Around 40 years ago, a very important work close to the heart of the Docklands History Group (DHG), our predecessor body, had begun to take shape. Its genesis lay in the momentous changes that had begun to impact on almost every aspects of London’s old historic port area from the late 1960s. Dock and wharf closures – along with those relating to manufacturing and power supply – all threatened traditional social, cultural and working patterns. What had once been lively and active places progressively gave way to silent and empty ones. The grim hands of deindustrialisation and dereliction were poised over the area and its waterfronts. Competing public bodies, private developers and local communities were already engaged in actively promoting their own versions of the best future for the area. Under the umbrella of ‘regeneration’, many interesting historic sites, buildings and activities faced potential oblivion.
It was into this challenging theatre that the instigators of the Docklands History Survey intrepidly, but very energetically, set foot in 1979. Founded by a small group representing the Museum of London (Chris Ellmers), the Greater London Council Historic Buildings Division (John Earl and Paul Calvocoressi), the National Maritime Museum (Alan Pearsall) and North East London Polytechnic (Dr. Denis Smith). This group met regularly, making use of revolving meeting spaces at each of the supporting institutions. The group fairly quickly morphed into the more formal Docklands History Survey Steering Group. Representation was also included from the Docklands Joint Committee (Peter Dean).
As well as progressively drawing-in other interested individuals, groups and public bodies, one of the most significant achievements of the Steering Group was to raise additional funds from the Greater London Council (GLC) to support the appointment of a Survey Officer, Dr. Robert (‘Bob’) Carr, in January 1980. The Steering Group struck gold with Bob Carr, who was a mid-career academic and also very active in the fields of technological history and industrial archaeology. Already very knowledgeable and experienced in respect of London’s industrial history, Bob hit the ground running. He was based in the Department of Civil Engineering at North East London Polytechnic, working under Denis Smith. Bob liaised with a wide range of contacts and other specialists, and started compiling what was to become a comprehensive record of sites and buildings in the riverside areas of the London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Newham, Southwark, Lewisham and Greenwich. This reflected the area represented by the Docklands Joint Committee, rather than the area subsequently controlled by the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC). The latter consisted of just the riverside areas of Tower Hamlets, Newham and Southwark.
Bob’s enormous energy resulted in the publication of the Docklands History Survey: A guide to research, preliminary edition, June 1984. This was published by the Greater London Council Historic Buildings Division for the Docklands History Survey Management Committee. Funded by the GLC, this 111 page publication was generously provided free to interested parties. As well as including a Gazetteer, extending to 70 pages, this book also provided very useful information on surviving archives and photographs, as well as a bibliography. Individual Gazetteer entries very helpfully included full Ordnance Survey (OS) coordinates which could then be pin-pointed on the accompanying large scale OS map reproductions.
The value of this preliminary edition of the Docklands History Survey was contextualised by Ashley Barker, Surveyor of Historic Buildings, Greater London Council, in the following words:
‘The London Docklands History Survey provides an authoritative and thorough description of the older physical fabric of Docklands and offers guidance for those who need to research in more detail. It is concerned not only with the important listed buildings and artefacts but with all those objects from the past whose existence may be of significance to planners, developers, historians, industrial archaeologists, and, not least, to Londoners who care to know how London came to be as it is…It is a reliable tool to be kept ready to hand. I may regret that such a tool was not available to us ten years ago and that so much of value was lost in Docklands before the History Survey was conceived, but it has important work to do now.’
Bob Carr’s Gazetteer also benefited from the support of members of the Greater Industrial Archaeology Society (GLIAS) and the then still relatively new DHG. Some, like Malcolm Tucker (one of the Thames and Docklands Thames and Docklands History Group’s current Trustees) and Edward Sargent (a long time past Chairman of the DHG) were members of both GLIAS and the DHG – as were most members of the Steering Group itself.
Reflecting Ashley Barker’s words that the Docklands History Survey still ‘has important work to do’, Bob Carr continued with the mammoth task of completing the Dockland History Survey. This came to full fruition in 1986 with the publication of Dockland: An illustrated historical survey of life and work in east London. This much larger 304 page book was jointly published by the North East London Polytechnic and the GLC – with the latter meeting all of the costs. The use of the word Dockland – in the singular – in the title was deliberately intended to reflect the traditional name used for the area. Still covering the old pre-LDDC (1981) five Docklands’ Boroughs, the Gazetteer was updated, where necessary, and selectively illustrated with many historic and contemporary photographs. The main addition to the book, however, was the inclusion of sixteen thematic and interpretive chapters contributed by thirteen specialists. Of the thirteen contributors, eight – George Adams, Paul Calvocoressi, Chris Ellmers, Eve Hostettler, John Jupp, Alan Pearsall, Tim Smith, and Malcolm Tucker – were also members of the DHG. George Adams – in occupational turns a Thames lighterman, a stevedore, a Dock Labour Board Instructor and, finally, a Tilbury docker – contributed chapters on Cargo Handling and Reminiscences of a Stevedore. Paul Calvocoressi – GLC Historic Buildings Division – wrote evocatively on Lost Buildings in Dockland. Chris Ellmers – of the Museum of London – contributed a chapter on A Museum in Docklands, which he was already heavily immersed in. Eve Hostettler – Island History Project – contributed chapters entitled A Dockland Community – the Isle of Dogs and Ship Building and Related Industries on the Isle of Dogs. John Jupp – a Thames lighterman – provided Some Personal Reflections on London’s Lighterage Industry. Alan Pearsall – National Maritime Museum – contributed chapters on The Development of the Ship and Dockland Transport. Tim Smith – Secretary of GLIAS – wrote about Hydraulic Power in Docklands. Malcolm Tucker – a Chartered Engineer – provided a chapter on Warehouses in Dockland. Other chapters were provided by: Professor Theo Barker – on Dockland: Origins and Earlier History; Sir Patrick Bayly – on Museum Ships and Harbours in the United Kingdom; Ivan Greeves – on The Work of the Dock Engineer; Lord Howie – on Dock Labour History; and Philip MacDougall – on the Royal Dockyards of Woolwich and Greenwich. Bob Carr contributed an Editor’s Preface, a Postscript and a very useful Index.
Political, economic and social changes between the creation of the Docklands History Survey, in 1979, and the publication of the Dockland book, in 1986 - especially those surrounding the creation of the LDDC in 1981 – gave rise to many conflicting views and hostile positions. These tensions can be seen in George Nicholson’s very heartfelt foreword to the Dockland book, entitled “Red” Sails in the Sunset. Nicholson had been a marine engineering apprentice in the late 1960s, sailing out of the Port of London on Blue Funnel Line ships. He later became a Southwark councillor and then represented Bermondsey on the GLC. As Chair of the GLC’s Planning Committee he came into frequent conflict with the LDDC. In the event, the GLC was abolished in 1986 – the year that Dockland was published. Very sadly, although the GLC passed a residual fund to the North East London Polytechnic for the continuance of the work of the Docklands History Survey Steering Group, this did not happen, and it was wound-up.
Away from that now distant moment in time, the Dockland book still remains a very important resource for researchers and lovers of London’s river and its Port. The Gazetteer has never been surpassed and the contents of the chapters – especially those by DHG members – retain much or their original interest and significance.
The Dockland book can still be found online on AbeBooks and sometimes on eBay. For those readers who do not already have a copy, do think about making a space on your bookshelves for this worthy addition!
Dr. Chris Ellmers
February 2025
