Erection date: 12/5/2013
Thomas Rainsborough was buried in this churchyard on the 14th November 1648 after a funeral procession organised by the Leveller movement. Rainsborough was a spokesman for the Levellers and a colonel in the New Model Army. He was killed by a Royalist raiding party during the siege of Pontefract. On the day of the funeral a Leveller leaflet recorded the inscription on Rainsborough's tomb. It proclaimed Rainsborough had made 'King, Lords, Commons, Judges shake, Cities and Committees quake'. He was, it said, 'just, valiant and true'. It ended with the words that here Rainsborough 'bids the noble Levellers adieu'.
This plaque was unveiled by Cllr Rania Khan, writer John Rees and politician Tony Benn in 2013.
Tower Hamlets
Site: Thomas Rainsborough (1 memorial)
E1, Wapping High Street, St John's Churchyard
At the unveiling musketeers from the Rainsborough Regiment of the Sealed Knot fired a volley to mark the occasion.
