Editing Bethnal Green (section)

==History==
===Origins and administration{{anchor|Bethnal Green Parish Act 1742}}===
[[File:Parish of Bethnal Green 1848.gif|thumb|left|Parish of Bethnal Green, 1848]]

{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Bethnal Green Parish Act 1742
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of Great Britain
| long_title            = An Act to make the Hamlet of Bethnal Green in the Parish of Saint Dunstan, Stepney, in the County of Middlesex, a separate and distinct Parish, and for erecting a Parish Church therein.
| year                  = 1742
| citation              = [[16 Geo. 2]]. c. 28
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 21 April 1743
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = 
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = 
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
The term ''Bethnal Green'' originally referred to a small common in the [[Stepney#Manor and Ancient Parish|Manor and Ancient Parish of Stepney]]; around which a small settlement developed. By the seventeenth century the area had become a ''hamlet'', a territorial sub-division of Stepney,<ref name="Youngs">Young's guide describes Hamlets as devolved areas of Parishes - but does not describe this area specifically {{cite book | first=Frederic |last=Youngs | title=Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England | volume=I: Southern England | year=1979 | publisher=[[Royal Historical Society]] | location=London | isbn=0-901050-67-9}}</ref><ref>Joel Gascoyne's maps of Stepney in 1703 show the hamlets of the parish occupying the same boundaries as when they subsequently became independent parishes</ref> with a degree of independence. Continued housebuilding and population growth in the 18th century led to the hamlet area becoming a fully independent daughter parish in 1743. The parish had a church, a benefice (for its priest) [[Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green|and vestry (for its people)]] in 1743. 
In 1855 Bethnal Green was included within the area of the [[Metropolitan Board of Works]] to which it nominated one member and the various local government bodies were replaced by a single incorporated [[vestry]] which consisted of 48 elected vestrymen.<ref name=vch2>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22758 |title=Bethnal Green - Local Government |year=1998 |work=A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green |access-date=13 August 2010}}</ref>

Under the [[Metropolis Management Act 1855]], any parish that exceeded 2,000 [[Rates in the United Kingdom|ratepayers]] was to be divided into wards; as such the incorporated vestry of St Matthew Bethnal Green was divided into four wards (electing [[vestrymen]]): No. 1 or East (9), No. 2 or North (9), No. 3 or West (15) and No. 4 or South (15).<ref name=vch2/><ref>{{cite book|title=The London Gazette Issue: 21802|date=20 October 1855|pages=3881–3882|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/21802/page/3881|access-date=9 April 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=H.M.S.O. Boundary Commission Report 1885 Bethnal Green Map|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/maps/sheet/bc_reports_1885/Bethnal_Green_1885|website=Vision of Britain|access-date=9 April 2015}}</ref>

The (civil) parish became a Metropolitan Borough in 1900, which merged with some of the neighbouring areas, to become the new London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in 1965.

The area was part of the [[Historic counties of England|historic (or ancient) county]] of [[Middlesex]], but military and most (or all) civil county functions were managed more locally, by the [[Tower division|Tower Division (also known as the Tower Hamlets)]].

The role of the ''Tower Division'' ended when Bethnal Green  became part of the new [[County of London]] in 1889. The County of London was replaced by Greater London in 1965.

[[File:Former Town Hall, Cambridge Heath Road.jpg|thumb|The former [[Bethnal Green Town Hall]]]]
[[File:Bethnal Green Met. B Ward Map 1916.svg|thumb|left|The wards of the Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green. The Borough corresponded very closely to the area of the Hamlet and later Parish of Bethnal Green.]]

