Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
1909 - The Tottenham Outrage and the Walthamstow Tram Chase
Dastardly Edwardian Deeds!
In 1909 two Latvian anarchists held up a factory pay role - directly in front of Tottenham Police Station! There then was a running gun battle for the next 3 hours, with estimated 600 bullets fired. This included a group of men hunting ducks on the marshes being told by the police to start shooting at the Latvians. A tram and a milk cart were hijacked and, following a public hue & cry it ended in a shootout in a family home in Walthamstow. Four people died (including a Police Officer and a school boy).
Initially the Tottenham police did not have a key for their gun cabinet so they chased the gunmen on bikes waving swords! En route, Police appealed for firearmss from bystanders, knowing it was common in this part of London for people to be armed. Supt. Jenkins report mentions the co-opting of a teenager with his father's Boer War trophy Luger and another incident when a man came out into Forest Road with a shotgun and a car, commandeered by police, pulled up and invited him on board.
Many clips on Youtube about this incident but this is my pick - The Tottenham Outrage 1909
It also has it's own Wiki page - Tottenham Outrage Wiki
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dave W on
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What a tale! How sad that the little boy died.
The Wikipedia article actually answers a question I have been pondering recently... As Google maps is wont to do, it has started - at a certain zoom level - to note Little Russia on the map. In my recent cycling expeditions I have toured much of Edmonton and Tottenham and was intrigued by its presence when hunting for routes to follow.
Now I know. Also, I suspect that whatever standing that part of Edmonton has now is rather dwarfed by the fearsome reputation it appears to have had then!
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Permalink Reply by EMC2 on
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A George Smith who worked at the Hornsey Gasworks tackled the gunmen- here's some extracts:
George Smith, a stoker at Hornsey Gasworks, was out for his morning constitutional. Having told his family he needed to blow away the cob- webs before going to work he had left his home at nearby Scotland Green and walked along the High Road.
George Smith hid behind a parked and unattended motor vehicle outside the factory in Chesnut Road. As Lepidus started to run out of the factory with the wages bag, Smith jumped from his hiding place and made a flying rugby- style tackle on him, taking him to the ground. Helfeld then emerged from where he had been waiting behind the factory gates and ran over to straddle the two men as they fought on the ground. He then aimed his pistol at Smith’s head and fired four times. Two bullets creased Smith’s scalp, one missed and the other hit him in the chest below the collar- bone. His “escape from death was equally remarkable” (emphasis added) stated Superintendent Jenkins in his report, and Smith survived to be photographed proudly wearing his bullet-holed coat.
George Smith struggled to get to his feet to chase after the two robbers, but it was at this moment that the first police officers arrived on the scene. Responding to the shots that they had heard and having seen Smith fighting with Lepidus, and unsure of what had happened, they grabbed hold of Smith and took him back to the police station for questioning.
George Smith, the gas stoker shot in the course of the robbery at the Schnurmann’s Rubber Factory, claimed for the bullet holes to his overcoat and cap, in inflicted as he struggled with Lepidus and Helfeld and attempted to detain them. Smith was 40-years-old and lived with his wife and six dependent children at 17 Hartington Road, Tottenham. As Helfeld and Lepidus ran off towards Mitchley Road, Smith had been taken inside Tottenham Police Station and treated by the police surgeon for his bullet wounds, which were later described as being just grazes. Smith was so tough that just a few hours later he went to work as usual, on night duty. He later remarked bitterly that if
some of the other bystanders had attempted to apprehend the two robbers rather than just watching them, the whole tragedy may have been averted. Smith claimed £2 for the damage to his clothing. Four weeks’ wages, bearing in mind that the average pay due to each of the employees at Schnurmann’s was just ten shillings (50p).
At the Tottenham Inquest into the deaths of PC Tyler and Ralph Joscelyne, the coroner had remarked that the gas stoker, Mr George Smith, who had run to assist the victims of the robbery, had been “a plucky man and deserved great praise”. At a special ceremony at Tottenham Council Chamber in March 1909, Smith received £25 (equivalent to £2,750 today) and an illustrated testimonial from his employers, the Hornsey Gas Company.
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I’ve been looking into this as George Smith is my great great grandfather. I was really interested to read the detail you have given about him. Where have you found this info re George? Many thanks.
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From memory, it's in the above book - I've got a pdf of the book, too big to load it on here but if you can pm me an email address and I'll send it to you along with a couple of newspaper articles.
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That’s wonderful! Thank you so much.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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I've visited the grave of the police officer more than once at Abney Cemetery and there are still flowers left by the police at his grave. Just opposite but more overgrown is the grave of the little boy, Ralph. Here's two pics of William Tyler's monument with a little card from flowers still visible
"lest we forget"
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