NHS at 70 (1): History of the Forest Gate Maternity Hospital

This is the first of two articles celebrating the 70th birthday of the NHS, 5 July 2018 - recording the history of its largest local presence. The second article - to follow - will examine the state of NHS services in Forest Gate, today.

We have written before about the building on Forest Lane, which is now Gladys Dimson House, principally in its role as a Workhouse school (see here, here and here). 

Originally an Industrial School, later a hospital
and now a housing block - Gladys Dimson
House - on Forest Lane.

This post celebrates its time as a hospital, and a key part of the NHS estate from its inception in 1948 until its closure as the Newham Maternity hospital, in 1985.

The building was constructed on land owned by Samuel Gurney (see here) in 1854 as a public institution.  To mark the centenary of its establishment, as an Industrial school, the 1954 occupants, Forest Gate hospital, published a commemorative brochure and history. 

In passing, the authors noted that during that century the building had had one major change of use, at least four titles and controlled by six public bodies. Sixty-four years later a further change of use and title and at least three more public bodies could be added to the list.

Our most recent article on the building (here) described how progressive Poor Law Guardians closed the school as a workhouse/industrial school in 1906, because of its unsuitability and moved the, by now named Poplar Training school, to Hutton, in Essex.

The Illustrated London News shows
the effects of the 1890 new year's
day fire on the Industrial school

The Forest Gate building was closed for two years, when its then owners, the Poplar Board of Guardians opened it as an annexe to their Workhouse, in 1908.  They built additional accommodation there, for "sick paupers", at a cost of £8,000, and gradually the site took on its hospital role. They soon looked to close it down, and after some further alterations to the structure, sold the building to the West Ham Board of Guardians in 1911, for £41,000.

The West Ham Guardians decided the institution should be used for housing semi-sick and bed-ridden occupants of their other premises. It was designed to accommodate 600 occupants.

According to documents using language that would be totally unacceptable today, these consisted of:

Imbeciles: men, 62, women, 36. Epileptics (sane): men, 34, women, 36. Chronic bedridden: men, 75, women, 243. Sick: men, 50, women, 50. Maternity: women, 50.

It was re-opened in 1913 as the Forest Gate Sick Home. The official history notes that "the Great War and the "20's" saw little event of note under the new administration". Local folk lore has it that the institution was used as an isolation unit during the outbreak of Spanish Flu in 1919, which killed more people than WW1 combatants. We have been unable to find any surviving records that confirm this.

School children, however, used the swimming baths at the site, which was attached to the laundry building, during WW1. These baths were subsequently filled in and the space was later used to house firstly a women's patients' handicraft centre and later an ante and post-natal clinic.

The swimming baths on the site, used
by local children during WW!, later built
over to become an ante and post natal clinic

Under the 1929 Local Government Act, which replaced Boards of Guardians with Public Assistance Committees, the sick home was transferred to West Ham Council and renamed the Forest Gate Hospital.

At the time of the transfer there were 500 beds for maternity, mental health and chronic sick cases. In 1931, as a temporary measure, an additional 200 beds were provided, to meet rising demand, at a cost of £17,000.

These additional beds were given to general use, but 75 of them were allocated to, what as  recently as 1956, the authors of the history describe as "mental defectives coming under municipal care."

Hospital staff photo, 1936

Public institutions in the 1940's rapidly tried to disassociate themselves from the baggage and terminology of the old Poor Law/Workhouse traditions. In 1942, therefore, responsibility for the hospital was moved from the Public Assistance committee of the council to the Social Services committee, and two years later to the West Ham Public Health committee.

A mayoral visit to the hospital in 1936.
 Daisy Parsons (floral dress) was
West Ham's first lady mayor

Hospital dressed in bunting for mayoral
visit, celebrating George V's silver jubilee in 1936

Staff photo, taken at time of 1936 mayoral visit

During WW2, most of the non-maternity patients were evacuated to South Ockenden, in Essex. And just as well. Much of the accommodation they had previously occupied was destroyed by bombing.

On 23 September 1940 a high explosive bomb fell just outside the north-east boundary wall, causing damage to the roof and windows of M block.

On the same day an anti-aircraft shell fell and exploded on the temporary kitchen, causing severe damage. This necessitated the evacuation of a further 25 patients.

Evidence of 1940 bomb damage

On the night of 2 October a further hit caused considerable damage to the boiler house - resulting in additional patient evacuations.

