19-23 Parmiter Street, Bethnal Green, E2 9EX

Following the closure of Parmiter's Almshouses and School in St John Street, a new school with three almshouses on either side of it were built in Gloucester Street in 1839.

Because only men were admitted to the almshouses, widows were forced to leave on the death of their husbands, losing their pensions. In 1854 Mrs Jemima Thomas left £200 to establish a Widows Fund to alleviate their hardship.

In 1885 Parmiter's School moved to a new building in Approach Road, near Victoria Park. The vacated schoolhouse was converted into two additional almshouses.

In 1894 the residents of the almshouses were six couples and two widowers.

During the early 1890s Gloucester Street was renamed Parmiter Street.

In 1913 the almshouses separated formally from the school charity.

During WW2 (1939-1945) the almshouse buildings were damaged beyond repair in February 1945, when a V2 rocket fell on the house next door.

In 1959 the site was sold to the GLC for redevelopment.

Current status

Seth Court now roughly occupies the site of the almshouses. The Trustees of the Parmiter's Almshouse and Pensions Charity had hoped to find an alternative site in Bethnal Green on which to build new almshouses, but were unable to do so. Since a number of elderly Bethnal Green residents wanted to move to Essex, the Trustees instead built six 2-bedroom bungalows in Clacton-on-Sea. The new Parmiter's Almshouses opened in 2010 to provide accommodation for people over the age of 60 from Bethnal Green.

N.B. Photographs obtained in October 2020

Parmiter's Almshouses