The 2nd January 2011 marked the 100th anniversary of the Siege of Sidney Street.
The siege occurred two and a half weeks after three hero cops were murdered by a group of eastern European anarchists, mostly Latvian, during a botched burglary in Houndsditch, central London on 16th December 1910. Two other police officers were also left crippled for life. Along with killings which occurred in 1966, it is the worst police killing in British history.
After tracking the criminals down, then Home Secretary Winston Churchill was in the huge crowd watching from the sidelines as hundreds of police officers and a company of Scots Guards engaged in a fierce gun battle with gang members holed up in 100 Sidney Street in Stepney, east London on 2nd January 1911. Two of the suspects and a firefighter died. A bullet supposedly went through Churchill's hat. Considering events which were to occur 30 years later, it's lucky Churchill wasn't killed.
On 16th December 2010, the men killed in Houndsditch - Sergeant Robert Bentley, 36, Sergeant Charles Tucker, 46, and Pc Walter Choat, 34, were - remembered.
City of London Police Commissioner Mike Bowron unveiled a plaque honouring the men and said the memorial meant the men would not be forgotten.
'They were no different from the constables you see around you today - ordinary men and women doing a most extraordinary job,' he said.
The 100th anniversary and the unveiling of the plaque came the day after two policemen were stabbed by a killer on the run after they stopped him about an unpaid £1.20 bus fare in Ealing, west London. Both survived.
Honoured after 100 years, the three hero policemen gunned down by Sidney Street anarchists
By Daily Mail Reporter
16th December 2010
Daily Mail
Three policemen murdered by a gang of eastern European anarchists during a botched burglary were remembered today on the 100th anniversary of the tragedy.
Two other police officers were also left crippled for life following the raid in Houndsditch, City of London, in what remains the joint worst police shooting in history.
The killings led two and a half weeks later to the famous Siege of Sidney Street, in which two of the suspects and a firefighter died.
Open fire: The Siege of Sidney Street, 2nd January 1911, two and a half weeks after three policemen were shot dead and two more crippled for life in Houndsditch, City of London. Home Secretary Winston Churchill is in the centre of the picture.
When the gunmen were tracked down, then Home Secretary Winston Churchill was in the huge crowd watching from the sidelines as hundreds of police officers and a company of Scots Guards engaged in a fierce gun battle with gang members holed up in 100 Sidney Street in Stepney, east London.
Today the men killed in Houndsdich -Sergeant Robert Bentley, 36, Sergeant Charles Tucker, 46, and Pc Walter Choat, 34, were - remembered.
Remembered: The three policemen killed (from left to right) Sergeant Robert Bentley, 36, Sergeant Charles Tucker, 46, and Pc Walter Charles Choat, 34
Anniversary: The newly unveiled plaque in Cutler Street commemorating the incident on December 16, 1910
Not forgotten: Flowers are laid in December 1910 after three police officers were shot dead. It remains the joint worst attack on serving officers in British history
They were killed by a largely Latvian gang of revolutionaries who were attempting to break into a jewellers.
Under grey skies and drizzle today the first memorial to the officers was unveiled near the scene of the killings at Houndsditch in the City of London.
City of London Police Commissioner Mike Bowron unveiled a plaque honouring the men and said the memorial meant the men would not be forgotten.
'They were no different from the constables you see around you today - ordinary men and women doing a most extraordinary job,' he said.
HOW THE HOUNDSDITCH MURDERS HAPPENED
The Houndsditch murders took place after the anarchist gang broke into HS Harris jewellers planning to steal the contents of the safe.
A neighbour heard suspicious noises and alerted City of London Police (the Square Mile has its own police force separate to that of the Metropolitan Police which serves the rest of the metropolis), who sent officers to investigate, armed only with whistles and truncheons.
Sgt Bentley was shot dead after entering the house the burglars were using to gain access to the jewellers.
Fighting their way out of the building, the gang killed Sgt Tucker and Pc Choat. One of the burglars, George Gardstein, was accidentally shot by his friends in the melee and died from his wounds the next day.
The funeral for the murdered policemen, who were all posthumously awarded the King's Police
Medal, was held at St Paul's Cathedral on December 22 1910 and attended by then-home secretary Winston Churchill and the Lord Mayor of London
'They are members of the police family. We are a very close family and we shall never forget them.'