On 9 October, yet another high explosive bomb caused a large crater near the maternity block. The roadway was entirely demolished and the external wall of the children's ward badly damaged. More patients had to be moved out.

Two further bombs hit the hospital on 15/16 October, causing serious damage to the kitchen block. Until repairs could be conducted, the hospital was without heating or lighting. Further temporary transfers, away from the hospital were required.

Having overcome this serious three-week spate of bombings, the hospital escaped the rest of WW2 unscathed.

And so, to the establishment of the National Health Service on 5 July 1948.

In the year immediately prior to its foundation, the hospital, which was by now almost exclusively a maternity facility, witnessed the birth of 1,261 babies (including six sets of twins and one of triplets). And. astonishing as it is to us today, when many mothers are in and out of hospital within 24 hours, the average number of days "confinement" was 11.7 days for the mothers.

On the "appointed day" for transfer of responsibility of the hospital from West Ham council to the NHS, in 1948, it was moved under the wing of the "West Ham Group (no 9) Hospital Management Committee of the North-East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Management Board."

The building in a state of disrepair - between
its closure as a maternity hospital and its
opening as residential apartments

The NHS continued to develop the facility as a specialist maternity hospital. New wards were opened by 1950.

In the early 50's there were 102 designated maternity and 5 gynaecological beds at Forest Gate Maternity Hospital - making it the largest unit of its kind within its hospital group. The hospital became an approved centre for the training of midwives.

It was still not, however, exclusively a maternity hospital. By the mid 1950's the regional hospital board was still seeking alternative accommodation for what the centenary brochure charmingly described as the remaining "mental and mentally defective patients", as soon as suitable accommodation could be found.

Change is never far from occurring within the NHS, and the Forest Lane hospital was no exception. In 1974, the hospital, which by now had 116 beds and was called the Newham Maternity Hospital, became part of the Newham Health District, under the City and East London Area Health Authority (Teaching).

With the construction of Newham General Hospital, and maternity beds and a Special Baby Care unit within it, in 1985, the Forest Lane hospital - which by then was down to 106 beds - was deemed surplus to requirements, and was closed by the Newham Health Authority.

An oak sculpture of a nurse
in the grounds of Forest Lane
park recalls the history of
the building as a hospital

After closure, the back of the original Victorian main building was demolished and houses built on the site. In 1993 the rest of the building was demolished, apart from the front facade.

The Lodge survives as well as the facade of the original building, which is now an apartment complex. It is used for education and other community activities. Gladys Dimson House is one of the original maternity buildings, and has been converted into residential accommodation. By popular demand, most of the site was developed as Forest Lane Park, between 1991 and 1994.

Footnotes. 

1. Few of the archives of the hospital survive, and many of those which do are closed, under the 100 year rule. Those which have survived and are accessible are to be found at the Royal London Hospital Archives, in Whitechapel.

2. Gladys Dimson was a Labour politician, and housing expert on the former Greater London Council. She died in 1999 and had no known connection with Newham or the buildings named after her.

Archibald Cameron Corbett - the man and his houses -synopsis of film

We have written extensively before about Forest Gate's Woodgrange estate and the builder behind it, Archibald Cameron Corbett (see here, here and here). Corbett was one of the most prolific house builders in late Victorian/Edwardian Britain and the Woodgrange estate was simply the first of seven large estates he was responsible for.

The young Corbett

Residents in one of his other estates, in Catford, last year secured Heritage Lottery funding to make an hour long documentary about the man and his houses - and fascinating it is, too.  An early screening recently took place at the Gate library. An audience of around 80 enjoyed the viewing, which was rounded off with a Q&A with filmmaker, Ben Honeybone.

The film is now available for viewing on You Tube, and a link to it can be found in the footnotes, below. This article is a synopsis of it and is illustrated by screen grabs from it. The film was well researched and made by Ben, a professional BBC film producer, with Lucy Mangan, a Guardian journalist, as its narrator.

At the end of the 19th century, Corbett was the biggest house builder in suburban London and he made a fortune from his ground-breaking, healthy estates he developed.  Born in Scotland, he was, in turn, a property developer, MP and philanthropist, who finally bought large tracts of Scottish land and handed them over for public use and pleasure, long before the days of the National Trust, national parks and other such bodies.

