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The Tottenham Outrage of 23 January 1909 was an
armed robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person o ...
in
Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...
,
North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...
, that resulted in a two-hour chase between the police and armed criminals over a distance of , with an estimated 400 rounds of ammunition fired by the thieves. The robbery, of workers' wages from the Schnurmann rubber factory, was carried out by Paul Helfeld and Jacob Lepidus, Jewish Latvian immigrants. Of the twenty-three casualties, two were fatal and several others serious, among them seven policemen. The two thieves killed themselves at the end of the pursuit. Helfeld and Lepidus were members of a Latvian socialist party responsible for smuggling revolutionary literature into Russia. Both had been living with Lepidus's brother Paul in Paris in 1907 when Paul was killed by the premature detonation of the bomb he was carrying to assassinate the president of France,
Armand Fallières Clément Armand Fallières (; 6 November 1841 – 22 June 1931) was a French statesman who was President of France from 1906 to 1913. Clément Armand Fallières was a symbol of republicanism in the French Third Republic. He was born into ...
. They fled France to north London, where they became members of a small group of Latvian agitators. For some time before the robbery, Helfeld was employed at the Schnurmann factory. The bravery of the police during the chase led to the creation of the King's Police Medal, which was awarded to several of those involved in the pursuit. A joint funeral for the two victims—
Police Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an police officer, officer within a police ser ...
William Tyler and Ralph Joscelyne, a ten-year-old boy—was attended by a crowd of up to half a million mourners, including 2,000 policemen. The event exacerbated ill feeling towards immigrants in London, and much of the press coverage was anti-Semitic in nature. This affected public sentiment after another armed robbery by Latvian immigrants in December 1910, which resulted in the murder of three policemen; the events culminated in the
siege of Sidney Street The siege of Sidney Street of January 1911, also known as the Battle of Stepney, was a gunfight in the East End of London between a combined police and army force and two Latvian revolutionaries. The siege was the culmination of a series of ...
.


Background


Immigration and demographics in London

In the 19th century the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
, then including
Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
, was home to about five million Jews, the largest Jewish community in the world at the time. Subjected to religious persecution and violent
pogrom A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of Massacre, massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century Anti-Jewis ...
s, many emigrated, and between 1875 and 1914 around 120,000 arrived in the United Kingdom, mostly in England. The influx reached its peak in the late 1890s when large numbers of Jewish immigrants—mostly poor and semi-skilled or unskilled—settled in the East End of London; the concentration of Jews in some areas of London was almost 100 per cent of the population. Because of the influx of Russians into one part of
Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...
in
North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...
, the area gained the nickname
Little Russia Little Russia, also known as Lesser Russia, Malorussia, or Little Rus', is a geographical and historical term used to describe Ukraine. At the beginning of the 14th century, the patriarch of Constantinople accepted the distinction between wha ...
. Some of the expatriates were revolutionaries, and many were unable to adapt to life in London. The social historian William J. Fishman writes that "the ' (crazy)
Anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or hierarchy, primarily targeting the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state w ...
were almost accepted as part of the East End landscape"; the terms "
socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
" and "
anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
" had been conflated by the British press to refer generally to those with revolutionary beliefs. Several revolutionary factions were active in East and North London. One tactic often employed by revolutionaries in Russia was the expropriation of private property to fund radical activities. The influx of émigrés, and the associated rising rates of violent crime, led to widespread concerns and press coverage. As a result, the
British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
passed the
Aliens Act 1905 The Aliens Act 1905 (5 Edw. 7. c. 13) was an Act of Parliament (UK), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.Moving Here The act introduced immigration controls and registration fo ...
in an attempt to reduce immigration. The popular press reflected the opinions of many; a
leading article An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK), is an article or any other written document, often unsigned, written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper or magazine, that expresses the publication's opinion about ...
in the '' Manchester Evening Chronicle'' supported the bill to bar "the dirty, destitute, diseased, verminous and criminal foreigner who dumps himself on our soil". The journalist Robert Winder, in his examination of immigration into Britain, opines that the act "gave official sanction to xenophobic reflexes which might ... have remained dormant".