===Early history===
[[File:Detail of black mulberry tree (Morus nigra) in the grounds of the former London Chest Hospital 02.jpg|thumb|The Bethnal Green Mulberry, at the former London Chest Hospital.]]
In what would become northern Bethnal Green (known as [[Cambridge Heath]]) a tract of [[common land]], which stretched to the east and west, a part of the [[Stepney#Manor and Ancient Parish|Manor and Ancient Parish of Stepney]]. The heath was used as [[pasture]] where people grazed their sheep in the 13th century, though 1275 records suggest at least one house stood there.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eastlondonhistory.com/2010/11/07/cambridge-heath/|title=Cambridge Heath - eastlondonhistory.com|website=eastlondonhistory.com}}</ref> [[Bethnal Green mulberry tree#The site|Stepney's Manor House (known as ''Bishopswood'', later ''Bishop's Hall'')]] was located in Bethnal Green from at least 1207,<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Stepney: Settlement and Building to c.1700 |title= A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11, Stepney, Bethnal Green |editor-first=T. F. T. |editor-last=Baker |location=London|year=1998|pages=13–19|website= British History Online|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol11/pp13-19 |accessdate=6 December 2021}}</ref> on a site subsequently occupied by the [[London Chest Hospital]].

===Emblems===
====Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green====
The area was once best known for the popular [[Early modern Britain|early modern]] ballad, ''The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green'', which tells the story of a beautiful young woman named Bess, the daughter of a blind beggar. The earliest known explicit mention of the ballad is from 1624, but it was clearly well established by that date, as two other ballads of similar date were said to have been sung to the tune of the ''Blind Beggar''. A play on the same theme, almost certainly based on an existing ballad, is known to have been performed in 1600.<ref>Robinson and Chesshyre 1986, p. 31.</ref>

According to one version of the legend, found in [[Thomas Percy (Bishop of Dromore)|Thomas Percy]]'s ''[[Reliques of Ancient English Poetry]]'' published in 1765, the beggar was said to be [[Henry de Montfort|Henry]], the son of [[Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester|Simon de Montfort]], but Percy himself declared that this version was not genuine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eastlondonhistory.com/blind+beggar.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071030011746/http://www.eastlondonhistory.com/blind%20beggar.htm|url-status=dead|title= Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green |archivedate=30 October 2007|website=www.eastlondonhistory.com}}</ref> A version published in 1934,<ref>{{cite book |title=A Book of Old Ballads |editor-first=Beverley |editor-last=Nichols |editor-link=Beverley Nichols |year=1934 |publisher=Hutchinson & Sons |location=London }}</ref> closely based on Percy's but with some amendments to include much older material, contains 67 verses. The ballad recounts how Bess leaves Bethnal Green to seek her fortune, and stays a short time at the Queen's Arms inn at [[Romford]]. There, her beauty quickly attracts four suitors, three of whom lose interest when she declares her background, while the fourth, a knight is unconcerned by her father's status. The couple marry, and despite his seeming poverty, the beggar gives a huge dowry to the knight, to the bitter dismay of the other three suitors. [[The Blind Beggar]] public house, just on the Bethnal Green side of the historic boundary with [[Whitechapel]],<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Bethnal Green: Social and Cultural Activities |title=A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11, Stepney, Bethnal Green |editor-first=T. F. T. |editor-last=Baker |location=London |year=1998 |pages=147–155 |website=British History Online |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol11/pp147-155 |access-date=25 September 2022 }}</ref> is reputed to be the site of his begging.

A depiction of the beggar is known to have been used on the head of the local [[beadle]]'s staff in 1690.<ref name=bening>{{cite book |title=London 1900–1964. Armorial Bearings and Regalia of The London County Council, The Corporation of London and The Metropolitan Boroughs |last=Beningfield |first=T. J. |year=1964 |publisher=E. J. Burrow |location=London  |pages=49–50}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=London's Coats of Arms and the Stories they Tell |last=Crosley |first=Richard |year=1928 |publisher=Robert Scott |location=[[London]] |pages=46–49}}</ref> Later, the beggar and his daughter were the basis of the [[Seal (emblem)|common seal]] of the [[Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Crosley |title=London's Coats of Arms and the Stories they Tell |location=London |publisher=Robert Scott |year=1928 |pages=47–51 }}</ref> The legend also inspired [[Elisabeth Frink]]'s sculpture ''[[Blind Beggar and his Dog]]'' (1958) on the [[Cranbrook Estate]] in Bethnal Green.

