The Thames and its docks

by Alexander Forrow

Under his third plan (see Appendix [J]), Mr. Reveley proposed to conduct the new channel of the river straight from Wapping, intersecting the river so as to convert the three bends between Wapping and Woolwich into three docks, to be known respectively as the ‘Ratcliff,’ the ‘Blackwall,’ and the ‘Greenwich’ Docks, giving a total of 644 acres.

To meet the objection of the Trinity House that any of these schemes would be impracticable without essential injury to the river and its navigation, Mr. Reveley proposed a fourth plan (see Appendix [K]), under which, as you will see, the new channel of the river is made to take its course from near Wapping to the old channel of the Thames between Greenland Dock and Deptford, thence inclining gently to the northward till it falls into Woolwich Reach; thus leaving two spacious docks to the northward by shutting out the Ratcliff and Blackwall bends of the river. The docks thus formed would have yielded a water space of 559 acres.

Each of these rejected schemes, of course, represented particular, and, in some instances, conflicting, interests. The West India merchants who suffered most severely from the depredations on the river, were very anxious to have a dock in the Isle of Dogs, and in two days, December 22 and 23, 1795, raised subscriptions of £800,000 for the purpose. Opposed to the West India merchants was the Corporation of London, with its large collateral vested interests. They professed to be jealous of any measure which would have the effect of removing the shipping from the City; hence their gigantic scheme, to which I have called attention, and which, as you will remember, so far met the views of the West India merchants as to include a large dock in the Isle of Dogs. The fact is, the Corporation wished to get the control of the docks of London into their own hands; and although Parliament was not inclined in this way to swell the sufficiently plethoric bulk of the Corporation, that body, with its allied interests, was strong enough in Parliament to defeat any body of merchants going to it for powers opposed to their interests; and, as you are aware, all the Dock Companies when first started were largely represented by nominees of the Corporation.

So the struggle went on for three years longer. Meanwhile a terrible outcry was raised in the City against the proposed establishment of docks of any kind either at Wapping or in the Isle of Dogs. It was urged that the conservation, rule, and government of the Thames was vested by prescription, confirmed by charters and Acts of Parliament, in the Lord Mayor for the time being; and that to embank or inclose the bed of the river, or make any cuts into it without previous license under the City Seal, was against the law. The ‘Tackle-house’ porters, the ‘City’ porters, the ‘City’ carters, watermen, and others, raised a jeremiad of their impending ruin if docks were allowed. One of the objections was that Christ’s Hospital would lose £400 a year, granted from the sale of licenses. The proprietors of the Legal Quays protested that the withdrawal of the West India trade alone would lower their property to one-third of its value. It was even said that so many men would be thrown out of employment that a vast increase would take place in the poor rates. One cannot help feeling puzzled to understand how objections of this kind could ever have been seriously advanced. At length, after apparently endless delays, Parliament succeeded in adjusting the conflicting claims of the various parties by payments out of the Consolidated Fund, amounting in the aggregate to £1,600,000; and on July 12, 1799, passed the first Dock Act. Under this Act, which is known as an ‘Act for rendering more commodious and better regulating the Port of London,’ the Corporation of London were authorised to construct a canal in the Isle of Dogs, with power for fourteen years to levy tolls of from 1d. to 3½d. per ton on all vessels using the port, fishing and passenger craft excepted. The incorporation of the West India Dock Company immediately followed. The West India Import Dock commenced on February 3, 1800, was completed at a cost of £17,000 per acre, and opened on August 27, 1802, by William Pitt, the Prime Minister. This view represents the appearance of the dock before the water was let in; and, I may add, in passing, that in excavating this dock, as also during the progress of the works at the South Dock, to which I will call your attention presently, some most interesting fossil remains and other curiosities were discovered.

This view represents the first ship entering the dock—the ‘Henry Addington,’ a West Indiaman of the old school, and one of the wooden walls, in privateering days, of England’s reputation. It is to be hoped that the iron walls which have succeeded them in the Navy will give as good an account of themselves in ‘the battle and the breeze’ as these old wooden walls; and so dispel the misgivings to which some of their recent achievements have given rise.

