The docks may have closed 40 years ago but that doesn’t mean they’re entirely defunct as a part of the import and export sector.
The Isle Of Man is currently on a mission to boost its foodie exports, including seafood, alcoholic beverages, salt and cheese, as it attempts to shift the balance of its economy and bring greater prosperity to its inhabitants.
These included the likes of shellfish from its sustainably managed King Scallop Fishery – available at a selection of top London restaurants, dairy produce from the Isle Of Man Creamery and hand-harvested sea salt from the Isle Of Man Salt Co.
Rick Dacey of Outlier
It’s especially apt that a space in a listed former sugar warehouse on the edge of a dock that was once a major receiver of imports should be used in this way– better still that one of the products on show should be a rum.
It buys-in cane molasses, but otherwise uses exclusively local ingredients to create its products.
Available in Harrods or to buy online, it is at present still a small concern.
“Hoolie is our 41% white rum and it’s the first one made in the British Isles to be sold at the department store,” said co-founder Rick Dacey.
“That’s not bad going for a couple of guys working in a shed on a farm.
“We’re called Outlier because we are that, both philosophically and geographically.
“We’re doing our own thing – we’re not interested in producing millions of bottles.
“We want to have fun with it and we’re happy to be quite polarising.
“Some people don’t like our bottles and I’m happy about that because at least they have an opinion.
All milk produced on the Isle Of Man is processed by a cooperative
“The way we produce it is laborious – two middle-aged men in a Rocky montage chopping wood and throwing it in the still – so it’s a proper craft product.
“We make it from scratch. The Isle Of Man has very clean air and water which is good for the booze and it’s going down well with the rum crowd so why deviate from that?
“The Isle is a small place, but it has some great producers so it’s great that it’s getting some government support.”
“We’re a cooperative of 28 dairy farmers on the island,” said Findlay Macleod, its managing director.
“We bring in all of the milk that’s produced there and process it into cheese.
“On the Isle Of Man, our cows are out eating grass for a minimum of 200 days every year, which means they’re enjoying a natural diet.
“That makes for a healthier milk and provides a better base for our award-winning cheese that regularly wins national and international recognition.
“We export to Canada, the USA, Australia and the UK as well. We’re hopeful to find further distribution in London in independent stores and in top restaurants.
“My favourite is our Vintage Red Leicester – it goes with anything and it’s a beautiful cheese. A really wonderful product.”
Isle Of Man Creamery’s Grass Fed Vintage Red Leicester
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
Museum Of London Docklands’ immersive exhibition takes visitors into boutiques and ateliers
This image from 1917 shows workers at Schneiders Garment Factory in Stepney. The clothing industry dominated the Jewish East End – Image from the Museum Of London
“It’s been 20 years since the Museum Of London had a major fashion exhibition and this is the first time we’ve hosted one at Docklands – it’s also the first time we’ve done a major exhibition with London’s Jewish population at its centre,” said Dr Lucie Whitmore.
“The Museum Of London Docklands is the perfect place to share this story, because it’s about migration and creativity blossoming at the heart of east London.”
Lucie is curator of Fashion City at the West India Quay institution, a special exhibition that explores the impact of Jewish Londoners on global style, that will be in place for visitors to enjoy until April 14, 2024.
“It’s a celebration and recognition of the contribution that these individuals have made to the industry.
“We’re thinking about this in a very broad sense.
“We wanted to go beyond the stereotypes or what we think people might expect about the relationship between Jewish people and making clothes in London.
Fashion City is on show now at Museum Of London Docklands
“We aim to encourage people to really think about how diverse our garment industry is and how many people are responsible for making the capital a fashion centre with an international reputation.
“To do this we’re taking our visitors on a bit of a journey.
“The exhibition is not structured chronologically, as people might expect, but geographically.
“So we have an East End and a West End and the places and spaces of London inform our structural approach.
“There are a lot of misconceptions and stereotypes – and sometimes anti-Semitic thinking – about Jewish people in the east of London, what is known as ‘sweated labour’, for example.
“That’s the idea of Jewish people either being poor and persecuted without agency, working in horrible conditions, producing cheap clothes in the East End.
Museum Of London curator Lucie Whitmore – Image by Jon Massey
“At the opposite end of that scale, there are misconceptions about wealthy Jewish people profiting from the work of others.
“We really wanted to dig into Jewish life and work in the East End, and show that it wasn’t like this.
“Obviously there were people who were treated very badly in the trade, but there were also people who had amazing agency and set up their own businesses, not just in tailoring, but also in accessories, leather-work, dressmaking – there’s a lot more to the story.
