Erection date: 24/4/2022
{Below the Hackney crest:}
Operation Mincemeat
The Hackney Mortuary played an important role in a British military operation during the Second World War (1939--1945), which helped save the lives of thousands of soldiers.
In April 1943 Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu OBE KC RNVR, a British Jew, and Flight Lieutenant Charles C. Cholmondeley MBE RAF, a British aristocrat, planned Operation Mincemeat to misdirect German forces' attention away from the Allied invasion of Sicily. They brought the donated body of a man to the Hackney Mortuary where it stayed on ice for three months. Cholmondeley and Montague transformed the corpse into a fictitious officer - Major William Martin. The body was taken to Scotland and then to a point off southern Spain, where it was placed in the water carrying false letters from senior Allied officers suggesting the Allies would invade Greece, not Sicily. When the body was found, the letters were shared with Nazi intelligence, misdirecting German forces, saving thousands of British and American soldiers' lives during the invasion of Sicily.
Set a watch before my mouth Lord: and over the door of my lips. {repeated in Hebrew} Psalms 141:3.
Hackney Council, Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, Martin Sugarman (Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women, Stamford Hill and Hackney Branch)
The Biblical quotation draws attention to the secrecy which was essential to the success of Operation Mincemeat (the 'watch' being a guard, not a time-piece, as we first thought.)
Hackney Citizen reported on this plaque on 2 December 2021 and we found it on Christmas Day 2021, but it was seemingly not unveiled until 24 April 2022, to tie in with the cinema release of the film Operation Mincemeat.
Site: Hackney Mortuary (2 memorials)
E8, Lower Clapton Road, St John's Churchyard
Taking our photo of the building we were aware of a white van arriving and just hoped that it would not decide to park across the front of the building, as has a habit of happening when we are taking photos. But, unusually, the driver had noticed what we were doing and waited, out of shot, until we were finished. Thanking him and his colleague, we noticed that the van was labelled "Private ambulance". As we left the van reversed up to the red gates which opened to admit the delivery. A macabre event at any time but this was Christmas Day 2021.
British History Online gives: "part of the Rectory's garden was taken in 1890 for a new mortuary, which was opened with rooms for a coroner's court in 1893."
September 2024: Mark Riley contacted us to say that both these plaques have been removed. The photos he sent show that the 1893 plaque was dug out the wall with relatively little damage to the bricks but the removal of the newer plaque has badly damaged the brickwork. The removals were surely not carried out by authorised personnel. But what a pointless and destructive theft. We are grateful to Mark for letting us know. We've marked both plaques as lost and if anyone sees or hears anything please let us know.
February 2025: We're pleased to say that Mark has contacted us to say the plaques are back and he's provided a new set of photos. The Mincemeat plaque had originally been really low down, actually touching the ground. It has been reattached to the same brick pier but sensibly higher up. The stone plaque used to be between the door and the gates, about level with the door handle. Not sure why, but it's been moved over to the left of the building, at about the same height. All the gates/doors have been remade (not just repainted) and the arch over the side entrance at the left is brand new. What's odd is that some random white-stained bricks above the gated entrance didn't used to be there - and they are not an enhancement.
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