Tower of London Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Garrison== {{See also|Tower division}} The Yeomen Warders provided the permanent garrison of the Tower, but the [[Constable of the Tower]] could call upon the men of the [[Tower division|Tower Hamlets]] to supplement them when necessary. The [[Tower division|Tower Hamlets, aka Tower Division]] of [[Ossulstone Hundred|Middlesex's Ossulstone Hundred]] was an area, significantly larger than the [[London Borough of Tower Hamlets|modern London Borough of the same name]], which owed military service to the Constable in his ''ex officio'' role as [[Lord Lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets]].<ref>Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th Edition, 1993. Article on Tower Hamlets</ref> The earliest surviving reference to the inhabitants of the Tower Hamlets having a duty to provide a guard for the Tower of London is from 1554, during the reign of [[Mary I]], but the relationship is thought to go back much further. Some believe the connection goes back to the time of the Conqueror.<ref name="stepney">{{Cite book |title=The Metropolitan Borough of Stepney, Official Guide |date=1962 |publisher=Ed J Burrows & Co |edition=10th |pages=25β29}}</ref> <!--but others suggest it came later in the medieval period when the Hamlets had a higher population.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Powers |first=M.J. |date=December 1965 |journal=East London Papers: A journal of History, Social Studies and Art |publisher=University House |volume=8 |issue=2 |page=68}}</ref>--> The duty is likely to have had its origin in the rights and obligations of the [[Stepney#Manor and Ancient Parish|Manor of Stepney]] which covered most or all of the Hamlets area.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol11/pp1-7 |title=A History of the County of Middlesex |publisher=T F T Baker |year=1998 |editor-last=Bethnal Green |volume=11 |pages=1β7 |chapter=Stepney: Early Stepney |via=British History Online |accessdate=3 December 2021}}</ref><ref name=stepney/> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page