This view represents both the West India Import and Export Docks, with the canal, as they appeared when completed in 1805. I should here state that in 1829 the Corporation of London sold the canal to the West India Dock Company for £120,000; and, until converted into the existing South Dock, it was used by the Company as a timber pond, and for the accommodation of an important grain trade. The Government was so impressed with the necessity of removing the shipping from the river, that for a period of twenty-one years they made it compulsory upon all vessels from the West Indies to discharge in these docks. Not only so; but the Commissioners of Customs were empowered to order vessels from other parts to discharge here. And all vessels outward bound for the West Indies were compelled either to take in their cargoes in these docks or else in the river below Blackwall—an arrangement more costly than the payment of dock dues. As a further illustration of the interest which the Government took in these docks, I may add, that the wall surrounding them was built at a cost of £30,000, advanced by the Government; and that for a considerable time the premises were under the protection of troops sent down for the purpose, and that circumstance accounts for the existence of the guard-houses to be seen facing the inner entrance to the West India Docks.

You will have observed that the West India Docks were established, almost exclusively, in the interest of the West India trade. Their location in the Isle of Dogs had, of course, been in opposition to the views of a powerful party in the City. The result of this feeling was the establishment of the London Docks, which followed so closely upon the West India Docks that scarcely twelve months elapsed between the passing of the two Acts; the London Dock Act passing on June 20, 1800. Commenced on June 26, 1802, the first stone being laid by Lord Hawkesbury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, the ‘Western’ Dock of 20 acres, the first completed, was opened on the last day of January 1805, at a cost £140,654 an acre: and this view represents the dock as it then appeared. This is a remarkably fine view, as you will observe, the sinuous course of the river and the Isle of Dogs in the distance, coming out very distinctly.

This view represents the dock, when opened, as seen from the river. All vessels entering the port with wine, brandy, tobacco, and rice were compelled to unload here for a period of twenty-one years from the date of completion, under a penalty of forfeiture of the ship to the Crown, and a fine of £100 from the owner or master. The Hermitage Basin and entrance were opened in 1820, the Eastern Dock and the Tobacco Dock in 1828, and the original Shadwell entrance and basin in 1832. The fine jetty in the Western Dock was built in 1838, and the new Shadwell entrance and basin were constructed at a vast outlay and opened on October 13, 1858.

The establishment of the West India and the London Docks still left the East India and China shipping to be provided for; the accommodation afforded by Mr. Perry’s Dock at Blackwall being scarcely sufficient for the shipping of the East India Company alone. To meet this deficiency the East India Dock Company was formed. The Act passed in the year 1803, the docks were commenced in August of the same year, and opened on August 4, 1806. This view, which represents the docks as they appeared when completed, gives a very interesting picture of the river at this point, as also of the virgin character of the surrounding country. Like its predecessors, the East India Dock Company started with a twenty-one years’ monopoly. All vessels with cargoes from the East Indies and China were obliged to discharge in these docks. Outward-bound ships to these parts of the world were also compelled to load here or else in the river below Limehouse. But, for the protection of the London Dock monopoly, it was enacted that no vessel not immediately from, or immediately bound to, the East Indies or China, should, under a penalty of £50, enter these docks without the consent of the Treasury in writing.

Most people are not aware that the East of London is indebted to the East and West India Docks for two of its finest roads. Before the establishment of these docks neither the Commercial, nor the East India, Road had any existence. The distance of these docks from the City rendered good roads an absolute necessity, especially in those days. Here I may observe that when the Duke of Bridgewater began his canal—forty years previously—the cost of the land carriage of goods was 40s. a ton. The carriage of goods on the river was not less than 12s. a ton. From Wapping, eastward, fields, nursery-grounds, rope walks, gardens, &c., &c., stretched right away to Barking. Through these the Commercial Road was cut at a cost of £100,000; and when the East India Docks were started, a further sum of £20,000 was raised to continue the road to that distance, the extension taking its name from the docks. The government of both these roads was vested in fifteen trustees, including the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the two Dock Companies. As you are probably aware, both these roads are now entirely free.