Lord Hugh Dowding Air Chief Marshal 1882-1970 Leader of Fighter Command lived here 1941-1951

"English Heritage erected a blue plaque on 3 St Mary's Road in April 2000 but it was removed and stored when the house was demolished in 2009. It could not be put on either of Dowding's earlier homes in Wimbledon Hill Road or Lansdowne Road because they too were gone. A new house was built at St Mary's Road but as English Heritage only allows its plaques on original buildings, the owners of the property remedied matters by putting up their own." - http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/10221995.The_Wimbledon_airman_who_saved_Britain/ In May 2023 it emerged that the plaque is now displayed at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.