Woolwich in the context of "Murder of Stephen Lawrence"

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👉 Woolwich in the context of Murder of Stephen Lawrence

Stephen Adrian Lawrence (13 September 1974 – 22 April 1993) was an 18-year-old black British student from Woolwich, southeast London, who was murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus on Well Hall Road in Eltham, on the evening of 22 April 1993. The case became a cause célèbre; its fallout included changes of attitudes on racism and the police, and to the law and police practice. It also led to the partial revocation of the rule against double jeopardy. Two of the perpetrators were convicted of murder on 3 January 2012.

After the initial investigation, five suspects were arrested but, at the time, not charged; a private prosecution subsequently initiated by Lawrence's family failed to secure convictions for any of the accused. It was suggested during the investigation that Lawrence was killed because he was black, and that the handling of the case by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was affected by issues of race. A 1998 public inquiry, headed by Sir William Macpherson, concluded that the original MPS investigation was incompetent and that the force was institutionally racist. It also recommended that the double jeopardy rule should be repealed in murder cases to allow a retrial upon new and compelling evidence: this was effected in 2005 upon enactment of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. The publication in 1999 of the resulting Macpherson Report has been called "one of the most important moments in the modern history of criminal justice in Britain". Jack Straw said that ordering the inquiry was the most important decision he made during his tenure as home secretary from 1997 to 2001. In 2010, the Lawrence case was said to be "one of the highest-profile unsolved racially motivated murders".

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Woolwich in the context of Woolwich Dockyard

Woolwich Dockyard (formally H.M. Dockyard, Woolwich, also known as The King's Yard, Woolwich) was an English naval dockyard along the river Thames at Woolwich—originally in north-west Kent, now in southeast London—where many ships were built from the early 16th century until the late 19th century. William Camden called it 'the Mother Dock of all England'. By virtue of the size and quantity of vessels built there, Woolwich Dockyard is described as having been 'among the most important shipyards of seventeenth-century Europe'. During the Age of Sail, the yard continued to be used for shipbuilding and repair work more or less consistently; in the 1830s a specialist factory within the dockyard oversaw the introduction of steam power for ships of the Royal Navy. At its largest extent it filled a 56-acre site north of Woolwich Church Street, between Warspite Road and New Ferry Approach; 19th-century naval vessels were fast outgrowing the yard, however, and it eventually closed in 1869 (though a large part of the site remained in military hands for a further century). The former dockyard area is now partly residential, partly industrial, with remnants of its historic past having been restored.

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Woolwich in the context of Woolwich Ferry

The Woolwich Ferry is a free vehicle and pedestrian ferry across the River Thames in East London, connecting Woolwich on the south bank with North Woolwich on the north. It is licensed and financed by London River Services, the maritime arm of Transport for London (TfL). Around two million passengers use the ferry each year.

A ferry has operated on the Thames at Woolwich since the 14th century, and commercial crossings operated intermittently until the mid-19th. The free service opened in 1889 after tolls were abolished on bridges to the west of London. Traffic increased in the 20th century because of the rise in motor vehicle traffic and it remained popular because of the lack of nearby bridges. Pedestrian use dropped after the construction of a parallel foot tunnel and the extension of the Docklands Light Railway to Woolwich Arsenal station. Alternatives such as the Thames Gateway Bridge and Gallions Reach Crossing have been proposed as replacements, but there are no plans to discontinue the Woolwich Ferry as long as there is demand.

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Woolwich in the context of Woolwich foot tunnel

The Woolwich foot tunnel crosses under the River Thames in Woolwich, in East London from Old Woolwich in the Royal Borough of Greenwich to North Woolwich in the London Borough of Newham. The tunnel (open 24/7) offers pedestrians and cyclists an alternative way to cross the river when the Woolwich Free Ferry service is not operating. Both entrances to the tunnel (north entrance at 51°29′56″N 0°03′42″E / 51.49879°N 0.06165°E / 51.49879; 0.06165 (Woolwich foot tunnel, north entrance) and south entrance at 51°29′40″N 0°03′46″E / 51.49432°N 0.06289°E / 51.49432; 0.06289 (Woolwich foot tunnel, south entrance)) are Grade II listed buildings. The south entrance is somewhat hidden behind the Waterfront leisure centre. It is the oldest remaining building in the riverside area of Old Woolwich.

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Woolwich in the context of Southern Outfall Sewer

The Southern Outfall Sewer is a major sanitary sewer taking sewage from the southern area of central London to Crossness in south-east London. Flows from three interceptory sewers combine at Greenwich pumping station and then run under Greenwich, Woolwich, Plumstead and across Erith Marshes. The Outfall Sewer was designed by Joseph Bazalgette after an outbreak of cholera in 1853 and the Great Stink of 1858.

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Woolwich in the context of The Woolwich

The Woolwich Equitable Building Society (later Woolwich Building Society or The Woolwich) was a British financial services company founded in Woolwich in 1847 and remained a local institution until after the First World War when it began a modest regional expansion. This accelerated after the Second World War and the period from 1960 was notable for its acquisitions. Following deregulation, the Society diversified and became one of the largest national building societies.

In 1997 it demutualised and became Woolwich PLC. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Barclays in 2000.

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Woolwich in the context of Royal Arsenal

The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich is an establishment on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London, England, that was used for the manufacture of armaments and ammunition, proofing, and explosives research for the British armed forces. It was originally known as the Woolwich Warren, having begun on land previously used as a domestic warren in the grounds of a mid-16th century Tudor house, Tower Place. Much of the initial history of the site is linked with that of the Office of Ordnance, which purchased the Warren in the late 17th century in order to expand an earlier base at Gun Wharf in Woolwich Dockyard.

Over the next two centuries, as operations grew and innovations were pursued, the site expanded massively. At the time of the First World War the Arsenal covered 1,285 acres (520 ha) and employed close to 80,000 people. Thereafter its operations were scaled down. It finally closed as a factory in 1967 and the Ministry of Defence moved out in 1994. Today the area, so long a secret enclave, is open to the public and is being redeveloped for housing and community use.

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Woolwich in the context of Royal Military Academy, Woolwich

The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Signals and other technical corps. RMA Woolwich was commonly known as "The Shop" because its first building was a converted workshop of the Woolwich Arsenal.

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Woolwich in the context of Woolwich Arsenal station

Woolwich Arsenal station is an interchange station in the heart of Woolwich in the Royal Borough of Greenwich for Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and National Rail services.

It has two parts; its raised, south-western part of the station is on the semi-slow, commuter service, corollary of the North Kent Line and also in its Dartford Loop services section between London and Dartford, run by Southeastern. Regular services beyond Dartford are to the Medway Towns, which start/finish in the opposite direction at Luton via the City of London, West Hampstead and St Albans. Its other part is the terminus of its own branch of the DLR, run by Transport for London.

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Woolwich in the context of North Woolwich

North Woolwich is an area in the London Borough of Newham in East London, England, on the northern bank of the River Thames, across the river from Woolwich. It is connected to Woolwich by the Woolwich Ferry and Woolwich foot tunnel.

Despite lying on the northern, Essex, side of the Thames, the area was within the historic county of Kent. It was part of the parish of Woolwich in the Blackheath hundred, but since 1965 has been in Greater London. Its position within Kent was an arrangement most likely imposed in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest of England from 1066.

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