Located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, east of Charing Cross and located in the East End has been a settlement for hundreds of year. It's name stems from it's historical title of Stratford-atte-Bow, which originates from the bridge built over the River Lea during the reign of Henry I, as a personal request from his wife Matilda. Throughout history it has been know for it's Goose Fair which got so wild the authorities had to close it down. A covenant of Benedictine nuns from the area were immortalised by Chaucer not long prior to his writing of the Canterbury tales. Bow porcelain was of the highest quality and could easily match what was produced abroad. The Bow China Works was hugely successful but closed around 1776 and production was moved to derby. Bow's match factories played are is connected with the beginnings of the Suffragette movement with the match girls strike of 1888 in which the female workers fought for better conditions and later in 1903 Sylvia Pankhurst setting up her own spin-off of the group and later established a nursery and clinic at the outbreak of the First World War. During her tireless fight for women's rights she spent time in Holloway Prison but she would succeed in improving conditions in the East End in her lifetime.
