The Blind Beggar Montfort. The pub was built in 1894 on the site of an inn which had been established before 1654, and named after the legend of Henry de Montfort, a son of Simon de Montfort. In 1865, William Booth preached his first open-air sermon outside the Blind Beggar, which led to the establishment of the East London Christian Mission, later to become the Salvation Army. William Booth is commemorated by a nearby statue. The Blind Beggar is notorious for its connection to East End gangsters the Kray twins. On 9 March 1966, Ronnie Kray shot and murdered George Cornell, an associate
Kray twins Annie Lee (5 August 1909 – 4 August 1982). The brothers were identical twins, with Reggie being born ten minutes before Ronnie. Their parents already had a six-year-old son, Charles James (9 July 1927 – 4 April 2000). A sister, Violet (born 1929), died in infancy. When the twins were three years old, they contracted diphtheria. The twins first attended Wood Close School in Brick Lane, and then Daniel Street School. In 1938, the Kray family moved from Stean Street in Hoxton to 178 Vallance Road in Bethnal Green. At the beginning of the Second World War, 32-year-old Charles Kray