The Poplar Rates Rebellion, or Poplar Rates Revolt, was a

tax protest A tax protester is someone who refuses to pay a tax claiming that the tax laws are unconstitutional or otherwise invalid. Tax protesters are different from tax resisters, who refuse to pay taxes as a protest against a government or its policies ...

that took place in

Poplar, London Poplar is a district in East London, England, the administrative centre of the borough of Tower Hamlets. Five miles (8 km) east of Charing Cross, it is part of the East End. It is identified as a major district centre in the London Plan ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, in 1921. It was led by

George Lansbury George Lansbury (22 February 1859 – 7 May 1940) was a British politician and social reformer who led the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935. Apart from a brief period of ministerial office during the Labour government of 1929–31, he spe ...

, the previous year's Labour Mayor of Poplar, with the support of the Poplar Borough Council, most of whom were industrial workers. The protest defied government, the courts, and the Labour Party leadership. George Lansbury would later go on to be the leader of the Labour Party.

Background

Poplar (now in the

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, London borough covering much of the traditional East End of London, East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropol ...

) was one of the poorest districts of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

; there was no government support to alleviate the high unemployment, hunger, and poverty in the borough, and the work of Poplar Poor Law Union had to be funded by the borough itself under the

poor law In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of he ...

. Poplar Borough Council's Labour administration elected in 1919 undertook a comprehensive programme of social reform and poor relief, including

equal pay for women Equal pay for equal work is the concept of labour rights that individuals in the same workplace be given equal pay. It is most commonly used in the context of sexual discrimination, in relation to the gender pay gap. Equal pay relates to the ful ...

and a minimum wage for council workers, far in excess of the market rate. This programme was expensive and had to be funded from the

rates Rate or rates may refer to: Finance * Rates (tax), a type of taxation system in the United Kingdom used to fund local government * Exchange rate, rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another Mathematics and science * Rate (mathema ...

. Because Poplar was a poor borough, property rents were low. With liability for local taxation assessed on the basis of a 'rateable value' deriving from rents, Poplar Borough Council had to set a much higher rate in order to produce the same amount as produced by low rates in a wealthy borough. In addition to the

precept A precept (from the la, præcipere, to teach) is a commandment, instruction, or order intended as an authoritative rule of action. Religious law In religion, precepts are usually commands respecting moral conduct. Christianity The term is en ...

for Poplar Poor Law Union, Poplar ratepayers were also charged precepts to pay for the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kn ...

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

, Metropolitan Asylums Board and the

Metropolitan Water Board The Metropolitan Water Board was a municipal body formed in 1903 to manage the water supply in London, UK. The members of the board were nominated by the local authorities within its area of supply. In 1904 it took over the water supply functi ...

. There was a small fund which attempted to correct for the different rate products but Poplar called for complete equalisation of the rates so that the same rate brought in the same income both to Poplar and to a wealthier West London borough.

History

In 1921, faced with the prospect of a further large increase in the rates, Poplar Council decided to hold them down by not collecting the precepts which it should have passed on to the four cross-London authorities. The London County Council and Metropolitan Asylums Board responded by taking the matter to the High Court. The council's response was to organise a procession of 2,000 supporters from Bow, July 29, 1921, led by the borough's official

mace-bearer {{Short description, Royal court official with a ceremonial or real mace A mace-bearer, or macebearer, is a person who carries a mace, either a real weapon or ceremonial. Armed When the mace was still in actual use as a weapon, it was deemed fi ...

, to the accompaniment of a band and a banner proclaiming, "Poplar Borough Council marching to the High Court and possibly to prison". Thirty councillors, including six women, one of whom,

Nellie Cressall Nellie Frances Cressall (née Wilson) (1882–1973) was an East End suffragette and labour activist. Early life Cressall is frequently stated to have been born in Stepney, but was actually born in Kilburn, on 23 November 1882 to carpenter Ge ...

, was pregnant, were sent to prison indefinitely for

contempt of court Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the cour ...

for refusing a

court order A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying out ...

to remit the monies. The men were put up in Brixton Prison, and the women in Holloway (where they were much better treated than the men).

Susan Lawrence Arabella Susan Lawrence (12 August 1871 – 24 October 1947) was a British Labour Party politician, one of the earliest female Labour MPs. Early life Lawrence was the youngest daughter of Nathaniel Tertius Lawrence, a wealthy solicitor, and ...

used the time to read Tolstoy and prepare a pamphlet on taxation. Another of the jailed women was Lansbury's own daughter-in-law

Minnie Lansbury Minnie Lansbury née Minnie Glassman (1889 – 1 January 1922) was an English leading suffragette and an alderman on the first Labour-led council in the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar, England. Biography Minnie was the daughter of Annie an ...

, who due to her imprisonment, developed pneumonia and died at the age of 32. The councillors were: *

David Morgan Adams David Morgan Adams (23 February 1875 – 19 May 1942) was a British Labour Party politician. He was the son of David Morgan Adams of Ystradowen, near Cowbridge, Glamorgan in South Wales and Bessie Dent of Poplar in the East End of London. He ...

