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"The Poplar Outrage" |
On 20th June 1917 at All Saints Church, Poplar, the funeral was held for the eighteen children killed at Upper North Street School. Mostly five year olds, they had been killed during a German air raid a week earlier. This had been the first daylight raid on London and had taken place around noon. The seventeen Gotha biplanes in the raid had flown from Belgium in a tight formation over the Essex countryside to drop their bombs first on East Ham, then on to Liverpool Street Station and later Aldgate and Whitechapel and finally Poplar. The 110lb bomb that destroyed the school crashed through the roof went through two floors and then exploded on the ground floor used by the infants. Fifteen children were killed outright, three fatally injured and twenty-seven maimed for life. After the funeral service, conducted by the Bishop of London, the funeral procession consisting of seven hearses, private carriages and motor cars, made its way through vast crowds lining the route. It first west along East India Dock Road for some distance before doubling back on itself and then headed for the East London Cemetery. There fifteen of the children were buried in a large grave and the other three in private graves. The German air raid over London on 13th June 1917 killed 97 and injured 439. These casualties were nearly twice as many as in any other air raid during the First World War. Only one of the Gotha biplanes was destroyed on this occasion . In Poplar Park a memorial was erected to those eighteen children who sadly had lost their lives. |
