Docklands

Catalogue Reference:(MOL) DK0468NG

In an age where Docklands is associated with loft apartments and city salaries, it is easy to forget that the London docks were once a vital source of employment for many Irish migrants. This aerial photograph, taken before 1970, shows the Western Docks and the Wapping entrance. Dock work was often casual with all the misery this implies. In his book London Labour and the London Poor published in 1851 Henry Mayhew vividly describes 'thousands of men struggling for only one day's hire...the scramble for 24 hours' extra subsistence' by men who were faced with hunger if unsuccessful in their search for work.