“We also wanted to show just how important Jewish makers and retailers have been in the West End, which has a glitzier reputation.
“People think about grand department stores, high street chains, couture, the pinnacle of London fashion – and Jewish makers are really important in that story as well.
“Although we don’t go into it in great depth, I was really keen for people to know that there was a big and really important resident Jewish population in the West End.
“People had settled there for quite a long time, particularly in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Gold kaftan and maxi smoking dress with beaded panels by Mr Fish – Image from the Museum Of London
“Soho and Fitzrovia were predominantly Jewish areas, and a lot of people don’t necessarily know that.
“The other reason for structuring Fashion City this way was that it allows us to examine different pockets of the industry by place, bringing together designers who knew each other and worked together or, perhaps, who were around at different times but did similar things.
“Visitors will be able to walk into an East End tailor’s workshop, step into the luxury of a couture salon and have a bit of a dance in our Carnaby boutique.”
While fashion is the core of the exhibition, there’s a thread of music running through things too.
The playlist includes the likes of the Mamas And Papas, The Beatles, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds who all wore clothes by designers featured in the exhibition.
“There’s Adam Faith too, who was a great customer of menswear shop Cecil Gee and we’re really excited to be featuring them all in Fashion City,” said Lucie.
Men wearing dresses by Mr Fish – Image by Jimmy James/ANL/Shutterstock
“It was also irresistible to include designer Mr Fish, who was in the spotlight in such a huge way in the 1960s.
“He was extraordinarily creative, known for his flamboyant menswear.
“He starts in Colette’s department store in Shaftesbury Avenue, moves around various retail jobs and eventually becomes established as a shirt maker.
“Then we get this classically trained designer who has developed all his skills and plays with the designs – subverts them, and then puts his creations in front of a different audience.
“He also invents the kipper tie.
“He gains the attention of several high-profile customers, such as Sean Connery and Barry Sainsbury, of the Sainsbury family, who goes into business with him.
“They open a boutique on Clifford Street between Jermyn Street – the traditional home of shirt making – and Carnaby Street.
“It’s the peacock revolution, with young, stylish customers – musicians, sports stars and actors – it’s also a place to hang out.
A wedding dress by Jewish designer Neymar, dating from the 1970s – Image from the Museum Of London
“There’s a story that an Italian film crew came to London to film in Mr Fish’s boutique, because they saw it as the downfall of British society and they wanted to capture the end of it.
“They saw Mr Fish as a beacon of change.
“He was doing skirts and dresses for men and felt that the male body was better suited to them – he called the garments powerful and virile.
“He wasn’t the first to do that, but the spirit behind his clothes was fascinating and heartfelt.
“Some people want to dismiss him as a bit of a novelty, but actually the quality of the design and the creativity, and how much he believed in it shows it wasn’t frivolity – it was fashion.
“The skirts and dresses were very popular and worn, very famously, by David Bowie and Mick Jagger. We also have a wonderful picture of an Arsenal footballer wearing one.”
The exhibition is filled with glamour. There are evening dresses, high-end hats and exquisite couture pieces.
The exhibition includes a coat by David Sassoon of Bellville Sassoon worn by Princess Diana and another by EastEnders royalty Dot Cotton in tweed by Alexon.
But Lucie and her team were keen to showcase the stories of real Londoners alongside the glamour.
The exhibition opens with the story of the 200,000 Jewish migrants arriving in the capital between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries through personal artefacts.
More than 50% would come to be involved in the fashion, clothing and textile trade.
Items include a small travelling case used by a child who came to London on the Kindertransport – the rescue effort to send children out of Nazi-controlled territory from 1938-39.
More than four years of research has gone into Fashion City and Lucie said one of the reasons she and collaborator Dr Bethan Bide of the University Of Leeds has wanted to explore the topic was the high level of resonance.
“We’d both done quite a lot of talking about it publicly and there was a lot of personal interest in the subject matter,” said Lucie, who began her career as a designer and became increasingly interested in the history of fashion.
“People who came to our talks recognised their own family stories and would feel quite emotional and proud of them.”
This coat by David Sassoon of Bellville Sassoon – Image from the Museum Of London
That’s partly true of Lucie herself, whose own family feature in the exhibition.
“They were Jewish refugees from Vienna,” she said.
“I should make it clear this isn’t a biased move on the part of the curator.
“We really wanted a story about leather goods and bags, and we didn’t have those objects already in our collection, but the story of my family fits perfectly in the narrative of the exhibition.
