The
Siege of Sidney Street, popularly known as the
"Battle of Stepney", was a notorious gunfight in London's East End in 1911. It ended with the deaths of two members of a politically-motivated gang of burglars supposedly led by Peter Piaktow, a.k.a. "Peter the Painter", and sparked a major political row over the involvement of the
Home SecretaryThe Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
,
Winston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC was a British politician known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer...
.
On 16 December 1910, a gang of
LatviaLatvia , officially the Republic of Latvia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , and to the southeast by Belarus . Across the Baltic Sea to the west lies Sweden...
n revolutionaries attempted to break into the rear of a
jeweller'sJewellery or jewelry is an item of personal adornment, such as a necklace, ring, brooch or bracelet, that is worn by a person. It may be made from gemstones or precious metals, but may be from any other material, and may be appreciated because of geometric or other patterns, or meaningful symbols...
shop at 119
HoundsditchHoundsditch is a street in the City of London that connects Bishopsgate in the north west to Aldgate in the south east.The modern street runs through a part of the Portsoken Ward and Bishopsgate Ward Without...
, EC3, working from 9, 10 and 11 Exchange Buildings in the
cul-de-sacA cul-de-sac is a french word for dead end, close, no through road or court meaning dead-end street with only one inlet/outlet...
behind.
The
Siege of Sidney Street, popularly known as the
"Battle of Stepney", was a notorious gunfight in London's East End in 1911. It ended with the deaths of two members of a politically-motivated gang of burglars supposedly led by Peter Piaktow, a.k.a. "Peter the Painter", and sparked a major political row over the involvement of the
Home SecretaryThe Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
,
Winston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC was a British politician known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer...
.
The Houndsditch murders
On 16 December 1910, a gang of
LatviaLatvia , officially the Republic of Latvia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , and to the southeast by Belarus . Across the Baltic Sea to the west lies Sweden...
n revolutionaries attempted to break into the rear of a
jeweller'sJewellery or jewelry is an item of personal adornment, such as a necklace, ring, brooch or bracelet, that is worn by a person. It may be made from gemstones or precious metals, but may be from any other material, and may be appreciated because of geometric or other patterns, or meaningful symbols...
shop at 119
HoundsditchHoundsditch is a street in the City of London that connects Bishopsgate in the north west to Aldgate in the south east.The modern street runs through a part of the Portsoken Ward and Bishopsgate Ward Without...
, EC3, working from 9, 10 and 11 Exchange Buildings in the
cul-de-sacA cul-de-sac is a french word for dead end, close, no through road or court meaning dead-end street with only one inlet/outlet...
behind. An adjacent shopkeeper heard their hammering, informed the
City of London PoliceThe City of London Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, England, including the Middle and Inner Temple...
(in whose area the shop was), and nine unarmed officers — three sergeants and six constables (two in plain-clothes) — converged on Exchange Buildings.
Sergeants Bentley and Bryant knocked at the door of No. 11 Exchange Buildings, unaware that the first constable on the scene had already done so, thus alerting the gang. The gang's actual leader, George Gardstein, opened the door, but when he did not answer their questions they assumed he did not understand English and told him to fetch someone who did. Gardstein left the door half-closed and disappeared.
The house consisted of a single ground-floor room, into which the front door directly opened, with a staircase leading to the upper floors on the left, and a door to the open yard at the back on the right. It was later deduced that Gardstein must have moved left towards the staircase, since if he had gone right and out of the yard door he would have been seen by one of the plain-clothed officers standing outside, who had a clear view of that side of the room.
Growing impatient, the two sergeants entered the house to find the room apparently empty, before they became aware of a man standing in the darkness at the top of the stairs. After a short conversation, another man entered through the yard door, rapidly firing a pistol, while the man on the stairs also started shooting.
Both officers were hit, with Bentley collapsing across the doorstep, while Bryant managed to stagger outside. In the street, constable Woodhams ran to help Bentley, but was himself wounded by one of the gang firing from the cover of the house, as was Sergeant Tucker, who died almost instantly. Sergeant Bentley also died as a result of his injuries.
The gang then attempted to break out of the cul-de-sac, Gardstein being grabbed by Constable Choate almost at the entrance. In the struggle Choate was wounded several times by Gardstein, before being shot five more times by other members of the gang, who also managed to hit their compatriot in the back. They then dragged Gardstein three-quarters of a mile to 59 Grove Street, where he died the next day. Constable Choate and Sergeant Bentley died in separate hospitals the same day. An intense search followed, and a number of the gang or their associates were soon arrested.
The Siege of Sidney Street
On 2 January 1911, an informant told police that two or three of the gang, possibly including
Peter the PainterPeter the Painter, also known as Peter Piaktow , was the leader of a gang of Latvian revolutionary criminals in the early 20th Century. After supposedly fighting in and escaping the Sidney Street Siege in 1911, he became an anti-hero in London's East End...
himself, were hiding at 100 Sidney Street, Stepney (in the
Metropolitan Police DistrictThe Metropolitan Police District is the area policed by London's Metropolitan Police Service. It currently consists of Greater London, excluding the City of London.-History:...
). Worried that the suspects were about to flee, and expecting heavy resistance to any attempt at capture, on 3 January, two hundred officers cordoned off the area and the
siegeA siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit"....
began. At dawn the battle commenced.