The commissioner, who was on his final day of duty before leaving City of London Police to become Jersey's chief of police, admitted the memorial was 'long overdue'.
'It's 100 years - some of us felt that this could have been commemorated a little earlier,' he added.
'In the wake of yet another London officer being stabbed yesterday at a bus stop in west London, it's very poignant.'
Yesterday two policemen were stabbed by a killer on the run after they stopped him about an unpaid £1.20 bus fare in Ealing, West London.
A 23-year-old officer was in a serious but stable condition while a 27-year-old transport officer had been discharged from hospital after treatment.
Today's ceremony was also attended by Lord Mayor of London Michael Bear and descendants of the three officers.
Joe Hinton, the great-great-nephew of Pc Choat, was always told by his grandmother that a relative died in the Siege of Sidney Street.
It was only when he researched his family tree last year that he learned his great-great-uncle was in fact one of the policemen killed in the Houndsditch murders.
Mr Hinton, 53, from Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey, said: 'I'm delighted and I think my nan would have been so proud to see this plaque go up.
'It's just a bit sad it took 100 years.'
The Siege of Sidney Street two and a half weeks later happened when police were told two members of the gang responsible were hiding out there.
Scene of the crime: Houndsditch, City of London, where the three police officers were shot dead and as the area appears today
Churchill joined the huge crowd watching from the sidelines as hundreds of police officers and a company of Scots Guards engaged in a fierce gun battle with the suspects.
The police and soldiers were debating how to end the stand-off when the besieged house caught fire.
Churchill stopped firemen from putting out the blaze unless it spread to other buildings, fearing that more lives could be lost.
It was only when the roof and upper floors collapsed, and it was obvious that no one inside could have survived, that the fire brigade was allowed to extinguish the flames.
The charred bodies of two members of the anarchist gang, identified as Fritz Svaars and William Sokolow, were discovered in the burnt-out house.
A senior fireman, Superintendent Charles Pearson, who entered the gutted property was crushed by a falling hearth stone and died from his injuries six months later.
A plaque in his memory will be unveiled on January 6 on the building that stands on the former site of 100 Sidney Street.
Churchill was criticised for putting himself in danger by attending the siege, although historians dismiss accounts suggesting one of the bullets passed through his top hat.
Under orders: Scots Guards awaiting the command to fire during the siege of Sidney Street in 1911
Under oath: Sir Winston Churchill pictured in the witness box during the Sidney Street inquest in 1911. The future Prime Minister was present at the siege and reports suggested a bullet went straight through his hat. Historians have dismissed the story
One of the gang, a Latvian Bolshevik called Jacob Peters, escaped hanging in London for the crimes and in 1917 returned to Russia, where he became deputy head of the Cheka secret police and was described as the 'Robespierre of the Russian Revolution' before apparently falling victim to Stalin's purges.
The events of the winter of 1910-11 were made into a 1960 film starring Donald Sinden, The Siege Of Sidney Street, and gave rise to popular East End legends about 'Peter the Painter', the pseudonym for a Latvian anarchist believed by some to be the gang's leader.
The siege highlighted the inadequacies of British police marksmen when faced with the new phenomenon of heavily armed criminals, and eventually led to officers being given better firearms and improved training.
Donald Rumbelow, a former City of London Police officer and author of The Houndsditch Murders and The Siege Of Sidney Street, said the memorial to the three murdered policemen was 'long overdue'.
He said: 'Until 1966, when you had the shooting of three Metropolitan policemen in Shepherd's Bush, it was the worst crime in British police history.
'A lot of people know about the siege but don't know about the Houndsditch murders.
'Then there is the supreme irony that the actual killer gets away with it and goes on to be such a prominent figure in the Russian Revolution.'
Not forgotten: The new plaque is in honour of the three officers who were shot dead and two others crippled for life by a gang of eastern European anarchists on this day 100 years ago
Huge crowd: Firefighters tackle the blaze during the Siege of Sidney Street. It broke out six hours into the siege, but Churchill refused them direct access, claiming he would wait for the criminals to flee. However the door never opened and two gang members, Fritz Svaars and William Sokolow, perished
dailymail.co.uk
The siege occurred two and a half weeks after three hero cops were murdered by a group of eastern European anarchists, mostly Latvian, during a botched burglary in Houndsditch, central London on 16th December 1910. Two other police officers were also left crippled for life. Along with killings which occurred in 1966, it is the worst police killing in British history.
