St George in the East, historically known as Wapping-Stepney, was an ancient parish, in the

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, borough in London, England. Situated on the north bank of the River Thames and immediately east of the City of London, the borough spans much of the traditional East End of London and ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The place name is no longer widely used. Ancient parish areas were historically the same for both civil and ecclesiastical (church) functions, and while St George in the East is no longer a civil parish there is still a smaller continuing ecclesiastical parish. The church, crypts and second floor outreach mission are open and holds regular services, as well as community organising and social justice campaigns.

History

The parish was largely rural at the time of its creation, the main settlement a hamlet (administrative sub-division of Stepney) and former farm estate known as Wapping-Stepney, or

Wapping Wapping () is an area in the borough of Tower Hamlets in London, England. It is in East London and part of the East End. Wapping is on the north bank of the River Thames between Tower Bridge to the west, and Shadwell to the east. This posit ...

. The parish church of St George in the East was completed in 1729 by the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches. To distinguish it from other parishes in and near London with the same name, an addition was made which denoted it as "in the East" as a suffix which reflected it was then an eastern suburb of London. Stepney Met

In 1800, work on constructing the

London Docks The London Docks were one of several sets of docks in the historic Port of London. They were constructed in Wapping, downstream from the City of London between 1799 and 1815, at a cost exceeding £5½ million. Traditionally ships had d ...

had begun, with parts of Wapping demolished. In 1820 St. George in the East was at the height of its prosperity with wealthy merchants and traders living and building in the parish. The London Docks caused a large influx of unskilled labour and brought poverty with the population growing dense and causing outbreaks of cholera in 1849, 1855, and in 1866. In the 1930s, Sir

Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980), was a British aristocrat and politician who rose to fame during the 1920s and 1930s when he, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, turned to fascism. ...

British Union of Fascists The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, f ...

organized a march east down

Cable Street Cable Street is a road in the East End of London, England, with several historic landmarks nearby. It was made famous by the Battle of Cable Street in 1936. Location Cable Street starts near the edge of London's financial district, the Cit ...

Stepney Stepney is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. Stepney is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name was applied to ...

with 3,000 supporters in October 1936, which was blocked by protesters' barricades at the junction of Cable Street and Christian Street and was known after as the Battle of Cable Street, a mural painted on the side of the former St George's vestry hall shows this event. After the devastating bomb damage during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, St George in the East was redeveloped into an almost entirely residential area, which included high-rise flats in

tower block A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdiction. ...

style built in the 1970s.

Geography

Much of the former northern boundary of the parish was with Mile End Old Town and ran alongside Commercial Road. In the west the boundary with

Whitechapel Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...

fell just short of Back Church Lane. The parish of

bordered it to the south, with Wapping forming a

buffer Buffer may refer to: Science * Buffer gas, an inert or nonflammable gas * Buffer solution, a solution used to prevent changes in pH * Lysis buffer, in cell biology * Metal ion buffer * Mineral redox buffer, in geology Technology and engineeri ...

in the west and south, beyond which are for example St Botolph Without Aldgate, colloquially Aldgate in the tube system. The parish of

Shadwell Shadwell is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, England. It also forms part of the city's East End of London, East End. Shadwell is on the north bank of the River Thames between Wapping (to the west) and Ratcliff and ...

was to the east, and the parishes of Wapping and Shadwell almost met in the south, giving the old form of St George in the East a central frontage to the Tideway of . Shadwell and St George's East railway station on the London and Blackwall was within the parish of St George, as was a large part of the

, which have since been filled in. There is an architectural Conservation Area covering the area around the

Parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

and

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

Governance

St George in the East, in early decades especially also referred to as St George Middlesex; had for centuries been part of

in the Tower division of the Ossulstone hundred of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. It was split off as a separate combined secular and ecclesiastical parish 1729 by the ( 2 Geo. 2. c. 30), and had a population of 47,157 by 1881. Aside from co-government with

London County Council The 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 ...

from its 1889 inception, local government was through the Vestry of the Parish of St George from 1855 to 1900. Following the

Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 (4 & 5 Will. 4. c. 76) (PLAA) known widely as the New Poor Law, was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by the British Whig Party, Whig government of Charles ...

, it was constituted a

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 hel ...

unit for rate collection and administration (including distributions) from 1836. The parish vestry became a local authority in the Metropolis in 1855, nominating one member to the co-governing

Metropolitan Board of Works The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the upper tier of local government for London between 1856 and 1889, primarily responsible for upgrading infrastructure. It also had a parks and open spaces committee which set aside and opened up severa ...

. Under the

Metropolis Management Act 1855 The Metropolis Management Act 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c. 120), also known as the Metropolis (Management) Act 1855 or the Metropolis Local Management Act 1855, is an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom tha ...

any parish that exceeded 2,000 ratepayers was to be divided into wards; as such the incorporated vestry of St George in the East was divided into two wards (electing

vestrymen A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or regio ...

): No. 1 or North (18) and No. 2 or South (18). The board of works was replaced by the directly elected London County Council in 1889 and its area of responsibly became the

County of London The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government A ...

. St George in the East became part of the

Metropolitan Borough of Stepney The Metropolitan Borough of Stepney was a Metropolitan borough in the County of London created in 1900. In 1965, it became part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Formation and boundaries The borough was formed from thirteen civil parishes ...

in 1900 and was abolished as a civil parish in 1927. The vestry hall was on Cable Street and today has non-governmental use. Stepney Borough took over the defunct civil parish in 1927, then under the new model of government, Tower Hamlets Borough Council was assigned its functions in 1965. Although the area is no longer a civil parish, there remains a smaller ecclesiastical (church) parish. ;Relevant Members of Parliament It was part of the

two-member (MP) constituency and then that of soon similarly under-represented Tower Hamlets from 1832 to 1885. A

St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...

seat spanned 1885 to 1918, under the

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 23) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (sometimes called the "Reform Act of 1885"). It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that r ...

during which time overcrowding fell. Larger Whitechapel and St Georges, covered the next years to 1950. It was locally replaced with seat

, amended in 1950 to become Stepney and Poplar, amended in 1983 to become locally

Bethnal Green and Stepney Bethnal Green and Stepney is a United Kingdom constituencies, parliamentary constituency in Greater London, which returns one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House ...

then falling almost all in

Poplar and Limehouse Poplar and Limehouse is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency which was first created in 2010. It has been represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Ki ...

Notable residents

* Lottie Collins, musical hall singer * Ted "Kid" Lewis, former World Welterweight boxing champion

References

{{Metropolitan Board of Works Areas of London Parishes governed by vestries (Metropolis) Former civil parishes in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Shadwell