Editing Tower of London (section)

==Garrison==
{{See also|Tower division}}
The Yeomen Warders provided the permanent garrison of the Tower, but the [[Constable of the Tower]] could call upon the men of the [[Tower division|Tower Hamlets]] to supplement them when necessary. The [[Tower division|Tower Hamlets, aka Tower Division]] of [[Ossulstone Hundred|Middlesex's Ossulstone Hundred]] was an area, significantly larger than the [[London Borough of Tower Hamlets|modern London Borough of the same name]], which owed military service to the Constable in his ''ex officio'' role as [[Lord Lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets]].<ref>Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th Edition, 1993. Article on Tower Hamlets</ref>

The earliest surviving reference to the inhabitants of the Tower Hamlets having a duty to provide a guard for the Tower of London is from 1554, during the reign of [[Mary I]], but the relationship is thought to go back much further. Some believe the connection goes back to the time of the Conqueror.<ref name="stepney">{{Cite book |title=The Metropolitan Borough of Stepney, Official Guide |date=1962 |publisher=Ed J Burrows & Co |edition=10th |pages=25–29}}</ref> <!--but others suggest it came later in the medieval period when the Hamlets had a higher population.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Powers |first=M.J. |date=December 1965 |journal=East London Papers: A Journal of History, Social Studies and Art |publisher=University House |volume=8 |issue=2 |page=68}}</ref>--> The duty is likely to have had its origin in the rights and obligations of the [[Stepney#Manor and Ancient Parish|Manor of Stepney]] which covered most or all of the Hamlets area.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol11/pp1-7 |title=A History of the County of Middlesex |publisher=T F T Baker |year=1998 |editor-last=Bethnal Green |volume=11 |pages=1–7 |chapter=Stepney: Early Stepney |via=British History Online |accessdate=3 December 2021}}</ref><ref name=stepney/>