Criminals

Paul Helfeld (also given as Hefeld), aged 21 in 1909, and Jacob Lepidus (also reported as Lapidus), who was 25 the same year, were Jewish-Latvian immigrants. They had been members of a Latvian socialist party and, although they had not held positions of responsibility, they had smuggled revolutionary literature into Russia for the party. The pair had been living in Paris in 1907, along with Lepidus's brother Vladimir, a revolutionary bomber who went under the ' ; Jacob was described in ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' as a "member of a notorious Russian revolutionary family". On 1 May 1907 Paul Lepidus was killed when a bomb he was carrying to assassinate
Armand Fallières Clément Armand Fallières (; 6 November 1841 – 22 June 1931) was a French statesman who was President of France from 1906 to 1913. Clément Armand Fallières was a symbol of republicanism in the French Third Republic. He was born into ...
, the President of France, exploded prematurely. Lepidus and Helfeld fled the country and lived in Scotland for a year, before moving to Tottenham. Both men joined a small group of Latvian agitators living in north London; according to other members of the group, the pair had criminal records and had joined as a cover for the robberies they carried out. Lepidus was employed, briefly, at a furniture factory, while Helfeld took a job at the Schnurmann rubber factory in Tottenham. Helfeld refused to give his name when he joined the company, so he was listed on the time sheets as "Elephant" in reference to his bulk. Situated on the corner of
Tottenham High Road Tottenham High Road is the main thoroughfare through the district of Tottenham, in the London Borough of Haringey. It runs from Edmonton, London, Edmonton in the North (where it becomes Fore Street) to Stamford Hill in the South (where the road ...
and Chesnut Road, the factory sat opposite Tottenham Police Station, which was under the control of the Metropolitan Police.
Special Branch Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...
suspected another individual, the Russian revolutionary Christian Salnish, of having organised the robbery. Salnish, who often went under the name Jacob Fogel, had been an active revolutionary since the age of 13. He participated in the
1905 Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, th ...
and afterwards helped to build resistance groups in
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
—then the capital of
Imperial Russia Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * ...
—and the area now covered by the
Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...
. Special Branch suspected a political element to the crime based on Salnish's involvement, but as both Helfeld and Lepidus died during the chase, the motivation for the crime was never established.


Robbery and chase


Wages snatch

On 23 January 1909 Helfeld and Lepidus waited outside the Schnurmann factory. At the same time every week Schnurmann's chauffeur, Joseph Wilson, drove to a bank in nearby Hackney with Albert Keyworth, a 17-year-old office boy. They collected the week's wages—on the 23rd it was £80 in gold, silver and coppers—and returned to the factory, arriving at about 10:30 am. The car stopped to allow Keyworth—holding the bag of money—to open the gates; as it started to pull off, Lepidus grabbed the boy and tried to take the bag from him, but Keyworth held him off. Wilson stopped the car and came to Keyworth's assistance. As the trio wrestled, Wilson fell to the ground and Lepidus managed to take the bag. Helfeld joined the fight; he drew his gun—a .32 calibre Browning—and fired several times at Wilson. The shots hit Wilson's coat; one pierced his clothes and cut across his abdomen. The police report stated that it was "in a miraculous and unaccountable way
hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
he escaped injury".


