Editing Poplar, London (section)

===Wartime bombings===
The first [[German strategic bombing during World War I|airborne terror campaign in Britain]] took place during the [[World War I|First World War]], which caused significant damage and took many lives. German raids on Britain, for example, caused 1,413 deaths and 3,409 injuries. Air raids provided an unprecedented means of striking at resources vital to an enemy's war effort. Many of the novel features of the war in the air between 1914 and 1918—the lighting restrictions and blackouts, the air raid warnings and the improvised shelters—became central aspects of the World War II less than 30 years later.

The East End of London was one of the most heavily targeted places. Poplar, in particular, was struck badly by some of the air raids during the World War I. Initially these were at night by [[Zeppelin]]s which bombed the area indiscriminately, leading to the death of innocent civilians.

The first daylight bombing attack on London by a fixed-wing aircraft took place on 13 June 1917. Fourteen German [[Gotha G.IV]] bombers led by ''[[Hauptmann]]'' Ernst Brandenberg flew over Essex and began dropping their bombs. It was a hot day and the sky was hazy; nevertheless, onlookers in London's East End were able to see 'a dozen or so big aeroplanes scintillating like so many huge silver dragonflies'. These three-seater bombers were carrying [[shrapnel shell|shrapnel bombs]] which were dropped just before noon. Numerous bombs fell in rapid succession in various districts. In the East End alone 104 people were killed, 154 seriously injured and 269 slightly injured.

The gravest incident that day was a direct hit on a primary school in Poplar. In the [[Mayflower Primary School, Poplar|Upper North Street School]] at the time were a girls' class on the top floor, a boys' class on the middle floor and an infant class of about 50 pupils on the ground floor. The bomb fell through the roof into the girls' class; it then proceeded to fall through the boys' classroom before finally exploding in the infant class.  Eighteen pupils were killed, of whom sixteen were aged from 4 to 6 years old. The tragedy shocked the British public at the time.<ref>Air Commodore [[Lionel Charlton]], "The Air Defence of Britain", [[Penguin Books]], London, October 1938</ref>

In [[World War II]], Poplar suffered heavily in [[the Blitz]] of that war, the Metropolitan Borough losing 770 civilian dead as a result of enemy action.<ref>[https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/4004495/poplar,-metropolitan-borough/ CWGC List of Civilian War Dead, Poplar Metropolitan Borough].</ref> At the height of the bombing, ten Poplar schools were evacuated to Oxford.<ref>''London Children in War-Time Oxford: A Survey of Social and Educational Results of Evacuation''. Oxford: Barnett House, 1947, p. 12</ref>