Hannah Billig - Cable Street, London, UK
N 51° 30.661 W 000° 03.626
30U E 703974 N 5710751
The plaque is mounted on the front of a row of terraced houses on the south side of Cable Street in east London.
Waymark Code: WMGN77
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/23/2013
Views: 3
The blue plaque,
placed by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, reads:
| |
The
distinguished
physician
Dr Hannah Billig
G.M, M.B.E
1901 - 1987
Known locally
as
"The Angel of Cable Street."
Honoured for her Bravery in
World
War II and
Famine Relief Work in India
Lived and worked
here
1935 - 1964
|
|
Wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Billig) tells us about Hannah:
"Captain
Hannah Billig, MBE, GM (4 October 1901 — 11 July 1987) was a British-Jewish
doctor who worked in the East End of London. Her popularity with her patients,
and her war-time efforts, led to her being called "The Angel of Cable
Street".
Childhood:
Billig was born at 41 Hanbury Street,
Spitalfields, in the East End of London, and grew up around Brick Lane. Her
parents, Barnet and Millie Billig, were refugees from Russia, escaping from
anti-Jewish pogroms. Four of their six adult children became
doctors.
Early medical
career:
Her success at Myrdle Street School won her a scholarship to the
University of London to read medicine. She trained at the Royal Free Hospital
and the Royal London Hospital, and qualified as a doctor in 1925. She worked for
two years at the Jewish Maternity Hospital in Underwood Street. In 1927, she set
up a small clinic near Cable Street. In 1935 she moved her surgery round the
corner to a Georgian townhouse at 198 Cable Street, where a blue plaque
commemorates her work. She was also on call as a police doctor. She used to
cycle to her patients, with her black bag; later she drove a Morris Cowley
car.
World War
II:
During the Blitz, Billig was the doctor in charge of the air raid
shelters in Wapping. During bombing raids, she tended the sick and injured in
the underground shelters. On 13 March 1941, Billig was attending to residents of
Orient Wharf in Wapping following a bomb blast. An explosion threw her out of
the shelter and broke her ankle. After bandaging it herself, she helped to get
the others out of the rubble, and cared for them through the
night.
Awards:
For
her courage and bravery, Billig was awarded the George Medal. In 1942 she joined
the Indian Army Medical Corps as a Captain and was posted to Calcutta. For her
work with injured soldiers and refugees in Assam, Billig was appointed Member of
the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1945.
Later years
and death:
Billig returned to Cable Street and worked within the new National
Health Service until her retirement in 1964. She then moved to Caesarea on the
Israeli coast, where she treated local people for twenty years. She died there
on 11 July 1987, aged 85."