During the First World War , the morning of 13 June 1917 was the first ever daylight air-raid over the East End which in total killed 104 people . Sixteen of the dead were 5 and 6 year olds who were sitting in their class room at Upper North Street School , Poplar when the bomb hit . The memorial which still stands today in Poplar Recreation Ground was built by A.R. Adams , a local funeral director at the time . Also , on 19 January 1917 , 73 people died , including 14 workers , and more than 400 were injured , in a TNT explosion in the Brunner-Mond munitions factory in Silvertown . Much of the area was flattened , and the shock wave was felt throughout the city and much of Essex . This was the largest explosion in London history , and was heard in Southampton and Norwich . Andreas Angel , chief chemist at the plant , was posthumously awarded the Edward Medal for trying to extinguish the fire that caused the blast . The same year , on 13 June , a bomb from a German Gotha bomber killed 18 children in their primary school in Upper North Street , Poplar . This event is commemorated by the local war memorial erected in Poplar Recreation Ground , but during the war a total of 120 children and 104 adults were killed in the East End by aerial bombing , with many more injured
TNT explosion
Silvertown explosion
East End of London