The Thames & Docklands History Group is hosting its inaugural Conference at the London Museum Docklands on Saturday 4th October. This represents a return to the regular conferences organised by the Docklands History Group, our predecessor body. Between 2012 and 2023 the Group held 10 very successful themed conferences, at which were presented 83 papers on a remarkably wide range of subjects.

 

For is first Conference, the Trustees of the TDHG have decided to focus on the post-1945 period. London’s Port and Docklands have undergone many fundamental social, cultural, economic and physical changes since the trauma and devastation of the Second World War. During this period, many working, cultural and architectural landscapes have changed beyond all recognition – much of it within living memory.

 

These themes will be explored in the Conference through a range of talks by subject experts, together with contextualised historic film and later documentaries. Although the Conference Programme is still being actively developed, it will continue in the tradition of the earlier popular DHG events. The 2025 Conference is expected to be a very friendly, inclusive, stimulating and lively affair – attracting a rich mix of delegates, reflecting general, specialist and academic interests.

 

Booking should open soon on Eventbrite. If you wish to be notified when booking is open please email to this address.

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The provisional programme is:

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09.30   London Museum Dockland’s doors open; registration and refreshments in the Quayside Room

 

10.15  Welcome and Opening Remarks

 

10.30  Dr. Chris Ellmers – The changing Port of London - 1945-1990

 

11.00  Professor Janet Foster – The Isle of Dogs in the 1980s - cultures in conflict* 

 

11.30  Mike Seaborne – Urban transformation: photographing London’s Docklands in the 1980s and 1990s

 

12.00  Comfort Break

 

12.15  Edward Sargent FSA – Conservation in Docklands during the 1980s

 

12.45  Dr. Tim Carter – Seafarers’ health care - the Greenwich Seamen’s Hospital, 1945-1986

 

13.15  Film – Waters of Time (1951)

 

14.00  Film –  Documentary film of Docklands regeneration (early 1990s)

 

14.30  Conference closes

 

 

*  The title of the talk marked with an asterisk is provisional