He remains an elusive figure, however. Almost the only contemporary direct reference to him in, or near, any of the seven estates he built, is the water trough at the foot of Forest Gate's iconic clock (see below). He did not seek public recognition, or fame, and it is doubtful whether 1% of the estimated 40,000 residents currently living in his houses today will have heard of him.

His elusiveness just adds to the fascination.

The "empty" Forest Gate,
before Corbett started building

... and the drinking fountain and trough he
left Forest Gate - almost the only feature
with his name on it by any of his seven estates.

He was born in Glasgow on 23 May 1856 to the son of a prosperous trader, Thomas Corbett, and very strict Presbyterian mother, who had no time for frivolity and modern pleasures. He was named after his maternal grandfather, and was christened Archibald Cameron Corbett.

Corbett, getting older ...

He was largely educated at home. In the late 1860's the family moved from Glasgow to Clapham, in London. Aged 14, he went on a European tour that took in Rome and he was much affected by the classical architecture and sculptures that he saw. Some aspects of the Woodgrange estate may well have been influenced by this (see a future post on the estate's design).

In the late 1870's Thomas - Archibald's father - bought 110 acres of market garden in Forest Gate from the Gurney estate (see here), and began constructing a housing development named after the principal house on the land - Woodgrange.

Thomas died three years after the building started and Archibald and his older brother, Tom, took over the mantle.  Tom soon lost interest and sold his share to Archibald.

By 1884 sales on the 700+ house Woodgrange estate were going so well, that Archie bought land further to the east, for another development. The following year became an MP for a constituency in his native Glasgow. He remained in the House of Commons for the next six elections and 25 years, until he was ennobled. Although he switched parties, he pursued the same interests throughout his membership of Parliament.

A cartoon of Corbett campaigning for Parliament -
he was doing a Scottish dance and splashing
out cash to those in attendance - in the days
when political bribery was taken
less seriously than today

He was firmly opposed to Irish Home Rule, probably influenced by his mother's Presbyterianism, which would also have accounted for his championing on Temperance. (the houses on the Woodgrange estate, like most of his others, had restrictive covenants on them prohibiting the sale of alcohol).

Corbett participating in a
Temperance meeting in Forest
Gate, as he was building
the Woodgrange estate

In other respects, however, he could considered to be very socially progressive.  Against his own economic interests, he urged heavier taxation on property developers - for the sake of social equity; he was a fierce supporter of women's suffrage , when it was a minority pursuit, and a champion of shorter working hours for shop workers, proposing stiff regulation to enforce them.

Soon after entering Parliament he met, and later married, Alice Polson, daughter of the wealthy parents behind the famous Brown and Polson cornflower. The couple lived in Knightsbridge, close to Harrods, and had nine servants to look after them and their three subsequent children.

John and Alice Polson, Corbett's in-laws ...

... and the cornflour for which they were famous

and their daughter, Alice -
 the later Mrs Corbett

The Woodgrange estate was completed in 1892 and he switched his attentions to developing the farm and estates he had purchased in Ilford - which at the time was a small county town.

First, in 1893, came the St Clements estate, just south of Ilford railway station and a year later construction began on the Grange estate, just north of the station. In 1897 work commenced on the Downshall estate - a little to the east, and finally to the Mayfield estate - next to Downshall, in 1899.

Ilford's Grange estate, today

These latter two estates were a couple of miles from the nearest railway station.  So, Corbett - applying his formula of a successful estate: cheap land, good houses, appeal to aspiring middle class -  set about ensuring the last bit of his jigsaw puzzle: securing  handy overland trains station to the City.

This mix worked in Forest Gate: the Forest Gate station was his initial bait.  By the time the Woodgrange estate had been completed, the old Little Ilford and Manor Park station had been enlarged, and renamed Manor Park (see here), complete with cheap "workmen's" fares to London, and Woodgrange Park and Wanstead Park stations had been opened on another line (see here), all convenient for the Woodgrange.

... and older ...

He now incentivised the Great Eastern Railway company to open two more stations east of Ilford - Seven Kings and Goodmayes - to accommodate his new estates. The maps below show the locations of the Corbett estates in the Ilford area before and after railway extensions.

The original Ilford station, that was
part of the local appeal for Corbett

The spread of Corbett's Ilford estates,
 in relation to the sole local railway
station, when he started construction

... and Seven King's and Goodmayes
 stations, whose construction he sponsored

Seven King's station ...

Goodmayes Farm, on which
the Mayfield estate was built ...

