The London docks have historically been the gateway for London’s international trade and commerce enterprises, and subsequently, a symbol for the British Empire. London’s docks were the points of delivery for hundreds of thousands of cargoes of grain, tobacco, meat, fruit and vegetables, from all over the world, unloaded onto the quayside and stored in giant granaries and refrigerated warehouses. It was these docks that maintained that were key to maintaining the British Empire as a colonial power.
At the same time, passenger ships arrived in their hundreds on London’s shores, bringing migrant workers and sailors, and resulting in the development of social dynamics across East London.