Chase

Two police constables (PCs)—Tyler and Newman—at the nearby police station heard the shots, left the station and chased the two men down Chesnut Road. Part way down the road, George Smith, a passer-by, threw Lepidus to the ground. As they wrestled, Helfeld fired at Smith four times; two shots went through his cap—one of which scraped his scalp—another hit him in the collarbone and one missed altogether. As the two gunmen ran down the street, other members of the public joined the chase, as did several off-duty policemen from the station— none carrying firearms—some on foot, but some having commandeered bicycles from passers-by. One policeman was able to return fire with a pistol borrowed from a member of the public. The car from the factory joined in the pursuit, driven by Wilson; he paused and PC Newman boarded the car before they gave chase again. Tyler ran alongside the car. As the car approached them, the two criminals turned and opened fire. One round broke the car's water pipe, disabling it, and Wilson received a minor wound to the neck; Newman's cheek and ear were damaged by one shot. Members of the public attempted to take cover, but one—Ralph Joscelyne, a ten-year-old boy—was caught by a round to the chest. Someone took him to hospital on a bicycle, but he was pronounced dead on arrival. The gunmen continued their escape, and headed towards
Tottenham Marshes The Tottenham Marshes are located at Tottenham in the London Borough of Haringey. The marshes cover over and became part of the Lee Valley Park in 1972. The marsh is made up of three main areas: Clendish Marsh, Wild Marsh West and Wild Marsh ...
. PCs Tyler and Newman took a short cut, and confronted the two men near the site of a rubbish incinerator. Tyler approached the men and, when he was within , was heard to say "Come on; give in, the game's up". Helfeld took aim and shot him; the bullet went through his head. The two criminals took off again, while Tyler was carried to a nearby house and an ambulance summoned. He was taken to Tottenham Hospital, where he died five minutes after arrival. Helfeld and Lepidus crossed the nearby railway line and followed the west bank of the
River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in the East of England and Greater London. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Cr ...
until they crossed over; they were able to hold off the crowd from the bridge. Men who had been duck shooting on the marshes used their shotguns to return fire and when the two criminals moved on from the bridge, local footballers joined in the chase. Helfeld and Lepidus ran along the western bank of the
Lee Navigation The Lee Navigation is a canalised river incorporating the River Lea (also called the River Lee along the sections that are navigable). It flows from Hertford Castle Weir to the River Thames at Bow Creek; its first lock is Hertford Lock and i ...
canal; local workmen followed on the opposite bank in an attempt to cut them off, but several were wounded when the two men fired at them. The pair crossed the canal at Stonebridge Lock, then crossed another bridge and again held off the chasing crowd from the bridge's parapet. One policeman, PC Nicod, borrowed a pistol from a bystander and made his way through the scrub until he was close enough to fire, but the gun was faulty; he was seen by Helfeld and Lepidus, who fired on him, wounding him in the calf and thigh. Helfeld and Lepidus continued their flight along the south side of Banbury Reservoir. As they crossed an area of open land, they sheltered behind a haystack and held off the pursuers, who numbered about 20 at this point. The two ran on until they reached Chingford Road, where they boarded a number 9
tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...
; many of the passengers escaped, and the driver, who saw the armed men, ran up the front stairs of the vehicle and hid on the top deck. Lepidus threatened the conductor with a pistol and ordered him to drive; although he had never driven a tram before, he managed to get the vehicle moving. Lepidus stayed with his pistol trained on the conductor, while Helfeld shot at the pursuers behind them. One policeman commandeered a pony and cart; he was armed and tried to get close enough to manage an aimed shot, but Helfeld shot the horse and the cart overturned. A tram on the return journey from that of number 9 was commandeered by a policeman; 40 others boarded it and it reversed down the track in pursuit. The conductor, wanting to get rid of the two men, told them that there was a police station around the next corner. The two criminals jumped off the tram near a horse-drawn
milk float A milk float is a vehicle specifically designed for the Delivery (commerce), delivery of fresh milk. Today, milk floats are usually battery electric vehicles (BEV), but they were formerly Float (horse-drawn), horse-drawn floats. They were ...
, shooting the driver and stealing his vehicle. They fled in the direction of
Epping Forest Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the Lond ...
. The milk cart overturned when the men tried to take a corner too fast, and they threatened a grocer's boy before stealing his delivery cart; Lepidus drove while Helfeld sat at the back, shooting at pursuers. A policeman commandeered a car and he, with an armed colleague, kept up pursuit. The cart did not travel very fast because, unbeknown to Lepidus, its brake was still on, and one of the wheels was not operating. The horse was soon spent, and the two men abandoned it, taking off on foot along the bank of the
River Ching The River Ching is a small river which rises in Epping Forest in Essex, and joins the River Lea at Chingford in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Course The Ching originates as a small stream from a spring at the foot of a tree in the sout ...
. The footpath was bordered by a -high fence and, as it continued, it narrowed to the point of being impassable. It was too late for the men to turn back and they decided to climb over; Lepidus managed to make it, but Helfeld, exhausted by the chase, could not manage to climb. He shouted to Lepidus to save himself and, as the police closed in, he put the gun to his head and shot himself. The bullet entered the head half an inch above the right eye and exited through the forehead on the other side. He was disarmed before he could fire again, and was struggling as he was overpowered; he was taken to Tottenham Hospital.


