MP Jim Fitzpatrick opens a block of almshouses today (Thurs) in his constituency in London’s East End built by a charity that was set up by a Victorian philanthropist providing homes for women in need.

He unveils a plaque this morning at Sarah Perry House in Poplar, created by the George Green’s Almshouses Trust which has provided housing for women since 1849.

The block in Flora Close has eight self-contained studio flats and is close to the site of the original Victorian almshouses in Upper North Street, bought in 1841 by a London shipbuilder, George Green, who owned a shipyard on the Thames at Blackwall.

The original almshouses were use from his death in 1849 until 2011, when the new site was acquired in Flora Close. The trust has named the new block Sarah Perry House in honour of George Green’s wife.