====Mulberry====
Bethnal Green is famous for its [[morus nigra|mulberry]] trees, most notably the [[Bethnal Green mulberry tree|Bethnal Green mulberry]] at the site of the former London Chest Hospital, which is reputed to be the oldest tree in the East End. Many of these mulberry trees may be a legacy of unsuccessful 16th and 17th century attempts to boost the weaving industries that Bethnal Green, [[Shoreditch]], [[Spitalfields]] and other East End districts relied upon so heavily.<ref>History of the mulberry in London https://www.moruslondinium.org/research/timeline</ref>

Mulberries were used as the local emblem when it was a partly self-governing neighbourhood of Tower Hamlets from 1986 to 1992, and the symbol can still be seen on many local street signs.<ref>Spitalfields Life website https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/02/19/the-bethnal-green-mulberry-lecture/</ref> The mulberry is also used as a symbol of the East End more generally, and is featured on the [[London Borough of Tower Hamlets#Coat of arms|coat of arms of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets]].

===Growth===
[[File:Image taken from page 751 of 'Old and New London, etc' (11191645916).jpg|thumb|Bethnal House Lunatic Asylum. A notorious 'private madhouse' from 1727, variously known as Wright's House, The Blind Beggar's House, and Kirby's Castle.]]
The Green and Poor's Land is the area of open land now occupied by [[Bethnal Green Library]], the [[Young V&A]] and [[St John on Bethnal Green|St John's Church]], designed by [[John Soane]].

In [[John Stow]]'s ''Survey of London'' (1598) the hamlet was called ''Blethenal Green''. It was one of the hamlets included in the Manor of Stepney and Hackney. Hackney later became separated.

In 1678, the owners of houses surrounding the Green purchased the land to save it from being built on and in 1690, the land was conveyed to a trust under which it was to be kept open and rent from it used for the benefit of poor people living in the vicinity. From that date, the trust has administered the land and its minute books are kept in the [[London Metropolitan Archives]].

Bethnal House, or Kirby's Castle, was the principal house on the Green. One of its owners was Sir Hugh Platt (1552–1608), author of books on gardening and practical science. Under its next owner it was visited by [[Samuel Pepys]]. In 1727 it was leased to Matthew Wright and for almost two centuries it was an [[Sanctuary|asylum]]. Its two most distinguished inmates were [[Alexander Cruden]], compiler of the ''[[Cruden's Concordance|Concordance to the Bible]]'', and the poet [[Christopher Smart]]. Cruden recorded his experience in ''The London Citizen Grievously Injured'' (1739) and Smart's stay there is recorded by his daughter. Records of the asylum are kept in the annual reports of the Commissioner in Lunacy. Even today, the park where the library stands is known locally as "Barmy Park".

The original mansion, the White House, was supplemented by other buildings. In 1891, the Trust lost the use of Poor's Land to the London County Council. The asylum reorganised its buildings, demolishing the historic White House and erecting a new block in 1896. This building became the present Bethnal Green Library. A history of Poor's Land and Bethnal House is included in ''The Green'', written by A.J. Robinson and D.H.B. Chesshyre.

