Cable Street - People

People

People associated with the area:

Politicians

Members of Parliament, for Bethnal Green and Bow :

• Rushanara Ali, Labour (MP 2010-)
• George Galloway, Respect (MP 2005-2010)
• Oona King, Labour (MP 1997-2005)

Members of Parliament, for Poplar and Canning Town :

• Jim Fitzpatrick, Labour (MP 1997- )

Science and Medicine

• Dr Hannah Billig (1901–1987) - a local doctor who became known as "The Angel of Cable Street". A blue plaque marks her home surgery at number 198, near Cannon Street Road.

• Sir William Henry Perkin (1838–1907) chemist who discovered aniline purple dye, mauveine, in a hut in the garden of his family's Cable Street home. A blue plaque marks the site, by the junction with King David Lane.

Sports

• Jack 'Kid' Berg (1909–1991) - Lightweight Champion Boxer, born in Cable Street, by Noble Court

Literary figures

Victorian Era:

• Oscar Wilde visited the opium dens off Cable Street, near Dellow Street
• Arthur Conan Doyle visited the opium dens as research for his detective character Sherlock Holmes.

Edwardian Era:

• Isaac Rosenburg (1890–1918), poet & painter, lived at 47 Cable Street from 1897 to 1900, when he attended St. Paul's School in Wellclose Square.

People inspiring local street names

• Thomas Barnardo - Victorian philanthropist who established homes for destitute children
• Nicholas Hawksmoor - architect who designed the church of St George in the East
• Nathaniel Heckford - a young doctor who founded a local children's hospital
• Harriet Martineau - Victorian journalist and writer: populariser of political economy
• Daniel Solander - Swedish botanist who travelled with James Cook exploring the Pacific islands
• Emanuel Swedenborg - Swedish scientist, philosopher and mystic, in the Georgian era