John Thomas Wooster

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Copy of the Poplar Rates Rebellion Banner

The Poplar Rates Rebellion was a tax protest which took place in London in 1921. The Labour MP George Lansbury led the protest, which was in opposition to the unfair council rates which were imposed on the poor Poplar district (now in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets) by the national government.
During a council meeting in Poplar town hall, the council defiantly voted to withhold rates and as a result the London County Council took the Poplar Borough Council to court.
In September 1921, thirty Poplar councillors marched to court with the support of thousands of local working people. They were sent to prison, but after six weeks of vigorous campaigning by local people, the councillors were released and the national government conceded to the Poplar Rates Rebellion’s main aim: the equalisation of the rates.
This achievement meant that the death rate in Poplar was halved from 22.7 per 1000 in 1918 to 11.3 per 1000 by 1923.
The banner here is a copy made in 1984 for a play about the High Court.

Materials: Plain woven cotton and oil painted text.

What do our Conservators say?
“Although this banner seems undamaged, it’s actually much more fragile than it looks. The lightened area at the bottom, and the lighter paint correction in the lettering, show how the fabric has darkened over time. This happens when the material deteriorates, becoming acidic."

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