts, stripped to the waste, loaded lorry after lorry with furniture and effects from the old building and brought it here. Ungrudgingly they worked till late every night, until the whole move was done.
In the front part of the building, spacious and well-appointed waiting rooms have been installed; and smart Black Shirts stand to attention in the doorway to answer questions; to show visitors to their appointments. In the club-rooms, those not on duty disport themselves in pleasure. There is Boxing, fencing, cricket, ju-jitsu; a wealth of health-giving sports.
"Gandhi" and his minions serve innumerable cups of tea, coffee, and good meals to a seemingly endless queue of hungry and thirsty members. In the offices themselves, officers of the movement deal efficiently with their respective duties.
Almost overnight, somehow, the British Union of Fascists seems to have grown unrecognisably! Fascists from outside branches, and other visitors who knew us at our old address in Lower Grosvenor Place, now stare at us in awe; for in accommodation we exceed a Government Department; and in activity we seem to have been galvanised into a maze of hurry-skurry.
And it is because we like our new building so much, that we want you to see it too! It doesn't matter in the least if you are not an active Fascist - we have thousands of real supporters, who, for various personal reasons, have not actually joined up with us.
So, next time you are passing - give us a look in. There will be a smart, courteous Fascist at the door ready to receive and to welcome you. Come in - and meet the British Union of Fascists at: -
Fascist Headquarters,
Kings Road, Sloane Square,
S.W.3.
----------------------
Kings Road, Sloane Square,
S.W.3.
----------------------
Blackshirts entering the Black House give the Fascist salute (image -Youtube)
Not mentioned in the Blackshirt article is that the Black House also had a chapel. The chapel had stained glass windows designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, the eminent Pre-Raphaelite artist. When the girls vacated the building in 1930, the stained glass windows were removed and taken to their college's new chapel in Southfields, Putney.
Whitelands College Chelsea, Chapel of St. Ursula, 1907
See also: The British Union of Fascists: Last Day at the Black House
