The Siege of Sidney Street 1911 – Immigration and Anarchy in the East End

Dateline: Tuesday, 3 January 1911, 7.30 in the morning – Stepney, the East End of London.

Two desperate criminals, holed up on their own in a four-storey house begin firing on the large posse of police gathered below. Over the next six hours, hundreds of bullets are discharged on this normally quiet residential road. 1500 armed policemen are deployed, the Army are called out onto the London streets for the first time in a century. Home Secretary, Winston Churchill, then just 36 years old, attends and, typically, is seen instructing the police and troops.

Who were the gunmen? Where did they come from? Why were they on the run from the police? The tour starts at the site of a robbery staged three weeks earlier, and gradually reveals the build-up to this famous event, still talked about more than 100 years later.

The impetus for the crime lies more than 1700 miles away. The actions of the Russian Tsars over the last 50 years create East European refugees, mainly Jewish, who flee to the UK. Some start a new life; some regroup and attempt to fight back. On the walk to Stepney, we learn about why they had to emigrate, their lifestyle, religion, culture and politics and the causes of what became known as The Siege of Sidney Street.

THE MEETING POINT

The meeting point for The Siege of Sidney Street Walk is Liverpool Street Station. Meet Philip just outside the Liverpool Street exit, by the Kindertransport statue/McDonalds.