Boxing has a long association with Bethnal Green. [[Daniel Mendoza]], who was champion of England from 1792 to 1795 though born in [[Aldgate]], lived in Paradise Row on the western side of Bethnal Green for 30 years. [[Joe Anderson (boxer)|Joe Anderson]], 'All England' champion of 1897, was from Bethnal Green.<ref name="ARD">{{Cite episode |title= Bare-Knuckle Fighter |series= Antiques Roadshow Detectives |series-link= Antiques Roadshow Detectives |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05qtckx |access-date= 19 April 2015 |network= [[BBC Television]]  |date= 8 April 2015 |series-no= 1 |number= 3 }}</ref>

The north end of the Green is associated with the Natt family. During the 18th century they owned many of its houses. Netteswell House is the residence of the curator of the Bethnal Green Museum. It is almost certainly named after the village of [[Netteswell]], near [[Harlow]], whose [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] was the Reverend Anthony Natt. A few of its houses have become [[University settlement]]s. In Victoria Park Square, on the east side of the Green, No. 18 has a [[Tudor style architecture|Tudor]] well in its cellar.<ref>''The Green, Land assessments records'', Gascoyne's survey of 1703.</ref>

The silk-weaving trade spread eastwards from [[Spitalfields]] throughout the 18th century. This attracted many [[Huguenot]] and Irish weavers to the district. Large estates of small two-storey cottages were developed in the west of the area to house them. A downturn in the trade in 1769 led to the [[Spitalfield Riots]], and on 6 December 1769, two weavers accused of "cutting" were hanged in front of the Salmon and Ball [[public house]].

Bethnal Green Road Market on the road of the same name, founded in the 18th century, grew and grew and became more full with stalls. By 1959 stalls were choking the streets and the council attempted to relocate the market but had no success. In 1986 there had been many shop closures but the stalls were still trading. The street market is now today recognised as a major local shopping area.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bgbusinessforum.org.uk/about/sample-page/|last=Bethnal Green Business Forum|title=History|date=2014|access-date=1 June 2019|archive-date=2 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180902075438/http://bgbusinessforum.org.uk/about/sample-page/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Victorian era===
[[File:Slum children bethnal green.jpg|thumb|right|Slum children in bed, Bethnal Green, 1900–1910]]

In the 19th century, Bethnal Green remained characterised by its [[Market gardening|market gardens]] and by weaving. Having been an area of large houses and gardens as late as the 18th century, by about 1860 Bethnal Green was mainly full of tumbledown old buildings with many families living in each house. By the end of the century, Bethnal Green was one of the poorest slums in London. [[Jack the Ripper]] operated at the western end of Bethnal Green and in neighbouring [[Whitechapel]]. In 1900, the Old Nichol Street [[Rookery (slum)|rookery]] was replaced with the [[Boundary Estate]] (near the limits of Shoreditch). This was a first in [[council housing]]. Brothers [[Lew Grade]] and [[Bernard Delfont]] were brought up on the estate.<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=22752 'Bethnal Green: Building and Social Conditions from 1876 to 1914', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green (1998), pp. 126–32] accessed: 14 November 2006.</ref> In 1909, the larger '''Bethnal Green Estate''' was opened with money left by the philanthropist [[William Richard Sutton]] which he left for "modern dwellings and houses for occupation by the poor of London and other towns and populous places in England".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.affinitysutton.com/about_us/our_organisation/our_history/timeline.aspx |title=Timeline |access-date=10 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120819025634/http://www.affinitysutton.com/about_us/our_organisation/our_history/timeline.aspx |archive-date=19 August 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.affinitysutton.com/about_us/our_organisation/our_history.aspx |title=Our history |access-date=10 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120123024858/http://www.affinitysutton.com/about_us/our_organisation/our_history.aspx |archive-date=23 January 2012 }}</ref> The [[Peabody Trust]] administered the funds to complete much of the estate in 1910.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Cambridge Heath {{!}} Hidden London|url=https://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/cambridge-heath/amp/|access-date=2020-08-27|website=hidden-london.com}}</ref>

[[File:Bethnal green slum.jpg|thumb|Slum street in Bethnal Green, circa 1900]]

