LCC Walks: The Spark of Rebellion in Bow

In the late 19th century Henry Hyndman the founder of the Democratic Foundation and the son of a wealthy business man John Beckles Hyndman wrote in the Pall Mall Gazette that 25% of Londoners lived in 'abject poverty'. Given that, slums like the infamous 'Old Nichol' were starting to be cleared and philanthropic housing development were expanding another wealthy heir, Charles Booth aimed to refute his claims however his own investigations into the East End shook him to his core. He found some 35% of Londoners living on or below the poverty line with thousands sleeping rough or scrambling for places in lodging houses, largely established by religious charities.

While in 1888 Friedrich Engels lamented the situation claiming that "Nowhere were people less actively resistant, more passively submitting to their fate... than in the east of London" rapidly unfolding events were to prove him wrong with a spontaneous 1,400 people factory worker driven strong strike wave as a precursor to a national wave of unrest. The initial dispute began at Bow's Fairfield Works match factory owned by the Quakers, Bryant & May and created the Union of Women Matchmakers, later known as The Matchmakers Union before generating a number of separate industrial actions among other poorly paid workers. By the early 1890s workers were embracing a 'new unionism' and with the east end turning out to be catalyst of further intriguing developments.

Before the 1880s London's radicals had mainly campaigned to expand democracy and challenge the authority of the church however the rebelliousness taking hold in the east end like that espoused by the Labour Emancipation League went even further calling for full nationalisation, social regulation of the economy and liberty of speech, press and meeting. However this was not without resistance and in 1887, protestors galvanised by growing unemployment and the Irish coercion acts met the mounted Calvary of the London Metropolitan Police leading to 75 people being badly injured and 400 arrests. However this did not nascent movement with another demonstration on the 20th leading to further clashes and the death of the 41 year old legal clerk Alfred Linnell whose funeral attracted many famous radicals from all over the country including William Morris who spoke at his graveside.

These repressions only encouraged further militancy with walkouts by the Women's Matchmakers led in part by Annie Besant but then further carried by workers from the factory floor such as a Alice France, Katie Slater, Jane Wakeling, Mary Driscoll and Eliza Martin, which eventually led to the employers capitulating. Further successes by dockworkers and gas workers led to Engels later reflections in 1892 where he praised the rebels triumph over both powerful economic forces and the trade union aristocracy.

Starting in Mile End our walk will visit many of pivotal sites of Bows radical past including what remains of the original match factory in the Bow Quarter, the former home of the radical Labour MP George Lansbury and the old headquarters of the East London Federation of Sufragettes (ELFS). As always all are welcome and please feel free to bring a friend or comrade.