Floor layouts of houses
on the Mayfield estate

... and an advert for houses built
on the farm - the Mayfield estate

Details of the easy instalments
payments Corbett pioneered

The four Ilford estates were slightly different in character: Clementswood, mostly 3-bed houses, Grange, more double and triple fronted, Downshall , hundreds with two storey bay windows and Venetian blinds (see photos, below) and Mayfield.

Looking at the housing developments in Ilford at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries - and with the Corbett estates marked in red in the map, below - Corbett could, were he not so modest, have a good claim to be the founding father of modern suburban Ilford.

Indeed, the vice-chair of Ilford Town council, in 1902 said: "The impetus to Ilford was given by Mr Corbett". Despite this, there is barely the trace of his name or influence displayed anywhere in the town.

Ilford in 1900, with the Corbett estates
highlighted in red. Clear to see why Corbett
could be considered the father of modern Ilford

Corbett switched his estate building attention south of the river in 1896 and bought the St German's agricultural estate and began constructing the largest of his seven developments - the St German's estate, with 3,200 houses, in the Catford/Hither Green area.

He built solid middle class houses and sold them, leasehold, at cost price, on 99 year leases.  The profit for Corbett in the deal was the 5% leasehold payment he got each year from them.  At a time when 90% of British families lived in rented accommodation, Corbett played a key role in laying the foundations for what was later to become known as a "property owning democracy". He had a strong faith in the power of owner-occupation in establishing healthy communities.

Corbett's legacy was substantial. His houses were well built, to high specifications - the fact that only bomb damage has destroyed any of the 9,000 that he built, over a century later - is testimony to this.

... and older ...

The houses on all his estates were spacious, in low density developments, usually with parklands incorporated into, or nearby, them.

The Catford estate took longer to build than the others - but the same formula was at work - including the construction of improvements to local railway stations - to make the developments more attractive to that newly born breed,  "commuters" - city workers who wanted to live in the leafier, healthier suburbs and travel to work.

Corbett's last great development began at the end of the 19th century. In 1899 he bought 330 acres of farmland in Eltham - quite near his Catford development - for £50,000 and began construction of the Eltham Park development, applying the same formula.  So, the construction of Shooters Hill and Eltham Park railway station followed soon after - in 1908.

Shooters Hill and Eltham Park railway
station, built at Corbett's behest

This estate is more Edwardian-looking in style, hardly surprising since it was built almost totally during the reign of Edward V11.

Promotional brochure, marketing
both the Ilford Mayfield estate
and the Eltham Park one

In his personal life, Corbett bought a 6,500 acre estate, Rowallan, in Scotland for his family in 1901, but his wife died soon after, aged only 34. Archibald Cameron Corbett began to withdraw a little from housing construction, but as is often the case, put some of his time and much of his money into philanthropic endeavours.

Rowallan - the Ayrshire estate that
Corbett bought for the family

So, he bought 143 acres of land in Glasgow and turned it into Rouken Glen Park - which survives and in 2016 was awarded the accolade of "The UK's best Park". He later bought 15,000 acres of the Scottish highlands, Lochgoilhead,  and endowed it as a "gift to the nation", before such gestures were common.

It is now called Ardgoil and has been incorporated into the Trossachs and Loch Lomond National Park.

Glaswegians enjoying Corbett's "gift"
to the nation, which was, naturally, alcohol-free

Film narrator, Lucy Mangan, commenting
from Ardgoil - Corbett's legacy to
the Scottish people

Corbett was awarded a peerage in 1911, as part of George V's coronation celebration, and became Lord Rowallan of Rowallan. He began to withdraw even more from public life.  In 1915 he gave up his London mansion, to be a hostel for Belgian refugee families and retired to a Brown's hotel, in Mayfair - where he was to spend the remainder of his life.

... and old

He died on 19 March 1933.

The Corbett memorial, built
on his family estate in Scotland

Corbett's housing legacy was not as a pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap house builder.  He saw good housing as a keystone to a better society. Although less dramatic, his estates are as socially innovative within the housing movement as the rather better promoted  "model villages" of entrepreneurs, such as Lever , Cadbury and Titus Salt, and the grander garden suburbs such as Hampstead - on that they were build with the residents in mind, and not just the bank balance.

And the Woodgrange estate - the only one with Conservation Area status - proved to be the foundation of his impressive building legacy.

