Plaque Wording:
George Lansbury 1859 - 1940
George Lansbury was a British politician, socialist, christian pacifist and newspaper editor. He was born on the 21st February 1859 in a tollhouse located between the towns of Lowestoft and Halesworth in Suffolk, England.
He was a member of parliament twice from 1910 to 1940, and leader of the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935. As Labour mayor of Poplar, Lansbury led the poplar rates rebellion in 1921, opposing not only the government and the London County Council but leaders of his own party.
He was a campaigner for equal rights and votes for women. He improved living and employment conditions for the working class, especially in London's east end. He was instrumental in opening 'Hutton Poplars', the first training school for destitute poplar children. In 1906, the school was situated near Hutton in the Essex countryside and became the model for subsequent children's homes.
In 1920 Lansbury was associated with the construction of a large open air swimming pool on the Serpentine in Hyde Park, popularly known as 'Lansbury's Lido'. This led to him gaining the popular title "first commissioner for good works".
Lansbury helped found, in 1912, the Daily Herald, a socialist newspaper. He became editor just prior to World War I and used the paper to oppose the war, publishing a headline 'war is hell!' at the outbreak of fighting. Lansbury was chair of the no more war movement, chair of the war resisters international (1936-1940) and president of the peace pledge union (1937-1940).
George Lansbury married his school-friend Elizabeth ('Bessie') Jane Brine in 1880. They had twelve children, including Edgar and Daisy Lansbury, and he was the father-in-law of suffragette Minnie Lansbury, Belfast-born actress Moyna Macgill and historian and novelist Raymond Postgate. He was grandfather of actress Angela Lansbury, producers Bruce and Edgar Lansbury, and animator and puppeteer Oliver Postgate.
Both of his parents drank fairly heavily, a fact which Lansbury's son-in-law and biographer indicates may have influenced George junior's lifelong abstinence from alcohol. Lansbury estate is named after George Lansbury and this plaque is erected by Poplar Harca in memory of him.
He was a member of parliament twice from 1910 to 1940, and leader of the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935. As Labour mayor of Poplar, Lansbury led the poplar rates rebellion in 1921, opposing not only the government and the London County Council but leaders of his own party.
He was a campaigner for equal rights and votes for women. He improved living and employment conditions for the working class, especially in London's east end. He was instrumental in opening 'Hutton Poplars', the first training school for destitute poplar children. In 1906, the school was situated near Hutton in the Essex countryside and became the model for subsequent children's homes.
In 1920 Lansbury was associated with the construction of a large open air swimming pool on the Serpentine in Hyde Park, popularly known as 'Lansbury's Lido'. This led to him gaining the popular title "first commissioner for good works".
Lansbury helped found, in 1912, the Daily Herald, a socialist newspaper. He became editor just prior to World War I and used the paper to oppose the war, publishing a headline 'war is hell!' at the outbreak of fighting. Lansbury was chair of the no more war movement, chair of the war resisters international (1936-1940) and president of the peace pledge union (1937-1940).
George Lansbury married his school-friend Elizabeth ('Bessie') Jane Brine in 1880. They had twelve children, including Edgar and Daisy Lansbury, and he was the father-in-law of suffragette Minnie Lansbury, Belfast-born actress Moyna Macgill and historian and novelist Raymond Postgate. He was grandfather of actress Angela Lansbury, producers Bruce and Edgar Lansbury, and animator and puppeteer Oliver Postgate.
Both of his parents drank fairly heavily, a fact which Lansbury's son-in-law and biographer indicates may have influenced George junior's lifelong abstinence from alcohol. Lansbury estate is named after George Lansbury and this plaque is erected by Poplar Harca in memory of him.