After tracking the criminals down, then Home Secretary Winston Churchill was in the huge crowd watching from the sidelines as hundreds of police officers and a company of Scots Guards engaged in a fierce gun battle with gang members holed up in 100 Sidney Street in Stepney, east London on 2nd January 1911. Two of the suspects and a firefighter died. A bullet supposedly went through Churchill's hat. Considering events which were to occur 30 years later, it's lucky Churchill wasn't killed.
On 16th December 2010, the men killed in Houndsditch - Sergeant Robert Bentley, 36, Sergeant Charles Tucker, 46, and Pc Walter Choat, 34, were - remembered.
City of London Police Commissioner Mike Bowron unveiled a plaque honouring the men and said the memorial meant the men would not be forgotten.
'They were no different from the constables you see around you today - ordinary men and women doing a most extraordinary job,' he said.
The 100th anniversary and the unveiling of the plaque came the day after two policemen were stabbed by a killer on the run after they stopped him about an unpaid £1.20 bus fare in Ealing, west London. Both survived.
Honoured after 100 years, the three hero policemen gunned down by Sidney Street anarchists
By Daily Mail Reporter
16th December 2010
Daily Mail
Three policemen murdered by a gang of eastern European anarchists during a botched burglary were remembered today on the 100th anniversary of the tragedy.
Two other police officers were also left crippled for life following the raid in Houndsditch, City of London, in what remains the joint worst police shooting in history.
The killings led two and a half weeks later to the famous Siege of Sidney Street, in which two of the suspects and a firefighter died.
Open fire: The Siege of Sidney Street, 2nd January 1911, two and a half weeks after three policemen were shot dead and two more crippled for life in Houndsditch, City of London. Home Secretary Winston Churchill is in the centre of the picture.
When the gunmen were tracked down, then Home Secretary Winston Churchill was in the huge crowd watching from the sidelines as hundreds of police officers and a company of Scots Guards engaged in a fierce gun battle with gang members holed up in 100 Sidney Street in Stepney, east London.
Today the men killed in Houndsdich -Sergeant Robert Bentley, 36, Sergeant Charles Tucker, 46, and Pc Walter Choat, 34, were - remembered.
Remembered: The three policemen killed (from left to right) Sergeant Robert Bentley, 36, Sergeant Charles Tucker, 46, and Pc Walter Charles Choat, 34
Anniversary: The newly unveiled plaque in Cutler Street commemorating the incident on December 16, 1910
Not forgotten: Flowers are laid in December 1910 after three police officers were shot dead. It remains the joint worst attack on serving officers in British history
They were killed by a largely Latvian gang of revolutionaries who were attempting to break into a jewellers.
Under grey skies and drizzle today the first memorial to the officers was unveiled near the scene of the killings at Houndsditch in the City of London.
City of London Police Commissioner Mike Bowron unveiled a plaque honouring the men and said the memorial meant the men would not be forgotten.
'They were no different from the constables you see around you today - ordinary men and women doing a most extraordinary job,' he said.
HOW THE HOUNDSDITCH MURDERS HAPPENED
The Houndsditch murders took place after the anarchist gang broke into HS Harris jewellers planning to steal the contents of the safe.
A neighbour heard suspicious noises and alerted City of London Police (the Square Mile has its own police force separate to that of the Metropolitan Police which serves the rest of the metropolis), who sent officers to investigate, armed only with whistles and truncheons.
Sgt Bentley was shot dead after entering the house the burglars were using to gain access to the jewellers.
Fighting their way out of the building, the gang killed Sgt Tucker and Pc Choat. One of the burglars, George Gardstein, was accidentally shot by his friends in the melee and died from his wounds the next day.
The funeral for the murdered policemen, who were all posthumously awarded the King's Police
Medal, was held at St Paul's Cathedral on December 22 1910 and attended by then-home secretary Winston Churchill and the Lord Mayor of London
'They are members of the police family. We are a very close family and we shall never forget them.'
