Mural: Poplar Rate Rebels mural - 1
Erection date: 1990
George Lansbury & the Poplar Rate Rebels
{On the white notice:}
Reynolds News
Prop. G. Lansbury
Special Edition
Massive crowds pack Town Hall into Woodstock Terrace as 30 Socialist Councillors refuse to cut benefits & equal pay!
{On placards:}
Can’t pay – won’t pay
{On white notice behind mayor's head:}
Poplar Borough Council marching to the High Court and to Prison, 1921.
Jailed for supporting the people!
{3 placards held by a group of people at the right end are all illegible except:}
This mural painted by Mark Frances
The yellow banner carries 26 names. See Subjects commemorated.}
The mural refers to "30 councillors" but actually names only 29. The count of 30 is confirmed elsewhere and at Island History we we found a partial list of the names which had one that we did not find on the mural: Sue Lawrence.
Site: Poplar Rate Rebels mural (4 memorials)
E14, Hale Street, Tower Hamlets Parks Department depot
From the absolutely excellent London Mural Preservation Society: "Originally painted by Mark Frances, the mural features four panels telling the story of the Rates Rebellion, mostly in words. It depicts George Lansbury and local residents holding 'Can't Pay Won't Pay' placards, in reference to the anti-Poll Tax campaign of the early 1990s, contemporaneous to when the mural was first completed. Names of the imprisoned Councillors feature along the bottom. The mural was restored in 2007 by David Bratby and Maureen Delenian with help from local children."
September 2021: Diamond Geezer reported that the mural "has been given a repaint to celebrate the centenary".
