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The Poplar Recreation Ground Memorial is a memorial to 18 children killed at Upper North Street School in Poplar on 13 June 1917, by the first daylight bombing attack on London by fixed-wing aircraft.
London had faced air raids by Zeppelin airships in 1915 and 1916. The first fixed-wing bombers to attack targets in England hit Folkestone and Shorncliffe on 25 May 1917, causing 95 deaths and 195 injuries. Cloud prevented this bombing raid reaching its intended target of London. A second raid hit Sheerness on 5 June 1917.
Early on Wednesday 13 June 1917, Hauptmann Ernst Brandenburg left an airfield near Ghent in Belgium with a formation of 20 Gotha G.IV aircraft from Kampfgeschwader der Obersten Heeresleitung 3 (Kagohl 3), as part of Operation Türkenkreuz, the German plan for the strategic bombing of London. The aircraft had been fitted with extra reserve fuel tanks to enable a non-stop flight. Two quickly turned back, but the other 18 aircraft made good progress in clear but hazy summer skies. They flew over the English Channel, and one dropped bombs on Margate. Three bombed Shoeburyness, and one left to undertake aerial photo-reconnaissance over Greenwich.
The remaining 14 Gothas in two formations flew over East London. The bombers created a great noise, but were assumed to be friendly until they began dropping bombs in Barking, East Ham and the docks in the East End. The Gothas continued over the city, and then turned back over Regent's Park at about 12 noon, dropping a concentration of over 70 bombs in an area within 1 mile (1.6 km) of Liverpool Street Station. Three bombs hit the station itself, where the poet Siegfried Sassoon was present on leave. Over 100 people were killed, and over 400 injured, in the deadliest air raid on London during the First World War. The dead included PC Alfred Smith, who is commemorated in the Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice at Postman's Park.
British anti-aircraft guns at various locations around London opened fire, and aircraft from the three home defence squadrons the Royal Flying Corps were scrambled to intercept, but they both struggled to find a target in the hazy conditions, and none of the Gothas was lost. On his return, Brandenburg was summoned to Berlin to be awarded the Pour le Mérite, Germany's highest military honour. He was wounded in an air crash on the return flight from Berlin.
The daylight bombers were to return to London on Saturday 7 July 1917.
The Upper North Street School was a London county primary school in Poplar, and is now renamed Mayflower Primary School. The school was one of the locations hit by the German bombs. One or two 50 kilograms (110 lb) high explosive bombs crashed through the roof and top two floors to explode in the classroom on the ground floor where 64 infants were taught. The explosion killed 18 children, of whom 16 were aged between four and six years old, and injured more than 30 others. Two older children were killed as the bomb passed through the upper floors, where classes for the older girls and boys were located.
A mass funeral was held on 20 June 1917, with 15 children buried together in East London Cemetery. It has been said that the last coffin contained pieces of bodies that could not be identified. The funeral service was conducted by the Bishop of London Arthur Winnington-Ingram at the Poplar parish church, All Saints Church, Poplar, together with the Bishop of Stepney Luke Paget and the local Rector and Rural Dean O.S. Laurie. The boys' band of the Poplar Training School played, and over 600 wreaths were laid.
A public fund was set up, raising £1,455 to pay for a memorial. The memorial cost £230, so some of the remaining funds were used to pay for the graves of 16 of the children, and the balance to endow a bed in the children's ward at Poplar Hospital, and another at the Lord Mayor's Home for Crippled Children at Alton, Hampshire.
The memorial was built by a local funeral director, A.R. Adams. It was unveiled by Major General Edward Ashmore, commander of the London Air Defence Area, at Poplar Recreation Ground on East India Dock Road on 23 June 1919. The memorial is in a Victorian Gothic design, built from marble and granite. A white stepped stone base leads up to a central column of white Sicilian marble, surrounded by four columns of black Labrador granite. The column is surmounted by an angel with spread wings, and inscribed with the names of the children who died.
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The memorial received a Grade II listing in 1973, upgraded to Grade II* in 2017. A grave marker nearby, for the 15 children buried together, received a separate Grade II listing in 2017. Also nearby is the (unlisted) gravestone of the school caretaker, Mr Batt, died on 1 November 1917; he had pulled his son's body from the damaged building.
Poplar is a district in East London, England, now part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Five miles (8 km) east of Charing Cross, it is part of the East End.
The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term Blitzkrieg, the German word meaning 'lightning war'.
Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry and longest range of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the largest and most powerful military aircraft at any point in time. In the second half of the 20th century, heavy bombers were largely superseded by strategic bombers, which were often even larger in size, had much longer ranges and were capable of delivering nuclear bombs.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1917.
