The family of a women's rights pioneer are fighting to prevent a cemetery building extra plots on her grave.
Sarah Dearman helped organise the 1888 Matchgirls Strike over conditions at the Bryant and May factory in Bow.
Mrs Dearman's recently discovered grave in Manor Park is due to be levelled to make way for more plots.
"If we just lose the grave, we are losing part of our history and our heritage," Ms Dearman's great-granddaughter Sam Johnson said.
Anita Dobson, actress and patron of the Matchgirls Memorial charity, said: "Sarah and these women fought for our working rights and to destroy her resting place is abhorrent.
"People want to come here to pay their respects and remember what she and the matchgirls achieved for us all."
Mrs Dearman, then known as Sarah Chapman, was one of the key organisers when 1,400 workers downed tools and walked out on 2 July 1888.
The strike brought the plight of vulnerable unskilled workers to wider public attention.
Mrs Dearman became a key member of the Matchmakers Union, formed in the wake of the strike.
She died in 1945, aged 83, and was buried in an unmarked public grave.
Her family only discovered the grave in 2017 after discovering her role in the strike "by accident".
Mrs Johnson said: "We've only just found her again we do not want to lose her.
"I'm immensely proud of my great-grandmother and her role in the history of the labour movement.
"But on a social level it is important we do not forget what the matchgirls achieved, their bravery and their courage, things that resonate today."
A spokesman for Manor Park Cemetery said: "Sarah's grave will not disappear.
"The company has already offered Mrs Johnson an assurance that, on reclamation, she would be offered first refusal to purchase a lease of the new grave space above Sarah Dearman's existing grave."
"We feel Manor Park Cemetery, its directors and management have acted in a wholly reasonable and sensitive fashion to Mrs Johnson's situation."
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Matchgirls strike pioneer Sarah Dearman's grave 'under threat' - BBC News
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