Footnotes

 1: Archibald Cameron Corbett, the Man and his houses can be viewed, free of charge on You Tube, here:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_GdkNvDjKs&t=3040s The film lasts one hour.

2. We will follow this article with three others on the Woodgrange estate.  The first will look at some of the important external architectural features in this conservation area. The second will examine some of the interior features that remain in some of the high spec buildings that survive on the estate.  The third will look at the Woodgrange through the medium of two rare collections of mainly Edwardian postcards of the area. Watch this space!

Racism in Forest Gate in the 1970s and 1980s Part 2 - the fight back begins

This is the second part of a post on racism in Forest Gate in the 1970's and 1980's - see the previous article for part one.

Gurdip Singh Chagger was murdered in Southall on 4 June 1976. A week later a demonstration was held in Stratford Town Hall by the pro-fascist Democratic National Party. It's leader, John Kingsley Read declared:

I have been told I cannot refer to coloured immigrants. So, you will forgive me if I refer to niggers, wogs and coons. As for the murder of one Asian youth in Southall last week. That was terribly unfortunate. One down, one million to go.

Read was charged with incitement to racial hatred. It took the jury just ten minutes to reach a 'not guilty' verdict, after they had been directed by  Judge McKinnon, in his summary:

In this England of ours we are allowed to have our own views still. Thank goodness, and long may it last.

Read was, he said, was a man: "who had the guts to come forward in the past and stand up publicly for the things he believed in."

This was part of the local context for a series of dreadful racist incidents and the catalyst of effective and organised community opposition to them in Forest Gate, in the 1970's and 80's. What follows is that story.

Ten months after the murder of Chegger - on St George's Day 1977 - three Sikh brothers, Mohinder, Balvinder and Sukvinder Virk were repairing their car in front of their home in East Ham, when they were approached by five white youths, who had been drinking heavily and then began racially abusing and attacking them.

The Virk bothers resisted;  there was a struggle and one of the white youths was stabbed. The Virk family called the police - but it was they who were arrested, refused bail and charged with grievous bodily harm.

Campaign leaflet, in
support of the Virk brothers

The white attackers were the prosecution's principal witnesses at the trial fifteen months later and when the Virk brothers' lawyer attempted to prove the racist nature of the original assault, by asking the white youths whether they were members of the National Front, the notorious Judge Argyle, presiding, ruled the question: "out of order".

The Virk brothers were found guilty and given sentences of between three months and seven years. In comparison, the killers of Chaggers - mentioned at the top of this feature - received only four years, for manslaughter.

The very different verdicts in the two cases caused outrage within much of the black and Asian communities. A number of "defence" groups were established - among them the Steering Committee of Asian Organisations and the Newham Defence Committee. Funds were raised and demonstrations organised.

The campaigns succeeded. The Appeal Court halved the Virk brothers' sentences, the following year - with the judge declaring them to be "law-abiding citizens". Police and judicial racism was now firmly on the agenda for black and Asian community groups.

Similar racist-inspired attacks, however, continued, including the murder of 10 year old Kennith Singh in Plaistow in April 1978 and 19 year old Narinder Singh Marway, on Green Street. Marway was racially abused, spat at and hit on the head with an iron bar. When the police arrived, it was Marway who was arrested, for "being in possession of an offensive weapon".

The former Forest Gate police
station, on Romford Road

The "offensive weapon" was his Karaa (the Sikh bangle) - a sacred symbol; to be carried by all adult Sikh men, throughout their adult lives, and with which they are cremated.

Angry demonstrations followed in support of Marway - but it was only when the matter was raised in the Indian parliament that the charge was dropped.

One of the most notorious racist killings at the time was of 29 year old Akhtar Ali Baig, who was savagely attacked on East Ham High street by a gang of skinhead boys and girls. 17 year old Paul Mullery pulled out a sheath knife and stabbed him in the heart, shouting "I've just gutted a Paki."

Newham Recorder reports of killing of Akhtar Ali Baig - report on centre (above) by current Newham Heritage activist, Colin Grainger!

The murder provoked outrage and lead to a spontaneous demonstration of about 150 black and Asian people outside the then Forest Gate police station.

The police refused to release any details of the murder, except declared it not to be racist - but simply a mugging. The youth took to the streets again - to the spot where Baig was murdered - and there were 16 arrests.