Oak Cottage

Lepidus continued his flight into Hale End,
Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a town within the London Borough of Waltham Forest in east London. The town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and South Woodford to the east, Leyton and Leytonstone to the south, and Tottenham to the west. At ...
. He crossed the nearby railway line and took refuge in Oak Cottage, a small
two-up two-down Two-up two-down is a type of small house with two rooms on the ground floor and two bedrooms upstairs. There are many types of terraced houses in the United Kingdom, and these are among the most modest. Those built before 1875, the pre-regulat ...
where a Mrs Rolstone and her children were present. Mrs Rolstone was at the front gate, having left the house on hearing the police whistles, when Lepidus entered the house behind her and bolted the door. When she saw Lepidus through the window—locked in with her children—she screamed, which attracted the police. When Lepidus went upstairs, one policeman, PC Dewhurst, broke in through a downstairs window and removed the children from the house. PC Charles Eagles borrowed a pistol from a bystander and climbed a ladder at the back of the house. He was in a position to shoot, but he did not understand how the safety catch worked, and the gun failed to fire. Eagles descended and entered the house with PC John Cater and Detective Constable Charles Dixon. The three noticed sooty hand prints on the wall, where Lepidus had tried to hide up the chimney. Using a double-barrelled shotgun, Dixon shot through the door of the bedroom Lepidus had entered, while Cater and Eagles shot with revolvers. All three entered the room as Lepidus pulled a sheet over his head. Eagles and Dixon both fired as they entered, while Lepidus shot himself in the head. The police dragged him outside, where he died a few minutes later. The incident had lasted over two hours and covered a distance of ; Helfeld and Lepidus had fired an estimated 400 rounds of ammunition. Twenty-three casualties were reported, two of them fatal and several others serious. Seven policemen were among the casualties. The bulk of the money from the robbery was never recovered, with the exception of a £5 bag of silver coins found on Lepidus.


Aftermath


Inquests

Two inquests were held on 26 January 1909, that of Lepidus in Walthamstow, and that of PC Tyler and 10-year-old Ralph Joscelyne in Tottenham. The coroner in the Walthamstow inquest described Lepidus as a "secret revolutionary agent", and said that the law would have to change to stop such criminal elements entering Britain. Although Constable Eagles believed he had fired the shot that killed Lepidus, the round extracted from the dead man's head indicated otherwise. The jury passed a verdict of suicide. The inquest at Tottenham heard evidence through the day and adjourned until the following week. When the verdict was given, it was for the wilful murder of PC Tyler by Helfeld, for which the coroner used the authority of his court to commit the Latvian to trial. Joscelyne's death, the jury decided, had been caused by Helfeld and Lepidus together.


Victims' funeral

Joscelyne and Tyler's joint funeral was held on 29 January 1909, attended by Sir Edward Henry, the
Commissioner of Police A police commissioner is the head of a police department, responsible for overseeing its operations and ensuring the effective enforcement of laws and maintenance of public order. They develop and implement policies, manage budgets, and coordinate ...
, and Herbert Samuel,
Under-Secretary of State Undersecretary (or under secretary) is a title for a person who works for and has a lower rank than a secretary (person in charge). It is used in the executive branch of government, with different meanings in different political systems, and is a ...
for the
Home Department The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...
. The cortège passed along a two-and-a-half mile (four km) route lined by 2,000 police officers and a large crowd, estimated at up to 500,000. The lengthy procession included white-plumed horses drawing Joscelyne's coffin and black-plumed horses drawing Tyler's; each was draped with a
Union Jack The Union Jack or Union Flag is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. The Union Jack was also used as the official flag of several British colonies and dominions before they adopted their own national flags. It is sometimes a ...
. They were escorted by policemen, a police band, men from the local fire brigade, a contingent from
Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Artillery, Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse ...
and tramway employees. A volley of guns was fired at the end. The two were buried near each other at
Abney Park Cemetery Abney Park cemetery is one of the "Magnificent Seven" cemeteries in London, England. Abney Park in Stoke Newington in the London Borough of Hackney is a historic parkland originally laid out in the early 18th century by Lady Mary Abney, D ...
.


Lepidus and Helfeld

Lepidus was buried the same day as Joscelyne and Tyler. He was interred in
unconsecrated ground ''Unconsecrated'' is the debut studio album by Australian deathcore band The Red Shore, released on 8 November 2008. It was originally set for a 22 September release through Siege of Amida Records, but was delayed. A limited edition was released ...
in a Walthamstow cemetery in a ceremony closed to the public. An armed guard was kept around Tottenham Hospital in case Helfeld tried to escape. Although his wounds had begun to heal, he contracted
meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...
. Surgery was carried out on 9 February to remove pieces of bone pressing into the wound; the meningitis worsened and he died on 12 February. Before his death he said the only words he was heard to have uttered in hospital: "My mother is in
Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...
." An inquest recorded a verdict of suicide. He was buried in an unconsecrated area of a cemetery near Tottenham Hospital.