The [[Regent's Canal]] opened in 1820, for horse-drawn canal barges to carry cargo between the [[London Docklands]] and the [[Grand Union Canal]]. These supplied local coal merchants and gas houses/plants (gasifiers) built along its banks including Bethnal Green.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|url=https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/Documents/Planning-and-building-control/Development-control/Conservation-areas/Regents-Canal-Conservation-Area-compressed.pdf|last=London Borough of Tower Hamlets|title=Regent's Canal|date=4 November 2009|access-date=2 June 2019}}</ref>

The [[Church's Ministry Among Jewish People|London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews]] built Palestine Place as Cambridge Heath began to be fully developed during the first half of the 19th century.<ref name="vch">{{cite web |title=Bethnal Green: List of Churches Pages 217-226  A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11, Stepney, Bethnal Green. |url=https://archive.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol11/pp217-226 |website=British History Online |publisher=Victoria County History, 1998 |access-date=2 January 2025}}</ref> A windmill survived until at least 1836. Most local residents were poor, especially in the streets around the railway line and the Regent's Canal, as well as on Russia Lane.

As the population grew, a number of mission churches were founded to serve newly created parishes. St Andrew's church on Viaduct Street was built in 1841, serving a congregation of up to 350 people. It closed and was demolished in 1958.<ref name="vch">{{cite web |title=Bethnal Green: List of Churches Pages 217-226  A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11, Stepney, Bethnal Green. |url=https://archive.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol11/pp217-226 |website=British History Online |publisher=Victoria County History, 1998 |access-date=2 January 2025}}</ref>  St Barnabas Church on Grove Road, opposite Mile End Park, was founded in 1870 and still operates today.  

In 1841, the [[Anglo-Catholic]] [[Nathaniel Woodard]], who was to become a highly influential educationalist in the later part of the 19th century, became the [[curate]] of the newly created St. Bartholomew's church on Buckhurst Street. He was a capable pastoral visitor and established a parochial school. In 1843, he got into trouble for preaching a [[sermon]] in which he argued that ''[[The Book of Common Prayer]]'' should have additional material to provide for [[Confession (religion)|confession]] and [[absolution]] and in which he criticised the "inefficient and Godless clergy" of the [[Church of England]]. After examining the text of the sermon, the [[Bishop of London]] condemned it as containing "erroneous and dangerous notions". As a result, the bishop sent Woodard to be a curate in [[Lower Clapton|Clapton]]. St Bartholomew's church continued operating until 1983 and is now converted for residential use.<ref name="vch"></ref>  

Globe Town was established from 1800 to provide for the expanding population of [[weaver (occupation)|weavers]] around Bethnal Green attracted by improving prospects in [[silk]] weaving. The population of Bethnal Green trebled between 1801 and 1831, operating 20,000 looms in their own homes. By 1824, with restrictions on importation of French silks relaxed, up to half these looms became idle and prices were driven down. With many importing [[warehouse]]s already established in the district, the abundance of cheap labour was turned to boot, furniture and clothing manufacture. Globe Town continued its expansion into the 1860s, long after the decline of the silk industry.<ref name=women>From 1801 to 1821, the population of Bethnal Green more than doubled and by 1831 it had trebled. These incomers were principally weavers. For further details see: Andrew August ''Poor Women's Lives: Gender, Work and Poverty in Late-Victorian London'' pp 35–6 (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1999) {{ISBN|0-8386-3807-4}}</ref>

[[Columbia Road Flower Market]] is on the street of the same name which has kept some Victorian shops, and was established as Columbia Market in 1869 as a covered food market. It closed in 1886, but was later revived as a Sunday flower market.<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=22751&strquery=columbia%20market 'Bethnal Green: Building and Social Conditions from 1837 to 1875', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green (1998), pp. 120–26] Date accessed: 21 January 2007.</ref><ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=45086 'Spitalfields', Old and New London: Volume 2 (1878), pp. 149–52] accessed: 8 February 2007.</ref>