The Newham Youth Movement was formed around the attack and on 19 July 1980 an estimated 2,500 people marched through Newham in protest. The Newham Youth Movement's Bulletin described the response:

The tempo and the feelings of the youth were high. The march was planned to pass Forest Gate and West Ham police stations, and return to the murder spot.

On the way to the Forest Gate police station about six Asian youth were arrested. Due to the police's unreasonable behaviour, there was a sit-down protest outside Forest Gate police station. A delegation was sent inside to negotiate their release.

The release was promised and the march continued to West Ham Park and ended up at the original murder spot - where prayers were read from the Koran. A further 29 people were arrested during the march.

A second march - to demand the release of the arrested - was organised by the Newham Youth Movement. 5,000 attended and East Ham was brought to a standstill.

The Baig murder sparked new levels of anger and protest within the local Asian community, and beyond. Community activist, and now Greater London Authority member, Unmesh Desai, had this to say of it, a decade later:

As friend told me later, it was actually their mothers who got them all up early, and said: 'Come on, we've all got to go on the march.

Although there was a wave of anti-fascist activity at the time around the country, I distinctly remember the Akhtar Ali Baig march as the most angry, militant march I had been on.

The trial became the centre for demonstrations and press attention. Racism was the focus of the trial. James Parker and Paul Mullery were found guilty of murder. The police said that neither had shown any remorse.

Parker's bedroom, it emerged, was bedecked in Nazi and NF material and as Mullery left the court, he gave a Nazi salute, shouted 'Sieg Heil' and 'All for a fucking Paki'.

In the light of the overwhelming evidence, Judge Russell concluded that the killing was "clearly motivated by racial hatred". Obvious, perhaps, but some progress on earlier judicial observations and on the initial police response to the murder.

Organisations that had emerged to campaign around the Baig murder soon collapsed, due to inter-generational and other tensions. But the black and Asian communities were becoming politicised in ways and in places that some people found surprising at the time.

The Asian Women's Project, for example, emerged, campaigning for support for the often isolated women members - including the needs of Asian women refugees. Other issues were campaigned on.  Writing in 1990, Gulshun Rehman, of the organisation commented:

The black women's movement was highlighting the whole use of the dangerous contraceptive Depo-Provera, and Behno-Ki-milan (ed: the Sisters Movement of Asian Women, established in 1979) got involved in picketing Forest Gate maternity hospital (ed: the former Industrial school, now Gladys Dimson court) on Forest Lane, over the use of the drug.

Gradually black and Asian anti-racist organisations coalesced around the issue of racial harassment and in 1980 formed the Newham Monitoring Project (NMP). It, at once, began compiling a dossier of cases, which it sent to local MP's (who were not always sympathetic), and established an advice centre in Forest Gate. It soon began to operate a 24/7 emergency help-line for black people experiencing racial violence and harassment, from 382 Katherine Road.

Moves were afoot elsewhere at this time, often spearheaded by many of the departing "old guard" of Newham council: messrs Wales, Corbett and Baike, and other still prominent figures like MP Steven Timms and recently retired Cllr Conor McCauley, to address some of the institutional racism that prevailed in the borough.

The story is long and meandering, but basically, old stager MP's like Reg Prentice and Arthur Lewis were de-selected and younger bloods like Tony Banks took on the Parliamentary role.

The old racist guard were swept from power at the town hall too, and gradually more progressive thoughts and policies - particularly around race - began to win through.

One notable litmus test of the change was when Newham became the first local authority in the country to evict a tenant for racial harassment - Rosina McDonnell - in 1984. One of the Canning Town housing officers at the time, involved in the eviction, was the future Tottenham MP, Bernie Grant.

McDonnell family evicted twice by Newham Council for racially harassing neighbours in 1984-85

Newham was under siege from the press and wider political establishment for being 'left wing extremists' and 'politically correct, gone mad' etc. Leading council members and senior officers resisted massive pressure and, in some cases, intimidation to back down, but stood firm.

Winds of change blowing through the Greater London Council, at County Hall, meant that for the first time groups such as the NMP  were grant-aided, in an attempt to fight local racism.

382 Katherine Road, today. In the 1980's
 hq of Newham Monitoring Project

This was not without difficulties for the NMP, who not only had to deal with racists outpourings and harassment, but also sectarian divisions from the left and some community organisations - often driven by jealousy at their prominence and successes.