Impact

Ralph Joscelyne's father died soon after his son's murder; Ralph's mother kept the shoes her son had been wearing on the day he was killed. Following her wishes, they were buried with her when she died in 1953. A collection was taken for PC Tyler's widow, which raised £1,055; she was only paid the interest, in addition to her widow's pension of £15 a year. She later married PC Williams, who had taken part in the chase; he died in 1925. On her death, the capital sum of the money raised for her was paid to the Metropolitan and City of London Police orphanage fund. The King's Police Medal was established by a Royal Warrant, dated 7 July 1909, to recognise the bravery of the officers who had pursued Lepidus and Helfeld. Eagles, Cater and Dixon, the three officers who broke into Oak Cottage to apprehend Lepidus, were among the first recipients announced on 9 November 1909. The three were also among five officers promoted to the rank of
sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...
without the need for the usual examination; Nicod and Dewhurst were the others who rose in rank. Two others were raised to the highest level of their pay grades. Seven were granted financial awards from the Bow Street Court Reward Fund. In November 1909 a monument to PC Tyler was built at his grave; the £200 cost was paid by members of the Metropolitan Police. The memorial was designated a Grade II listed structure on 24 March 1997 by English Heritage (now
Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...
). A cross was carved into a wall where PC Tyler was shot, and a plaque in his memory was installed at Tottenham police station. A
blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...
in memory of Joscelyne was placed at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Tottenham, and one indicating the end of the chase at the approximate site of Oak Cottage (now destroyed). Following the events at Tottenham, Sir Edward Henry set up a board to examine compensation claims made by members of the public. The board was also instructed to examine whether the firearm used by the police—the .450
Webley Revolver The Webley Revolver (also known as the Webley Top-Break Revolver or Webley Self-Extracting Revolver) was, in various Mark (designation), designations, a standard issue service pistol, service revolver for the armed forces of the United Kingdom, a ...
—was suitable, and whether sufficient numbers had been issued. The recommendation was that the Webley should be replaced by the Colt Automatic pistol, although no change was made. A subsequent decision was for a British-made firearm, the Webley & Scott .32 calibre MP semi-automatic pistol. These changes had not been implemented by the end of December 1910, when a group of Latvian revolutionaries undertook an attempted break-in at a jewellery shop, which led to the
siege of Sidney Street The siege of Sidney Street of January 1911, also known as the Battle of Stepney, was a gunfight in the East End of London between a combined police and army force and two Latvian revolutionaries. The siege was the culmination of a series of ...
. That event led to the murder of three policemen, the wounding of two others and a gun battle which involved the military being deployed in London. A further review after the Sidney Street murders resulted in the Metropolitan Police replacing the Webley revolver with the Webley & Scott .32 calibre MP semi-automatic pistol in 1911; the City of London Police adopted the same weapon in 1912. The events of the Tottenham Outrage were re-enacted in ''Doctor Brian Pellie and the Secret Despatch'' (1912), a
silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...
; A second film version, '' The Siege of Sidney Street'' was released in 1960. A highly fictionalised re-imagining of the events form a sub-plot of the 2014 novel ''The Tottenham Outrage'' by
Matthew Baylis Matthew Baylis (born 1971), also known as Matt Baylis and M. H. Baylis, is a British novelist, screenwriter and journalist. Early life Baylis was born in Nottingham. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby, and Trinity Colleg ...
. Although there was some initial confusion about the backgrounds of Helfeld and Lepidus—'' The Star'' reported that they were Italians—the actions of the two men led to a debate on
immigration control Border control comprises measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it als ...
. In early February 1909 Herbert Gladstone, the Liberal
Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...
defended the Asquith government's record on immigration, citing the number of foreign dissidents who had been expelled from Britain for criminal activity. The popular press reported the case extensively, and some newspapers, particularly ''
The Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the highest circulation of paid newspapers in the UK. Its sister paper ''The Mail on Sunday'' was launch ...
'', focused on attacking the Aliens Act 1905, blaming it for being too open and making it too easy to enter the country. The French anarchist newspaper ' called Helfeld and Lepidus "our audacious comrades" who came "under attack" from what they called "citizens, believers in the State and authority". The perception of immigrants was affected by the outrage and, according to the Metropolitan Police Service, it "provoked some misplaced public anti-Semitism", which affected public opinion two years later in the siege of Sidney Street. In December 1909, during the events that led to the siege, a leading article in ''The Times'' described the Whitechapel area as one that:
harbours some of the worst alien anarchists and criminals who seek our too hospitable shore. And these are the men who use the pistol and the knife. The present affair inevitably recalls the extraordinary and fatal outrage which occurred at Tottenham less than two years ago.


Notes and references


Notes


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Sources


Books and journals

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News articles

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Websites

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Further reading

* * * {{Mass shootings in the United Kingdom 1900s murders in London 1909 murders in the United Kingdom 1909 in England 1909 in London 1900s in Essex 20th century in Middlesex Child murder in England London crime history Tottenham Metropolitan Police operations Murder–suicides in the United Kingdom