Event    From 4/10/1936  To 4/10/1936

Battle of Cable Street

Mosley planned to march thousands of his British Union of Fascists through the East End of London, an area where many Jews lived. This attracted a lot of opposition which prompted the police to provide a 10,000 strong escort for the march. Most of the marchers and also the counter-protesters were not locals, they came here specifically for the event.

The anti-fascists (Jews, Socialists, Anarchists, Communists, Irish) put up barricades and attacked the police when they tried to clear the street. People were throwing things at the police from the windows along the street. Mosley agreed that his marchers should go elsewhere, leaving the police to battle it out with the anti-fascists. 150 were arrested and about 100 people including women, children and police were injured. Two important outcomes: political parties were banned from wearing uniforms; it became obligatory to obtain police consent for political rallies.

Almost exactly 83 years later the similar anti-fascist Battle of Lewisham took place.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Battle of Cable Street

Commemorated ati

Battle of Cable Street - Dock Street

The red colour of this plaque is, we're sure, chosen on purely aesthetic grou...

Read More

Cable Street mural

From a letter to the Guardian from Desmond Rochfort, 26 September 2016: Dan J...

Read More

Cable Street mural - Mosley

There must be a story to explain why Mosley is shown in his underwear, but we...

Read More

Other Subjects

London Borough of Hounslow

London Borough of Hounslow

Formed under the London Government Act of 1963, by the merger of the former Brentford and Chiswick Urban District, Feltham Urban District and the Heston and Isleworth Urban District.

Group, Politics & Administration

5 memorials
Charles de Gaulle

Charles de Gaulle

Born Lille, France. Height 6 ft, 5 inches, nicknamed Le Grande Asperge. President of France 1958-69. Just like Queen Wilhelmina, while in London he used the BBC to send popular messages of resistan...

Person, Armed Forces, Politics & Administration, Seriously Famous, France

5 memorials
Lord Elcho

Lord Elcho

Politician. Born Hugo Richard Charteris in Scotland. Entered parliament first in 1883 and again in 1886. He gained the titles 11th Earl of Wemyss and 7th Earl of March.

Person, Politics & Administration, Scotland

2 memorials
Sir Joseph Rotblat

Sir Joseph Rotblat

Born Warsaw. gained a doctorate in physics in 1939 and then came to the UK but could not get his wife out and she died in a concentration camp. In 1944 he joined the Manhatten Project to develop nu...

Person, Peace, Politics & Administration, Poland

1 memorial
F. W. Clifford

F. W. Clifford

District Officer in the St John Ambulance Brigade, No. 1 District, 1920-1942. Officer in the Order of St John. Nature, No. 3806, 10 October 1942 carries Clifford's obituary. At the time of his sud...

Person, Emergency Services, Medicine, Museums / Libraries, Politics & Administration

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Dambusters Raid

Dambusters Raid

An attack by Royal Air Force 617 Squadron on German dams using bouncing bombs designed by Barnes Wallis. The operation was led by Guy Gibson. Subject of the 1955 film The Dambusters for which Eric ...

Event, Armed Forces, Aviation

2 memorials
J. Grossman

J. Grossman

District Staff Officer in the St John Ambulance Brigade, No. 1 District Metropolitan Corps, 1906-1949. Commander in the Order of St John.

Person, Emergency Services, Medicine, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
F. Haverson
War dead, WW1
1 memorial
National Submarine War Memorial

National Submarine War Memorial

EC4, Victoria Embankment

The bronze relief depicts, in cross section, the interior of a submarine in which sailors carry out their work in cramped conditions. On ...

135 subjects commemorated, 3 creators