Present GLA member,
Unmesh Desai, at the time
prominent in Newham
Monitoring Project

Strength of purpose and resolve prevailed at the NMP, as Unmesh Desai was later to reflect:

The NMP, we felt, should not seek bureaucratic answers to anti-racist issues ... it has always got to keep its sharp, campaigning fighting edge ... we learned in those early days that it is not white individuals who were the problem, but white society as a whole.

Tensions continued between the police and black youth, locally, throughout the 1970s and 80s. In the 70's the police used the Vagrancy Acts to pick up young black males "on suspicion" that they were about to commit a crime - the "sus" laws.

Herby Boudier, a Newham community worker in the 1980's gave an example:

In one particular case, in Upton Park Road, a 17 year old youth had just left the offices of the Renewal Project Programme (ed: a voluntary organisation supporting unemployed Afro-Caribbean youth, among other activities) to go to the careers office for an interview, when he was picked up and charged with 'sus'. The police evidence against him was that while standing at the bus stop he "appeared to dip into a woman's handbag". Yet neither the woman, nor any other witness was brought forward.

'Sus' was finally abolished in 1981, but another form of harassment soon replaced it. The police increasingly began to use Special Patrol Groups (SPGs) to target black areas, targeting black youth, almost at random.

The Ramsey case of 1983 gained particular notoriety. David Ramsey of First Avenue, Manor Park, was stopped and arrested for stealing the car he was driving. It was his own! He had been tracked by helicopter. His family home was forcibly entered by the SPG and 11 members of it arrested. They were taken to Forest Gate police station and charged with a number of offences - obstruction, assault etc - connected to their resistance.

The NMP worked with other, similar, bodies from other east-end local areas and held a press conference at the House of Commons, on police harassment of the black community. The NMP called for an inquiry into the case.

The Newham Recorder, which did not attend the press conference, responded by interviewing four black police officers at the Forest Gate station - who dutifully said there was no problem of racism at the station.

Newham Recorder denying racism among
Forest Gate police, in March 1983.
Probably not current prominent Guardian
journalist, Hugh Muir's, proudest "exclusive"

Site of the old Forest Gate police
station on Romford Road, today

Racial tensions escalated into fights and violent attacks at Little Ilford school in 1982. Matters came to a head in September when four scruffily dressed white men jumped out of a car, by the school, and swore at and racially abused some Asian children. The Asian lads feared a racist attack, and a fight broke out.

Police were called, and it transpired that the white men who had provoked the original incident were, in fact, plain clothes policemen, themselves! Eight Asian youth, some badly beaten, were taken to Forest Gate police station.

A Defence Committee was quickly formed and up-and-coming civil rights lawyer, Gareth Peirce, was hired for the defence. A demonstration of at least 1,000 marched through Newham, as a National March Against Racism and Fascism on 24 September 1983.

Newham Recorder reports on anti-racist
demonstration, in support of the Newham 8

500 local school children staged a strike and attended The Old Bailey on the first day of the trial of The Newham 8, as the defendants became known. They maintained a daily presence, throughout the trial.

These were the first school strikes in Britain against racism and fascism. They gained considerable media attention.

1983, Newham school children on strike
outside the Old Bailey in support of the
Newham 8. Photo: David Hoffman

The trial lasted six weeks. Four of the defendants were found guilty of the more minor of the offences with which they were charged, and four were found not guilty.

The liberal press criticised the police for their failure to address racial violence, at the conclusion of the trail.  But the lessons weren't heeded, as similar issues arose a year later, in the case of the Newham 7.

On 7 August 1984 a gang of white youths, driving around Newham in a car, committed a series of attacks on black people, seemingly at random. One assault involved a partially disabled Asian youth, who was taken by force to Wanstead Flats and attacked with a hammer.

Later that day a group of Asian youth went to the Duke of Edinburgh pub on the corner of Green Street and Plashet Grove. The pub has recently closed and is now a small parade of shops (see photo). It was at the time, though, a well-known meeting place for NF thugs.

Site of the former Duke of Edinburgh pub,
on junction of Plashet Grove and Green Street, today.
Now a small parade of mainly Asian shops - then
a drinking den of local National Front thugs

A fight broke out at the pub and an Asian youth was arrested on a number of violence-related charges. Six more Asian youths were arrested in the weeks that followed. Five of the youth were remanded in custody for seven weeks, and a writ of Habeas Corpus had to be issued to secure their release.