[[Bethnal Green railway station|Bethnal Green Junction]], now just Bethnal Green from 1946 (which leads to confusion with the much-later [[London Underground]] station) and Cambridge Heath railway station are on the [[London Overground]]. Both were opened by the [[Great Eastern Railway]] (GER) on the [[Lea Valley Lines]] in 1872 as part of a more direct route to [[Enfield Town]]. The GER opened further Fast Lines that allow longer-distance trains to bypass these.<ref>Forgotten Stations of Greater London by J. E. Connor and B. Halford.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Taylor|first1=D J|title=Cambridge Heath Station|journal=Great Eastern Journal|date=July 1990|volume=63|pages=11}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Wilson|first1=Bryan|title=Hackney Downs Station, Middlesex|journal=Great Eastern Journal|date=October 2002|volume=112|pages=21, 22}}</ref> Bethnal Green was also formerly served by trains on the [[Great Eastern Main Line]] (GEML) via {{stn|Stratford}} and saw two derailments in the later 20th century, similar to other contemporary comparators of busy, metropolitan junctions.<ref name=Hoole3>{{cite book |last=Hoole |first=Ken |author-link=Ken Hoole |title=Trains in Trouble: Vol. 3 |year=1982 |publisher=Atlantic Books |location=Redruth |isbn=0-906899-05-2 |page=39 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/eventsummary.php?eventID=313 "Accident at Bethnal Green on 17th June 1962"] ''The Railways Archive'' accident report 21 December 1962; Retrieved 12 May 2017.</ref>

Mowlem Street School opened in 1887. It was enlarged in 1898 and again in 1902 to accommodate 410 boys and 410 girls. A new single-storey building catering for 280 children was opened in 1971 when it was renamed Mowlem Primary School.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mowlem.org.uk/History/|title=Mowlem Primary - History|website=www.mowlem.org.uk}}</ref>

===Early 20th century===
[[Bethnal Green Town Hall]] was completed in 1910<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.c20society.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/2012-2403-CivicPlungeRevisitedlowres2.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809065026/http://www.c20society.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/2012-2403-CivicPlungeRevisitedlowres2.pdf |archive-date=2016-08-09 |url-status=live|title=The Civic Plunge Revisited|date=24 March 2012|publisher=Twentieth Century Society|accessdate=25 April 2020}}</ref> and the internationally renowned [[York Hall]] opened in 1929 with a capacity of 1,200.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2003/01/01/soboxx01.xml ''Boxing: Harrison calls for York Hall reprieve'' Sandra Laville]{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} (''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'') accessed 7 December 2007.</ref> In 1993, the Town Hall was vacated when the [[London Borough of Tower Hamlets]] moved its headquarters, and in 2007 the building was converted to a hotel which opened in 2010.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2010/jul/31/hotel-review-town-hall-london|title=Hotel review &#124; Town Hall, London|date=30 July 2010|website=the Guardian}}</ref>

The warehouse buildings rose from the Regent's Canal without a towpath to interrupt development, giving direct access to the canal. A row of Victorian workshops was built on Wadeson Street in what was a historically [[Jewish]] precinct. This became very overcrowded with 572 inhabitants living in 125 houses by the 1930s.<ref name="towerhamlets.gov.uk">{{cite web|url=https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/Documents/Planning-and-building-control/Development-control/Conservation-areas/Bethnal-Green-GardensV1.pdf|last=London Borough of Tower Hamlets|title=Bethnal Green Gardens|date=4 November 2009|access-date=31 May 2019|archive-date=11 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180411174232/https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/Documents/Planning-and-building-control/Development-control/Conservation-areas/Bethnal-Green-GardensV1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Second World War===
====The Blitz====
During the Second World War, the [[Luftwaffe]] began [[The Blitz]] on 7 September 1940. Bethnal Green was in "Target Area A" along with the rest of the [[East End of London]].<ref name="war">{{cite web|url=https://www.eastlondonhistory.co.uk/world-war-2-east-london|last=Oakley |first=Malcolm |title=World War 2 and East London |website=East London History |date=7 October 2013 |access-date=31 May 2019}}</ref>