The Belfast Blitz consisted of four German air raids on strategic targets in the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland, in April and May 1941 during World War II, causing high casualties. The first was on the night of 7–8 April 1941, a small attack which probably took place only to test Belfast's defences. The next took place on Easter Tuesday, 15 April 1941, when 200 Luftwaffe bombers attacked military and manufacturing targets in the city of Belfast. Some 900 people died as a result of the bombing and 1,500 were injured. High explosive bombs predominated in this raid. Apart from those on London, this was the greatest loss of life in any night raid during the Blitz.
The Liverpool Blitz was the heavy and sustained bombing of the English city of Liverpool and its surrounding area, during the Second World War by the German Luftwaffe.
The Birmingham Blitz was the heavy bombing by the Nazi German Luftwaffe of the city of Birmingham and surrounding towns in central England, beginning on 9 August 1940 as a fraction of the greater Blitz, which was part of the Battle of Britain; and ending on 23 April 1943. Situated in the Midlands, Birmingham, the most populous British city outside London, was considered an important industrial and manufacturing location. Around 1,852 tons of bombs were dropped on Birmingham, making it the third most heavily bombed city in the United Kingdom in the Second World War, behind London and Liverpool.
The Coventry Blitz, or Coventration of the city, was a series of bombing raids that took place on the British city of Coventry. The city was bombed many times during the Second World War by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe). The most devastating of these attacks occurred on the evening of 14 November 1940 and continued into the morning of 15 November.
The Bristol Blitz was the heavy bombing of Bristol, England by the Nazi German Luftwaffe during the Second World War. Due to the presence of Bristol Harbour and the Bristol Aeroplane Company, the city was a target for bombing and was easily found as enemy bombers were able to trace a course up the River Avon from Avonmouth using reflected moonlight on the waters, into the heart of the city. Bristol was the fifth-most heavily-bombed British city of the war.
A German air campaign of the First World War was carried out against Britain. After several attacks by seaplanes, the main campaign began in January 1915 with airships. Until the Armistice the Marine-Fliegerabteilung and Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches mounted over fifty bombing raids. The raids were generally referred to in Britain as Zeppelin raids but Schütte-Lanz airships were also used.
The Hull Blitz was the bombing campaign that targeted the English port city of Kingston upon Hull by the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War.
The Nottingham Blitz was an attack by the Nazi German Luftwaffe on Nottingham during the night of 8–9 May 1941.
The Royal Air Force Bomber Command Memorial is a memorial in Green Park, London, commemorating the crews of RAF Bomber Command who embarked on missions during the Second World War. The memorial, on the south side of Piccadilly, facing Hyde Park Corner, was built to mark the sacrifice of 55,573 aircrew from Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Czechoslovakia and other allied countries, as well as civilians of all nations killed during raids.
The term Bath Blitz refers to the air raids by the German Luftwaffe on the British city of Bath, Somerset, during World War II.
The Leeds Blitz comprised nine air raids on the city of Leeds by the Nazi German Luftwaffe. The heaviest raid took place on the night of 14/15 March 1941, affecting the city centre, Beeston, Bramley and Armley. The city was subjected to other raids during the Second World War, but they were relatively minor; only the March 1941 raid caused widespread damage, including to the city's museum and its artefacts.
This is a timeline of the British home front during the First World War from 1914 to 1918. This conflict was the first modern example of total war in the United Kingdom; innovations included the mobilisation of the workforce, including many women, for munitions production, conscription and rationing. Civilians were subjected to naval bombardments, strategic bombing and food shortages caused by a submarine blockade.
The Newcastle Blitz refers to the strategic bombing of Newcastle upon Tyne, England by the Nazi German Luftwaffe during the second world war. Close to 400 people were killed between July 1940 and December 1941 during bombing raids on the city.
West Hackney is a district in the London Borough of Hackney, situated on the eastern side of Ermine Street, the major Roman Road better known as the A10.
Mayflower Primary School is a primary school in the Poplar area of East London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Originating in 1843 and formerly called Upper North Street School, it was badly damaged in an air raid in 1917 during the First World War, resulting in the deaths of eighteen children. The school was rebuilt in 1928 and adopted its present name in 1952. The school was judged to be "outstanding" at an Ofsted inspection in 2017, and was awarded the title "Primary School of the Year" in 2020 by a national newspaper.
The England Squadron, officially Kagohl 3 or later Bogohl 3, was a squadron of the Imperial German Army Air Service, formed in late 1916 during the First World War for the purpose of the strategic bombing of the United Kingdom and specifically London. The first air raid of the squadron on 25 May 1917 was unable to reach London, but bombed the coastal town of Folkestone instead. On 13 June, the squadron bombed London in daylight causing nearly 600 casualties. A further raid in July prompted reinforcement and reorganisation of the capital's air defences, but German losses had also caused a switch to bombing by night.