In contrast, three white youths were arrested as a result of the incident and were immediately released on bail.

As black and Asian youth began to organise around the fate of the Newham 7, a 16 year old black youth, Eustace Pryce died after being stabbed in the head outside the (also, now closed) Greengate pub, on Barking Road on 29 November. (see photo of the site, today - now a Tesco branch).

Newham Recorder reports arrests for
murder of Eustace Pryce, November 1984

Former Greengate pub on Barking Road
today - now a Tesco Express

The murder happened after a racially motivate fight outside the pub. Some plain clothes police officers witnessed the end of the fight, from the top of a passing bus. They promptly arrested Gerald Pryce - brother of the murdered Eustace -  questioned him for several hours and charged him with affray  - but did not pick up the killer.

The police eventually arrested Martin Newhouse, who was charged with murder.

The fates of  Gerald Pryce and Newhouse, a month later,  could not have displayed the racist bias of the judicial system more clearly. The killer was released on bail over Christmas "so that he could be with his family". The dead youth's brother, charged with affray,  was refused bail over the holiday period! When Gerald Pryce was eventually given bail, his movements were restricted, to prevent him from visiting Newham, and his pregnant girlfriend.

A joint 'defence campaign' under the guidance of NMP was formed (see photo below), but racially motivated violence persisted in Newham - much of it orchestrated from the Duke of Edinburgh pub.

"Justice for the Pryce Family" march side
 by side with the "Newham 7" campaign.
Photo: Andrew Wiard

Protest marches were held in Newham and beyond, to draw attention to the situation. One, on 27 April 1985, turned out in defence of Gerard Pryce and the Newham 7. It was due to pass Forest Gate police station, on its way to Plashet Park.

Newham Recorder reports on the
trail of the Newham 7 - May 1984

When the march reached the police station, police snatch squads charged into the crowd, pulling out Afro-Caribbean and Asian youth and violently assaulted them. Ten of the youth were bundled into the police station.

3,000 people refused to move from outside the police station until the 10 were released.

As dusk was falling police District Support Units (DSUs) from all over London descended on Forest Gate police station and the surrounding streets. Violence erupted and 34 further arrests were made. Local police officers later complained to the Newham Recorder that before the DSU charges on the demonstrators, local senior officers had forced them to "surrender the streets".

1985 - heavy handed action by the police
on a 1985 demonstartion in support of the
Pryce Family and Newham 7, outside
Plashet Park. Photo: John Sturrock

The trial of the Newham 7 began in May 1985 amid other intolerable abuses by the authorities. At lunch-break on the second day of the trial, one of the defendants, Parvaiz Khan, was racially abused and assaulted by a prison warder - for refusing to eat a pork pie, a forbidden food in the Islamic faith.

He returned to court with a swollen face, and the trail was adjourned for two days. This gained press coverage - not just in the UK, but in India and Pakistan too
.

As the trail reconvened, two police officers, waiting to give evidence, were found riffling through defence files and papers, and other officers were found to be colluding over evidence.

It emerged during the trial, that while racist thugs were plotting in the Duke of Edinburgh pub - unimpeded by the police - the police had informants working in the Wimpey bar opposite (now a betting shop - see photo), spying on Asian youth, who used it as a meeting place!

Paddy Power betting shop, today. In 1980's
 a Wimpey Bar, where police had informers, spying
 on local Asian youth. Near right in photo is site
 of ex Duke of Edinbugh pub, a meeting point
 for the National Front. Police weren't
interested in spying on them

Four of the Newham 7 were found guilty of affray and three were acquitted - but it was the police, whose actions were exposed who were found wanting in the court of public opinion.

As far as the Pryce killing was concerned, brother Gerald was not criminalised and killer Newhouse was sentenced to 4.5 years youth custody - for manslaughter.

The importance of these cases is the successful campaigns around them, in Newham and beyond - often focussing on dreadful behaviour of officers stationed at Forest Gate police station. 

The campaigns shone a light on institutional racism - particularly within the criminal justice system - from which there has been a deliberate, if slow, rowing back since.

Footnote This post has been largely based on the publication: Newham - the Forging of a Black Community, published by the Newham Monitoring Project and the Campaign Against Racism and fascism, in 1991. It is sadly out of print. Though second hand copies occasionally become available. Similarly we are indebted to the publication for many of the illustrations in this post - where-ever possible, we have attempted to credit the original photographer