Four rabbis to attend ceremony with the Queen in honour of WW1 bombing victims

Four rabbis are due to take part in a moving ceremony attended by The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh on Thursday in memory of 18 children killed 100 years ago, after a German bomber targeted a school.

Jewish researchers in the UK, including military historian Stan Kaye, have helped trace the descendent of those whose family members were caught up in the first daylight raid by a fixed-wing bomber called a Gotha on 13 June 1917.

At around 11.20am, the bomb dropped on Upper North Street School in Poplar, now renamed the Mayflower Primary School. It was one of the first instances of civilians being specifically targeted during wartime.

A month later, the Royal family announced that they were changing their name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor.

Up to 130 descendants of both those who were killed and those who survived will attend an interfaith ceremony at All Saints Church in Poplar, east London, which will be conducted by the Bishop of Stepney.

Armed Forces Chaplain Rabbi Ruben Livingstone will be attending, as will Rabbi Alan Plancey of Borehamwood, Rabbi David Mason of Muswell Hill, and Rabbi Dr Abraham Levy, a former leader of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews Congregation.