STEPNEY, an eastern metropolitan borough of London, Eng land, bounded north by Bethnal Green, east by Poplar, south by the river Thames, and west by the City of London and Shoreditch.
Pop. (1931) 225,203; area, 1,767 acres. The thoroughfares of Mile End Road and Whitechapel Road and that of Commercial Road East traverse the borough from the east and converge near the City boundary, where stood the ancient Aldgate. In the north Stepney includes the districts of Spitalfields, Whitechapel and Mile End; and in the south Wapping, Shadwell, Ratcliff and Limehouse. The name appears in Domesday and later as Stevenhethe. The suffix is thus the common form hythe, a haven; but for the prefix no certain derivation is offered. At Mile End, so called from its distance from the City (Aldgate), Wat Tyler and Richard II. met in 1381. Pepys records the village as a favourite place of resort. The district of Spitalfields has an old association with the silk-weaving industry ; a trade in singing birds is also characteristic of this district. Wharves and factories line the river bank. In the extreme west the borough includes within its bounds the historic Tower of London (q.v.), the Royal Mint and the Tower Bridge over the Thames. Stepney is a suffragan bishopric in the diocese of London. The metropolitan borough of Stepney returns three members to Parliament, one each for the Limehouse, Mile End and Whitechapel and St. George's divisions. STEPNIAK, SERGIUS (1852-1895), Russian revolutionist, whose real name was Sergius Michaelovich Kravchinski, was born in South Russia, of noble parents. He became an officer in
the artillery; but his sympathy with the peasants, among whom he had lived during his boyhood in the country, developed in him at first democratic and, later, revolutionary opinions. He began secretly to sow the sentiments of democracy among the peasants. His teaching did not long remain a secret, and in 1874 he was arrested. He succeeded in making his escape—possibly he was per mitted to escape on account of his youth—and immediately began a more vigorous campaign against autocracy. His sympathetic nature was revolted by the brutal methods adopted towards prisoners, especially political prisoners, and by the stern measures of repression of revolutionary sentiment. For a time he supported a terrorist policy, and in 1880 he was obliged to leave the country. He settled for a short time in Switzerland, and of ter a few years came to London. He was already known in England by his book Underground Russia, which had been published in London in 1882. He followed it up with other works on the condition of the Russian peasantry, on Nihilism, and on the conditions of life in Russia. Stepniak was killed by a railway engine at a level crossing at Bedford Park, Chiswick, on Dec. 23, 1895.