When the immigrants arrived in Gravesend they were met by an officer of HM Customs and a medical inspector from the Port of London Port Sanitary Authority. Once the first- and second-class passengers had disembarked (which they did at Tilbury after the dock was opened in 1886) the medical officer subjected every third-class passenger to a rudimentary medical inspection in the first-class dining or smoking rooms in the case of passenger ships, or on the deck in the case of cattle ships from Russia.

Those found to be suffering from 'reportable illnesses' (such as cholera, typhus, yellow fever or smallpox) were detained at the floating (later land-based) isolation hospital of the Port Sanitary Authority. Those who appeared free of disease, or who had evaded detection by working their passage as cattle handlers, could disembark at the dock where their ship berthed (usually Millwall), or at one of the Thames landing stages such as St. Katharine's Steam Packet Wharf, the Customs Wharf, Hays Wharf, or Irongate Stairs.

There they frequently fell victim to crimps, who preyed on vulnerable immigrants. Often able to speak in the immigrants' native language, they duped the poor migrant into paying for subsequent journeys to fictitious places, forcing them to stay in over-priced lodgings or exchanging their money at extortionate rates.

In an attempt to combat the problem, Jewish welfare organisations such as the Poor Jews' Temporary Shelter and the Jewish Association for the Protection of Girls, Women and Children arranged to meet every vessel carrying migrants into London to offer advice, temporary lodgings or tickets to America, South Africa, South America or provincial England.

< Previous | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Next >