The commissioner, who was on his final day of duty before leaving City of London Police to become Jersey's chief of police, admitted the memorial was 'long overdue'.
'It's 100 years - some of us felt that this could have been commemorated a little earlier,' he added.
'In the wake of yet another London officer being stabbed yesterday at a bus stop in west London, it's very poignant.'
Yesterday two policemen were stabbed by a killer on the run after they stopped him about an unpaid £1.20 bus fare in Ealing, West London.
A 23-year-old officer was in a serious but stable condition while a 27-year-old transport officer had been discharged from hospital after treatment.
Today's ceremony was also attended by Lord Mayor of London Michael Bear and descendants of the three officers.
Joe Hinton, the great-great-nephew of Pc Choat, was always told by his grandmother that a relative died in the Siege of Sidney Street.
It was only when he researched his family tree last year that he learned his great-great-uncle was in fact one of the policemen killed in the Houndsditch murders.
Mr Hinton, 53, from Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey, said: 'I'm delighted and I think my nan would have been so proud to see this plaque go up.
'It's just a bit sad it took 100 years.'
The Siege of Sidney Street two and a half weeks later happened when police were told two members of the gang responsible were hiding out there.
Scene of the crime: Houndsditch, City of London, where the three police officers were shot dead and as the area appears today
Churchill joined the huge crowd watching from the sidelines as hundreds of police officers and a company of Scots Guards engaged in a fierce gun battle with the suspects.
The police and soldiers were debating how to end the stand-off when the besieged house caught fire.
Churchill stopped firemen from putting out the blaze unless it spread to other buildings, fearing that more lives could be lost.
It was only when the roof and upper floors collapsed, and it was obvious that no one inside could have survived, that the fire brigade was allowed to extinguish the flames.
The charred bodies of two members of the anarchist gang, identified as Fritz Svaars and William Sokolow, were discovered in the burnt-out house.
A senior fireman, Superintendent Charles Pearson, who entered the gutted property was crushed by a falling hearth stone and died from his injuries six months later.
A plaque in his memory will be unveiled on January 6 on the building that stands on the former site of 100 Sidney Street.
Churchill was criticised for putting himself in danger by attending the siege, although historians dismiss accounts suggesting one of the bullets passed through his top hat.
Under orders: Scots Guards awaiting the command to fire during the siege of Sidney Street in 1911
Under oath: Sir Winston Churchill pictured in the witness box during the Sidney Street inquest in 1911. The future Prime Minister was present at the siege and reports suggested a bullet went straight through his hat. Historians have dismissed the story
One of the gang, a Latvian Bolshevik called Jacob Peters, escaped hanging in London for the crimes and in 1917 returned to Russia, where he became deputy head of the Cheka secret police and was described as the 'Robespierre of the Russian Revolution' before apparently falling victim to Stalin's purges.
The events of the winter of 1910-11 were made into a 1960 film starring Donald Sinden, The Siege Of Sidney Street, and gave rise to popular East End legends about 'Peter the Painter', the pseudonym for a Latvian anarchist believed by some to be the gang's leader.
The siege highlighted the inadequacies of British police marksmen when faced with the new phenomenon of heavily armed criminals, and eventually led to officers being given better firearms and improved training.
Donald Rumbelow, a former City of London Police officer and author of The Houndsditch Murders and The Siege Of Sidney Street, said the memorial to the three murdered policemen was 'long overdue'.
He said: 'Until 1966, when you had the shooting of three Metropolitan policemen in Shepherd's Bush, it was the worst crime in British police history.
'A lot of people know about the siege but don't know about the Houndsditch murders.
'Then there is the supreme irony that the actual killer gets away with it and goes on to be such a prominent figure in the Russian Revolution.'
Not forgotten: The new plaque is in honour of the three officers who were shot dead and two others crippled for life by a gang of eastern European anarchists on this day 100 years ago
Huge crowd: Firefighters tackle the blaze during the Siege of Sidney Street. It broke out six hours into the siege, but Churchill refused them direct access, claiming he would wait for the criminals to flee. However the door never opened and two gang members, Fritz Svaars and William Sokolow, perished
dailymail.co.uk
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