Blue Plaques in the East End of London

East End history, London history, End End of London, Tower Hamlets, Ben Jonson, Dr Barnardo, Shadwell, cockney history, history of east london, brick lane, kray brothers, london ea: "Blue Plaques in the East End of London

Blue Plaques in the East End of London

There is history buried within every East End home, some of it more dramatic than others.
The houses and flats of Tower Hamlets have had more than their share of famous occupants, and an interesting tour can be had by tracing a path round blue plaque buildings.
The familiar plaques on the front of buildings, listing famous occupants and the time they lived there, have been a part of London life for more than 130 years, and are as much a part of London as black cabs or red buses.
Of course the omissions excite as much debate as the inclusions.
Why does Tower Hamlets have no plaque to Stalin, who lived in Poplar in the early 1900s as a political refugee, for example? Why no mention of Stepney and Limehouse MP Clement Attlee or Stepney’s own Bud Flanagan?
The plaques that do pepper the East End offer a cross-section of philanthropists, adventurers and artists, but there could probably be a hundred more. Using our selection, and plotting a route with the aid of your A to Z, you could happily fill an afternoon touring the blue plaque sites of Tower Hamlets.
58 Solent House, Ben Jonson Road, bears a 1953 plaque to Dr Thomas Barnardo, who began his work for children on a building on this site in 1866.
Move down to King Edward Memorial Park, in Shadwell, and you’ll see a 1922 plaque to four East End adventurers – Sir Hugh Willoughby, Stephen Borough, William Borough and Sir Martin Frobisher – and other navigators who, in the latter half of the 16th century, set sail from this reach of the Thames near Ratcliff Cross to explore the Northern Seas.
Captain James Cook is marked by a 1970 plaque at 88 Mile End Road. Before setting off for Australia, the circumnavigator and explorer, lived in a house on this site.
A different kind of maritime first was marked by a 1954 plaque erected in Westferry Road. The Great Eastern, launched in 1858, the largest steamship of the century, was built here by IK Brunel.
At 29 Turner Street, E1, a 1961 plaque remembers Charles Bradlaugh, the advocate of free thought who lived here from 1870 to 1877.
A 1988 plaque at the London Hospital marks the work of Edith Cavell. The pioneer of modern nursing in Belguim, and heroine of the Great War, trained and worked here from 1896 to 1901.
Mahatma Gandhi is probably one of the less likely inhabitants of Bow, but a 1954 plaque at Kingsley Hall, Powis Road, records that the philosopher and teacher, stayed here in 1931.
Meanwhile, a less famed philanthropist, Mary Hughes (1860-1941), friend of all in need is remembered at 71 Vallance Road, E2, with a 1961 plaque.
Dr Jimmy Mallon, warden of Toynbee Hall and champion of social reform, is remembered in a 1984 plaque at Toynbee Hall in Commercial Street. And Israel Zangwill, writer and philanthropist (1864-1926), is remembered at 288 Old Ford Road with a 1965 plaque.
Painter Mark Gertler (1891-1939) is commemorated with a 1975 plaque at 32 Elder Street, E1. And his contemporary, Isaac Rosenberg, is marked at Whitechapel Library with a 1987 plaque noting that the poet and painter lived in the East End and studied here.
John Richard Green (1837-1883), historian of the English people, lived at St Philip’s Vicarage, Newark Street, E1 – the plaque was unveiled in 1910.
The Rev St John Groser (1890-1966), the priest and social reformer, lived at the Royal Foundation of St Katherine, 2 Butcher Row, E14 and is remembered with a 1990 plaque.
Another notable East End cleric, Lincoln Stanhope Wain-wright (1847-1929), is remembered at Clergy House in Wapping Lane. The 1961 plaque records that the vicar of St Peter’s, London Docks, lived here.
A 1929 plaque at 10 Leyden Street, E1, records Strype Street, which derives its name from the house of John Strype, silk merchant, which was situated there.
And one blue plaque the East End would rather not possess hangs on the railway bridge at Grove Road in Bow. The 1988 plate reads that London’s first flying bomb fell here, on June 13, 1944."