| AdminHistory | According to Mike Elliston's unpublished 'A Topography of Tower Hamlets' (2016):
'Braithwaite House' was 'a large T-shaped block of 105 flats built by MB [Metropolitan Borough of] Poplar in 1949 on its Abbott Road housing scheme just west of the junction of Abbott Road and Blair Street.' It was 'named for Mrs Margaret Braithwaite who was the first woman air raid warden to be killed on duty in Poplar during the second war. Poplar wished to commemorate those citizens associated with its Civil Defence service in that war.'
Braithwaite House Tenants Association was formed in 1983 because the local authority was planning to begin a large improvement programme for Braithwaite House. In July 1982 tenants received notification of the council's plans for extensive improvements to take place and and the first public meeting was called by the council in May 1983. It was at this stage that Tower Hamlets Tenants Federation raised the need for a Tenants Association at Braithwaite House and a steering committee was set up to make this happen.
Braithwaite House has since been demolished; the 2003 electoral register which covers the area is the last edition which contains entries for people registered to vote living at that address and it does not feature on a 'Superscale A-Z' of London for 2010-11. Therefore it must have been demolished sometime between October 2002 and 2010.
The address of the Association c.1985-1988 was 72 Braithwaite House, Abbott Road, Poplar. General meetings were held in the Blair Street Hall and committee meetings in the member's flat. |
| CustodialHistory | Material was originally held by Martin Young who was the secretary of the Braithwaite House Tenants Association (and later an LBTH Councillor). He was based at 2 Braithwaite House, Blair Street. He passed the records to Joyce Phillips (former vice-chair and treasurer of the Braithwaite House Tenants Association) who subsequently deposited them with Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives in August 2017. |