source: 4WardEverUK Writers

published: 13 January 2024

Image Credit: Pexels/Duda

From all of our hundreds of Remembrance Calendar entries, we particularly feature certain cases that were of notable historical significance.

The New Cross Fire

The New Cross Fire was a devastating house fire which killed 13 young black people during a birthday party in New Cross, southeast London on Sunday January 18, 1981.

The black community were shocked by the indifference of the white population, and accused the London Metropolitan Police of covering up the cause, which they suspected was an arson attack motivated by racism; the protests arising out of the fire led to a mobilisation of black political activity. Noone has ever been charged in relation to the fire.

In January 1981, a house fire claimed the lives of 13 young black people in New Cross, London. The cause of the fire remains a mystery and still no one has been held accountable for the deaths.

The party was a joint birthday celebration for Yvonne Ruddock (who died) and Angela Jackson (who survived) and was held at 439 New Cross Road, going on throughout the night. There was a fairly high degree of racial tension in the area and far right groups including the National Front were active; there had been early complaints about noise from the party. The initial police suspicion was that the party had been bombed either as a revenge attack or to stop the noise.

On the Sunday after the fire (January 25), a mass meeting was held at the Moonshot Club in New Cross, attended by over a thousand people. The meeting concluded with a march to the scene of the fire and a demonstration there, which blocked New Cross Road for several hours. The New Cross Massacre Action Committee was set up and organised weekly mass meetings in New Cross which saw increasing participation as the police investigation announced that there was no evidence of arson and that the fire was believed to be accidental.

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Other News:

Family and friends reclaim the story of the New Cross fire

23 December 2022

1981 New Cross fire which killed 13 ‘wasn’t racist attack,’ survivor says amid new fears over prison confession

2 November 2021

Forty years on from the New Cross fire, what has changed for black Britons?

17 January 2021

1981: Nine die in New Cross house fire

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