A lovely piece of Island/East End history from George Warren. Boy Scouts George (left) and David Merrall (right) are pictured meeting Nellie Cressall, the famous Island rent rebel and suffragette at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party. Behind George is Mr Daniels, Head Master of the boys Glengall Road School. Cressall House in Tiller Road was named after Nellie. George adds; 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 Asylum Board responded by taking the matter to the High Court. The councils response was to organise a procession of 2,000 supporters from Bow, led by the boroughs official mace-bearer, 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, was pregnant, were sent to prison indefinitely for contempt of court for refusing a court order to remit the monies. The men were put up in Brixton Prison, and the women in Holloway. The latter were taken by cab to Brixton where council meetings were held.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 22:06:53 +0000