* Albert Baker * Joseph Henry Banks * George Cressall *

* Albert Victor Farr * Benjamin Fleming * Thomas John Goodway * Walter Henry Green * James Joseph Heales * Robert John Hopwood * James Horatio Jones * Thomas Edwin Kelly * Edgar Lansbury *

* Jennie Mackay *

Samuel March Samuel March (1861-10 August 1935) was a British trade union official and Labour Party politician active in the Poplar area of London. A member of Poplar Borough Council from 1906 until 1927, he was Mayor of Poplar in 1920–21. During his may ...

* John Edward Oakes * Joseph Thomas O'Callaghan * Alfred Partridge * Charles Petherick * James John Rugless * Josiah Russell *

John Scurr John Scurr (born John Rennie; 6 April 1876 – 10 July 1932) was an English Labour Party politician and trade union official who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Mile End from 1923 to 1931. Scurr was born in Brisbane, Australia, the so ...

Julia Scurr Julia Scurr (née Sullivan; 17 February 1871 – 10 April 1927) was a British politician and suffragette. Early experience Born in Limehouse in the East End of London, she married John Scurr in 1900, who was an accountant, trade unionist ...

* Henry William Sloman *

Charlie Sumner Charles Edward Sumner (October 19, 1930 – April 3, 2015) was an American football player who was selected by the Chicago Bears in the 22nd round of the 1954 NFL Draft. A 6'1", 194 lbs. safety from the College of William & Mary, Sumner p ...

* Christopher Edward Williams

Outcome

The revolt received wide public support. Lansbury addressed crowds that regularly gathered outside, through the prison bars. Neighbouring councils threatened to take similar action. Trade unions passed resolutions of support and collected funds for the councillors' families. Eventually, after six weeks' imprisonment, the court ordered the councillors released, which occasioned great celebrations in Poplar. Meanwhile, a bill, the Local Authorities (Financial Provisions) Act 1921, was rushed through

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

between 8 November and 10 November 1921. It more or less equalised tax burdens between rich and poor boroughs. The new Act also introduced a power, in clause 2, permitting a precepting authority to apply to the courts for the appointment of a receiver to take the funds directly from a council that withheld them. In 1925, the district auditor surcharged the councillors for Poplar Borough Council's policies of more generous pay for council workers, and equal pay for women workers. The surcharge was challenged by judicial review in the courts and, eventually, in ''Roberts v Hopwood'' the House of Lords ruled that the increased pay was unlawful, and upheld the surcharge. Despite the equalisation of rates, the dispute regarding the monies paid for outdoor relief would continue for some years until the abolition of the poor law unions. Under the

Local Government Act 1929 The Local Government Act 1929 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made changes to the Poor Law and local government in England and Wales. The Act abolished the system of poor law unions in England and Wales and their board ...

, the responsibility for the provision of outdoor relief transferred from the Poplar Poor Law Union to the London County Council, and thereby the financial burden was spread across the entire County of London. Lansbury was hailed as a hero; in the 1922 general election he won the parliamentary seat of Bow and Bromley with a majority of nearly 7,000, and would hold it for the rest of his life, including his period as Leader of the Labour Party. The term "Poplarism", always identified closely with Lansbury, became a political term associated with large-scale municipal relief for the poor and needy, and also came to be applied generally to campaigns where local government stood against central government on behalf of the poor and least privileged of society.

The Hale Street Mural

In 1990, local artist Mark Francis painted a mural on the wall of the Tower Hamlets Parks Department depot on Hale Street, E14. The mural commemorates the Poplar Rates Rebellion over four panels, including an image of George Lansbury wearing his mayoral chain of office; placards reading "Can't Pay Won't Pay"', and a list of the names of the imprisoned councillors. The fourth panel draws a parallel with the contemporary campaign against the 1990s-era

poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments f ...

. The mural was restored in 2007 by David Bratby and Maureen Delenian. Image:Mural Poplar Rates.jpg, 2006, before restoration Image:Poplar rates rebellion mural, Hale Street - geograph.org.uk - 866099.jpg, 2008, after restoration Image:George Lansbury on Poplar rates rebellion mural - geograph.org.uk - 866107.jpg, Detail of

Image:Poplar rates rebellion mural, detail - geograph.org.uk - 866114.jpg, Detail

References

External links

* Janine Booth
"Guilty and Proud of it – Poplar's Rebel Councillors and Guardians 1919–1925"
Merlin Press, 2009. * Shepherd, John (January 2011).
"Lansbury, George"
'. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online edition''. Retrieved 2 February 2013. (subscription required)
Poplar Rates Rebellion Mural
London Mural Preservation Society
The 10 best murals
The Guardian, 12 December 2014

stevenwarren.co.uk {{Rates in the United Kingdom 1921 in London 1921 protests History of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Protests in London Economic inequality Economic history of England Poplar, London History of the Labour Party (UK)