The Docks Of Old London

The crowdfund for Tessa Hunkin’s Hackney Mosaic Project book closes today Saturday 17th May at midnight

 

Within living memory, the busiest port in the world was here in the East End but now the docks of old London have all gone. Yet when I walk through the colossal new developments that occupy these locations today, I cannot resist a sense they are merely contingent and that those monumental earlier structures, above and below the surface, still define the nature of these places. And these glass slides, created a century ago by the London & Middlesex Archaeological Society for magic lantern shows at the Bishopsgate Institute, evoke the potent reality of that former world vividly for me.

Two centuries ago, the docks which had existed east of the City of London since Roman times, began an ambitious expansion to accommodate the vast deliveries of raw materials from the colonies. Those resources supplied the growing appetite of manufacturing industry, transforming them into finished products that were exported back to the world, fuelling an ascendant spiral of affluence for Britain.

Despite this infinite wealth of Empire, many lived and worked in poor conditions without any benefit of the riches that their labour served to create and, in the nineteenth century, the docks became the arena within which the drama of organised labour first made its impact upon the national consciousness – winning the sympathy of the wider population for those working in a dangerous occupation for a meagre reward.

Eventually, after generations of struggle, the entire industry was swept away to be replaced by Rupert Murdoch’s Fortress Wapping and a new centre for the financial centre at Canary Wharf. Yet everyone that I have spoken with who worked in the Docks carries a sense of pride at participating in this collective endeavour upon such a gargantuan scale, and of delight at encountering other cultures, and of romance at savouring rare produce – all delivered upon the rising waters of the Thames.

Deptford Dock Yard, c. 1920

Atlantic Transport Liner “Minnewaska” – The Blue Star Liner “Almeda” in the entrance lock to King George V Dock on the completion of her maiden voyage with passengers from the Argentine, April 6th, 1927.

Timber in London Docks, c. 1920

Wool in London Docks, c. 1920

Ivory Floor at London Dock, c. 1920

Crescent wine vaults at London Dock – note curious fungoid growths, c. 1920

Unloading grain – London Docks, c. 1920

Tobacco in London Docks, c. 1920

Royal Albert Dock, c. 1920

Cold Store at the Royal Albert Dock showing covered conveyors, c. 1920

Quayside at Royal Albert Dock, c. 1920

Surrey Commercial Dock, c. 1920

Barring Creek, c. 1920

Wapping Pier Head, c. 1920

Pool of London, c. 1920

Mammoth crane, c. 1920

Greenwich School – Training ship, c. 1910

The Hougoumont on the Thames, c. 1920

Images courtesy Bishopsgate Institute

You may like to read these other stories about the London Docks

Colin Ross, Docker

George Wells, Able Seaman

Views from a Dinghy by John Claridge

Along the Thames With Tony Bock

Among the Lightermen

Whistler in Limehouse & Wapping

Dickens in Shadwell & Limehouse

The Grapes in Limehouse

Madge Darby, Historian of  Wapping

Steve Brooker, Mudlark