The defenders, though heavily outnumbered, possessed superior
weaponA weapon is a tool used to apply force for the purpose of hunting, attack, self-defense, or defense in combat.Weapons can be as simple as a club, or as complex as an intercontinental ballistic missile, and include those that damage individual or group morale.-Prehistoric weapons:Very simple weapon...
s and great stores of
ammunitionAmmunition, often informally referred to as ammo, is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
. The
Tower of LondonHer Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London , is a historic fortress and scheduled monument in central London, England, on the north bank of the River Thames...
was called for backup, and word got to the
Home SecretaryThe Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
,
Winston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC was a British politician known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer...
, who arrived on the spot to observe the incident at first hand, and to offer advice. Churchill authorised calling in a detachment of
Scots Guards-The Napoleonic Wars:In 1804, the United Kingdom's nemesis, Napoleon Bonaparte , became Emperor of the French. The following year the Third Coalition was formed against France and the 1st Battalion took part in the expedition to Hannover in 1805 at a time when Napoleon's armies burnt across the...
to assist the police. Six hours into the battle, and just as the field artillery piece that Churchill had authorised arrived, a fire began to consume the building. When the fire brigade arrived Churchill refused them access to the building. The police stood ready, guns aimed at the front door, waiting for the men inside to attempt their escape. The door never opened. Inside, the remains of two members of the gang, Fritz Svaars and William Sokolow (both were also known by numerous aliases), were recovered. No sign of Peter the Painter was ever found.
Aftermath
All the fatal shots in what became known as the "Houndsditch Murders" came from the same Dreyse pistol belonging to
Jacob PetersJēkabs Peterss or Yakov Khristoforovich Peters was a Latvian Communist revolutionary and Soviet politician. Together with Feliks Dzerzhinsky, he was one of the founders and chiefs of the Soviet secret police, VChK...
, but as he had left it with the mortally wounded Gardstein to be found by the police, it was assumed to be his and that he was the killer. This was despite the fact that Gardstein had completely different calibre ammunition for a
Mauser C96The Mauser C96 is a semi-automatic pistol that was originally produced by German arms manufacturer Mauser from 1896 to 1937 Unlicensed copies of the gun were also manufactured in Spain and China in the first half of the 20th century....
pistol both on him when he died and in his lodgings, but none at all for the Dreyse. Gardstein's "guilt" was further compounded by the mistaken belief that it was Gardstein who had opened fire at 11 Exchange Buildings from the yard door, on the grounds that it was he who had opened the front door to the police shortly before they were shot.
Of seven supposed members of the gang captured by the police, five men — including Peters — and two women were put on trial, but they all either had the charges dropped, were acquitted, or had their convictions quashed. Peters later returned home, and after the
October RevolutionTheOctober Revolution , also known as the Soviet Revolution or Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution. It began with an armed insurrection in Petrograd traditionally dated to 25 October 1917 Julian calendar...
served as deputy head of the
ChekaThe Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by an aristocrat turned communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
. He perished during the
Great PurgeGreat Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin in 1937–1938. It involved a large-scale purge of the Communist Party and Government officials, repression of peasants, Red Army leadership, and the persecution of...
in 1938.
The role Churchill played in the Sidney Street Siege was highly controversial at the time, and many, including
Arthur BalfourArthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, KG, OM, PC, DL was a British Conservative politician and statesman...
, the former prime minister, accused him of having acted improperly. A famous photograph from the time shows Churchill peering around a corner to view events. Balfour asked, "He [Churchill] and a photographer were both risking valuable lives. I understand what the photographer was doing but what was the Right Honourable gentleman doing?"
The gang's superior firepower led the
policeThe City of London Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, England, including the Middle and Inner Temple...
to drop the
Webley RevolverThe Webley Revolver was, in various marks, the standard issue service pistol for the armed forces of the United Kingdom, the British Empire, and the Commonwealth from 1887 until 1963.The Webley is a top-break revolver with automatic extraction; breaking the revolver open for reloading also...
in favour of the Webley semi-automatic in London.
On film
Much of the siege was captured by newsreel cameras, including the moment a gunman's bullet passed through Mr Churchill's top hat, coming within inches of killing him. This footage was later shown at the
Palace Theatre, London-Canada:* Palace Theatre, Calgary, Alberta* Palace Theatre , Montreal, Quebec - see Robillard Block-United Kingdom:* Palace Theatre, London, England* Palace Theatre, Manchester, England* Palace Theatre, Mansfield, England...
, under the billing, "Mr Churchill in the danger zone".
The siege was the inspiration for the final shootout in
Alfred HitchcockSir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British filmmaker and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in his native United Kingdom in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's original 1934 version of
The Man Who Knew Too MuchThe Man Who Knew Too Much is a 1934 suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Peter Lorre, and released by Gaumont British. It was one of the most successful and critically acclaimed films of Hitchcock's British period....
, although not his own 1956
remakeThe Man Who Knew Too Much is a suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Doris Day. The film is a remake in widescreen VistaVision and Technicolor of Hitchcock's 1934 film of the same name....
. The events were depicted directly in the 1960 film
The Siege of Sidney StreetThe Siege of Sidney Street is a 1960 British historical drama film co-directed by Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman. It starred Donald Sinden, Nicole Berger and Kieron Moore....
.
See also
- The Tottenham Outrage
The Tottenham Outrage was the name given to an armed robbery and double murder in Tottenham, north London on 23 January 1909. Two Latvian anarchists, both armed with pistols, stole the wages as they were being delivered to Schnurrman's rubber factory...
on 23 January 1909, another armed robbery and murder by Latvian anarchists
External links