In 1945, at the invitation of Fr John Groser, the Anglican Society of St Francis (SSF) moved into the area, setting up a house at 84 Cable Street to be a 'praying presence' and to offer ministry to vulnerable Asian and African seamen who found themselves stranded and destitute. Local people remember the archetypal Franciscan symbol of the Christmas crib displayed each year in the front window. According to Ken Leech (see below, and article right in the Jewish Socialist for Autumn 1987) next door at no.86 for a time were the world headquarters of the 'Liberal Party of Malta' featuring statues of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady and a picture of Jo Grimond, each with a votive lamp. Right, by way of contrast, is a painting of c1830 by Frederick Calvert of 84-96 Cable Street.

Before the war the West Indian and West African population of the East End was small, and concentrated in Golding Street, Greenfield Street and Cable Street, where Jewish landlords were prepared to rent them rooms. As more settled in the area, few of the men, and fewer of the women, spoke English. A small hostel and club was provided by Frs Charles (pictured - he also pioneered the Society's work in New Zealand - the Companions there paid the rent for Cable Street for a time: see here for his 1961 Church Times obituary) and Neville (who had worked in India and was a good linguist) and a succession of others. At first this was geared to providing shelter and food for those in work but with nowhere to live, but increasingly they became involved with those who had mental health problems, and drug-users (the club was closed on the first night the smell of ganja was detected - it was an effective deterrent). Fr Neville officiated regularly at the church, including at some baptisms.

Cable Street became 'London’s Harlem' with a wild café culture that included Maltese, West Indian, Pakistani, Greek and Italian establishments - pictured is Grace's Alley in 1962. From the 1950s Fr Joe Williamson at St Paul's worked closely with the Franciscans, providing accommodation in the basement of Church House Wellclose Square for an evening school, which ran for seven years, three nights a week.The Stepney Coloured People's Association was formed in 1951 (with Fr Groser as its president) and its committee met at 84 Cable Street - see Michael Banton The Coloured Quarter: Negro Immigrants in an English City (Jonathan Cape 1955) pp230-4. This was an era of great tension over Commonwealth immigration, with many angry meetings and demonstrations in the area; on the other side of London, it led to the Notting Hill race riots in 1958. However, Ken Leech, in the article above, comments that in his time on Cable Street (1958-67) local involvement in British politics was notably absent.

One regular visitor in the 1960s was a young American Jewish singer-songwriter Paul Simon [left], who sang there from time to time. He and is English girlfriend Kathy Chitty lived at 6 Dellow House (a few yards from Shadwell Overground station), the home of a German refugee Judith Piepe, who loved folk music and often put up homeless musicians. (She was involved with Ken Leech in setting up the homeless charity Centrepoint at St Anne's Soho.) 

In 1979, when 84 Cable Street was demolished, the Franciscans moved to Toynbee Hall, and in 1982 to 10 Halcrow Street, right by the Royal London Hospital. Other work developed – including Sister Chris' ministry to deaf/blind people – and local parishes benefited in many ways from their involvement. 

Their house has also been a base for lay people who are members of the Franciscan Third Order.

See further Petà Dunstan This Poor Sort - a history of the European Province of the Society of St Francis (DLT 1997) p140.

Ken Leech
84 Cable Street proved to be a formative place for Ken Leech, who wrote

...it was coming to the the East End of London in 1958, as a student, which was the real turning point. I arrived at the time of the Notting Hill riots and came to live at 84 Cable Street. The East End seemed full of left-wing Christians - Stanley Evans, John Groser and others - and co-operation between Christians and Marxists was common. I got to know some of the old Communist councillors - Solly Kaye, Phil Piratin, Max Levitas [pictured here] - all of them atheists, but all of them having a long history of cooperation with socialist Christians with whom they had a lot in common. The East End has shaped me more than any place. Much of my time here, since 1958, has been involved with fighting fascism, working for decent housing, trying to create communities of resistance and solidarity.

After four years here, as a 23-year old student at St Stephen's House, Oxford, Ken Leech wrote a short paper A Christian Mission for West Stepney [text here] which was published by Fr Joe Williamson and sent to the Bishops of London and Stepney, and other clergy and lay people in January 1963. (He had hoped to return to the area as a curate, but instead went to Hoxton.) Although, as he has admitted, the language is dated and some of the assumptions he made now seem patronising and questionable, it is remarkable in setting out a vision of collaborative working between the parishes of this area which anticipates by 41 years the proposals for the creation of a local Mission Action Zone [see here]. 

Fr Ken Leech served most of his ministry in the East End, as prophet, pastor and community theologian. He retired to the north-west, where he grew up; he has written several books reflecting on his time here, and returned regularly. In 2011 he suffered a stroke during surgery, from which he has made a steady but partial recovery, and is receiving excellent care in a Stockport rehabilitation unit, with transfer to a care home expected in 2012 (for more details, email his parish priest here).