Bethnal Green Library was bombed on the very first night of the Blitz. This forced the temporary relocation of the library into the unopened Bethnal Green Underground Station in order to provide continuity of lending services. The library was rebuilt and opened a few months later for the public.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/east-end-library-remembers-the-blitz-1-615178 |author=Julia Gregory |title=East End library remembers the Blitz |date=27 August 2010 |newspaper=Eastern Daily Press |location=Norwich |access-date=31 May 2019 |archive-date=9 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709155143/http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/east-end-library-remembers-the-blitz-1-615178 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Oxford House also had a major role, with some local residents fleeing into the house off Bethnal Green Road seeking shelter, this location was more attractive than the stables under the nearby [[Great Eastern Main Line]] arches. The Chief Shelter Welfare Officer at the time, Jane Leverson, is reported to have said that "people came to Oxford House not because it was an air raid shelter but because there they found happiness and a true spirit of fellowship".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oxfordhouse.org.uk/the-blitz/ |title=The Blitz |publisher=Oxford House |access-date=23 August 2018 |archive-date=9 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709184937/https://www.oxfordhouse.org.uk/the-blitz/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

It is estimated that during this war, 80&nbsp;tons of bombs fell on the Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green, affecting 21,700 houses, destroying 2,233 and making a further 893 uninhabitable. There were a total of 555 people killed and 400 seriously injured.<ref name=BG>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22753 ''Bethnal Green: Building and Social Conditions from 1915 to 1945'', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green (1998), pp. 132–135] accessed: 10 October 2007.</ref> Many unexploded bombs remain in the area, and on 14 May 2007, builders discovered a Second World War 1 m long {{convert|500|lb|abbr=on}} [[bomb]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6660391.stm|title=Families kept away by World War II bomb|work=BBC News|date=16 May 2007|access-date=16 May 2007}}</ref>

====Bethnal Green tube disaster====
[[File:Bethnal Green stn memorial plaque.JPG|thumb|right|Plaque to the 1943 disaster]]

On 3 March 1943, an [[air raid warning]] sounded at 8:17 pm, causing a flow of people down the narrow staircase, with no handrail, of the uncompleted [[Bethnal Green tube station]], wet from rain and only dimly lit due to blackout precautions, to shelter from bombs. (The station had been requisitioned in 1940 by the [[Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green]] under the supervision of the Regional Commissioners.) A [[crowd crush]] ensued, thought to have been triggered by a woman carrying a baby tripping on the stairs. A new anti-aircraft rocket being test-fired in nearby Victoria Park caused panic, being thought to be a German weapon.<ref name=thorpe>{{cite news| last=Thorpe | first=Vanessa | title='Not many people know what happened': covered up London Blitz tragedy is inspiration for Steve McQueen's new film |newspaper=The Observer| date=15 September 2024 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/sep/15/not-many-people-know-what-happened-covered-up-london-blitz-tragedy-is-inspiration-for-steve-mcqueens-new-film}}</ref> The panic began at 8:27.

