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City of London Police has marked the 100th anniversary of the murder of three officers shot dead preventing a burglary in Houndsditch (16 December).
In his last formal engagement, City of London Police Commissioner Mike Bowron unveiled a memorial plaque at a ceremony that was also attended by descendants of the officers.
The ceremony included a bagpipe performance by a City of London officer, the laying of wreaths and a silence in memory of those who died.
Constable Choat and Sergeants Bentley and Tucker were killed, and two others wounded, by a gang of Latvian anarchists targeting wealthy jewellers H.S Harris in December 1910. The unarmed officers were fired at by two gang members after disturbing the robbery in the east of the City.
The deaths sparked public outrage as well as sympathy for the officers’ widows. King George V wrote to offer his condolences, while readers of the Daily Express raised £2000, an appeal which was a forerunner of the charities for killed or injured police officers.
The murders also sparked debate as to whether police should be armed, as all three officers were carrying only their whistles and truncheons.
The gang would later be traced to a house in Sidney Street, Stepney. A siege began after the armed robbers refused to give themselves up in a police operation overseen by the then Home Secretary Winston Churchill.
The memorial plaque to the murdered officers can be viewed in Cutler Street, near to Devonshire Square.
