History

The Docks were a thriving and important centre for trade and commerce in nineteenth-century London. As Charles Knight wrote in his 1851 six-volume work London, “We may trace the vastness of London, the varied character of its external features, and the wonderful diversity which its social aspects present, to three distinct causes. First, its official supremacy, as the residence of the sovereign, the seat of the government and legislature, and all the most important departments of the state; secondly, its manufacturing industry; and thirdly, its commercial importance as a port”. London was the largest port in the world at this time.