Will Crooks

His mother, Caroline Elizabeth (née Coates), then supported the family by working as a seamstress, but money was scarce and five of the children were temporarily forced to enter Poplar workhouse in 1861.

Educated at a local poor law school, Crooks worked initially as a grocer's errand boy, then a blacksmith's labourer and then as an apprentice cooper.

A keen reader, Crooks learned about reformers such as Richard Cobden and John Bright, and was asked by his fellow workers to speak out about their working conditions.

With support and help from friend and fellow member George Lansbury, Crooks set about reforming the local workhouse, creating a model for other poor law authorities.

[2] On 3 August 1895, Crooks formally opened Island Gardens, a park at the south end of the Isle of Dogs, opposite Greenwich Hospital.

In 1900 Crooks became the first Labour mayor of Poplar, and two years later was elected to Parliament as MP for Woolwich wresting the seat away from the Conservative Party in a massive electoral victory exceeding expectations.

[4] At the time, he was only the fourth Labour MP (preceded by James Keir Hardie, Richard Bell and David Shackleton; Arthur Henderson followed later in 1903).

[6] In 1912 he supported the Feeble-Minded Persons (Control) Bill; Crooks has been quoted by the New Statesman as describing disabled people as "like human vermin" who "crawl about doing absolutely nothing, except polluting and corrupting everything they touch".

[7] The full quote is: "I have taken part, in discussions in this House on the unemployable; I have taken Members in authority on both sides and shown them 300 or 400 men not one of whom would be privately employed by any person for anything at all, not even for their keep.