Old Palace School, Poplar
20 April 1941 · London, Greater London
View this record on the map →- Date
- 20 April 1941
- Record type
- Historic bombing site
- Bomb type
- parachute-mine
- Casualties
- 34
- Location
- London, Greater London
- Position accuracy
- Confirmed event, landmark point (a new school stands on the site)
What happened
The school was in use as an Auxiliary Fire Service sub-station during the heavy raid on the night of 19-20 April 1941. A parachute mine struck the building, destroying it and killing everyone inside.
Casualty note
Thirteen from the London Fire Brigade and Auxiliary Fire Service in London, and twenty-one from AFS Beckenham who had come in to help. Among them were firewomen, messengers and a despatch rider.
Also worth knowing
The largest single loss of fire brigade personnel in English history. Lansbury Lawrence Primary School now stands on the site and carries a memorial plaque. Recorded here after a submitted dataset placed a 240-death incident at Waterloo Bridge on this same night — no such incident could be corroborated, and this appears to be the raid it was reaching for.