In the wet, dark conditions, a woman tripped on the crowded stairs, causing many others to fall. Within a few seconds 300 people were crushed in the narrow stairwell, causing the deaths of 173 people, mostly women and 62 children, who were crushed and asphyxiated. A report was filed by Eric Linden, who witnessed the incident, with the ''[[Daily Mail]]'', but not published. Very little information was provided at the time.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/09/a795909.shtml|author=Simon B|title=The Bethnal Green tube shelter disaster|publisher=BBC|date=29 July 2002|access-date=20 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.skibbereeneagle.ie/london-wunderground/bethnal-green-tube-disaster|newspaper=Skibbereen Eagle|title=Bethnal Green tube disaster|location=Skibbereen, Co. Cork|date=16 February 2010|archive-date=20 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620130925/http://www.skibbereeneagle.ie/london-wunderground/bethnal-green-tube-disaster/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://alondoninheritance.com/thebombedcity/bethnal-greens-ordeal-and-the-underground-shelter-disaster|last=A London Inheritance|title=Bethnal Green's Ordeal|date=6 May 2018|access-date=20 June 2019}}</ref> The outcome of a government inquiry was not made public until 1946 to avoid a propaganda win for the enemy and to protect public morale.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/homefront/bombing/bethnal/source1.htm|last=National Archives|title=Why did the Bethnal Green tube shelter disaster happen?|access-date=20 June 2019}}</ref><ref name=thorpe/> It was the largest loss of life in a single incident on the London Underground network.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://northshields173.org |last1=Bolger |first1=Peter |last2=Hepplewhite |first2=Peter |title=Lemonade factory air raid disaster 1941 |website=North Shields 173 |date=2019 |access-date=2 June 2019}}</ref>

Director [[Steve McQueen (director)|Steve McQueen]] made a 2024 film, ''Blitz'', about the wartime bombing of London ([[the Blitz]]), depicting and partly inspired by this event.<ref name=thorpe/>

===Post-war===
[[File:Entrance to Bethnal Green Underground Station - geograph.org.uk - 1793740.jpg|thumb|left|Cambridge Heath Road on 25 March 1962.]]
Bethnal Green tube station opened on 4 December 1946 on the [[Central line (London Underground)|Central line]] and is between [[Liverpool Street station|Liverpool Street]] and [[Mile End tube station|Mile End]] on the [[London Underground]], however construction of the Central line's eastern extension into then-[[Essex]] was started in the 1930s, and the tunnels were largely complete at the outbreak of the Second World War although rails were not laid.

The book ''[[Family and Kinship in East London]]'' (1957) shows an improvement in working class life. Husbands in the sample population no longer went out to drink but spent time with the family. As a result, both birth rate and infant death rate fell drastically and local prosperity increased.

The famous criminals, the [[Kray twins]], lived and operated in the area during the 1950s and 1960s, with a gang known as The Firm.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/kray-twins-legend-tom-hardy|title=14 amazing facts about the Kray twins|first=Arya|last=Chopra|date=21 September 2017}}</ref>

[[File:Market, Bethnal Green Road, E2 - geograph.org.uk - 2952362.jpg|thumb|right|Bethnal Green Road and market.]]
[[File:Ezra Street, Bethnal Green.jpg|thumb|left|Ezra Street.]]

In 2015, three children Amira Abase, [[Shamima Begum]], and Kadiza Sultana appeared in the press, referred to as the [[Bethnal Green trio]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/jihadi-bride-shamima-begum-bethnal-green-trio-fled-britain-with-help-from-isis-s-best-female-recruiter-vcvxzrvgj|title=Bethnal Green trio fled Britain with help from Isis's best female recruiter|last=Defence&nbsp;Correspondent|first=Lucy Fisher|date=2019-02-13|work=The Times|access-date=2019-02-23|language=en|issn=0140-0460}}</ref> All three had attended the [[Bethnal Green Academy]] before leaving home to join the [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]] (ISIL).<ref name="TMDUPGIP">{{cite book| last1 = Saltman | first1 = Erin Marie | last2 = Smith | first2 = Melanie | title = 'Till Martyrdom Do Us Part' Gender and the ISIS Phenomenon | date = 2015 | publisher = Institute for Strategic Dialogue | page = 4 |url=http://www.strategicdialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Till_Martyrdom_Do_Us_Part_Gender_and_the_ISIS_Phenomenon.pdf| access-date = 25 February 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160330210121/http://www.strategicdialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Till_Martyrdom_Do_Us_Part_Gender_and_the_ISIS_Phenomenon.pdf | archive-date = 2016-03-30 | url-status = dead }}</ref>