“The material was reviewed anonymously by an external reviewer for suitability before I put my great-grandfather in there.
“The family had already made one big move from Ukraine to Austria where they westernised their names.
“In Vienna they set up leather goods business Molmax, which was initially a big producer of sportswear, Alpine skiwear and leather goods.
“Then they moved into luggage, and they won a really big reputation internationally.
“But in 1938, after the German invasion, my family survived at great risk.
“Because my great-grandfather was a businessman, people would phone them and warn them when there was going to be a raid on their buildings, so they needed to be away.
Detail of the Molmax brand created by Lucie Whitmore’s family
“There’s an extraordinary story, which we do touch on in the exhibition, where some Nazi officers knocked on the front door of their home and demanded to be taken to the factory immediately.
“They took my great-grandfather and great uncle there in a van and took pretty much all their stock with no payment, nothing.
“Then they took over and Aryanised the factory.
“My grandmother and her brother left on the Kindertransport and my great grandfather managed to obtain a business visa which was how he managed to escape.
“My great grandmother was left to pack up the family home and make her own way over, and they were very lucky that they all reached Britain safely.
“There they re-established the business in London, starting off in Holborn.
“My great uncle, who was only 16, was the only one who spoke English and so he was doing all the work of translating and finding producers and places to work.
“They got it going and moved to Quaker Street, just off Brick Lane.
This silk evening gown by Rhavis dates from 1952 and is one of the key pieces in the exhibition – Image from the Museum Of London
“They managed to grow another international business, with offices in New York, exporting all over the world, before it closed in the early 1980s.”
There is, of course, more.
There’s the Rahvis sisters who designed clothes worn by the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell.
The flamboyant hats of Otto Lucas and an exploration of the connections between the Jewish community and other immigrant populations from the Caribbean and Bangladesh – seamstress Anwara Begum’s sewing machine is on display, which she used to make garments for local businesses at her home in Quaker Street.
In fact, there’s far too much on show to truly do the exhibition justice here – you’ll just have to go and see it for yourself.
Then for even more depth, you can dip into Lucie’s book, written with Bethan, to accompany the exhibition.
Standard entry to Fashion City costs £12 for adults and £6 for children.
Designer Raemonde Rahvis, who worked with her sister Dora to create pieces worn by the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell – Image by George Harris/ANL/Shutterstock
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
Walk around West India Docks today and, despite a few preserved cranes, mooring points and the odd plaque, it’s relatively easy to forget that every honeyed brick in their construction has witnessed the passage of a history that profoundly affected the lives of people across the globe for the better part of two centuries.
In 2023, their waters are busy with BBQ and hot tub boats, families on little electric launches having picnics and open water swimmers with fluorescent tow floats.
The quays themselves have mostly been overtaken by the concrete overhangs of Canary Wharf.
It’s wonderful that these bustling, lively scenes exist, but it’s equally important to tell the stories of what came before, in some cases so we can acknowledge the horrors of the past and reflect on how we might ensure such things are avoided in future.
Fortunately we have the Museum Of London Docklands on West India Quay to do just that – its staff working hard to ensure its displays are relevant, engaging and unflinching as they work to unlock the past for visitors.
My way into its latest free, temporary exhibition – Indo + Caribbean: The Creation Of A Culture – for example, the image at the top of this page – taken in West India Docks when the SS Chenab paid London a visit in 1928.
It’s part of the museum’s collection and looks, at first glance, to be a fairly innocuous picture.
The Museum Of London Docklands’ temporary Indo + Carribbean display – image Museum Of London Docklands
But this vessel was originally built for James Nourse Ltd in 1911 to transport indentured labourers from India to other British colonies after slavery was abolished.
“This image was taken a little after indenture ended, in 1917, but we also found the company’s log book with the details of all the journeys that its ships made and we have that on show, open on the page for the Chenab,” said Shereen Lafhaj, the exhibition’s curator.
“That’s really interesting because it gives an indication of how the journeys were viewed and how the indentured labourers were treated.
“It’s all numbers and there are references to half people, who would have been children.
“We make the point that this exhibition is to do with the British Caribbean, although the topic of indenture is a much wider story. India was sending indentured labourers all over the world.
“Before the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act, the work being done on plantations in the British Caribbean to produce things like sugar, rubber and cocoa was being done by enslaved Africans.
“After 1833, planters in the British Caribbean were asking where their cheap labour could come from and India was seen as the perfect solution.
“It was in the British Empire, there was already an Indian indenture system going on in Mauritius at the time, and so they used that as a template.
“Basically, labourers would commit to working for a set number of years – usually three to five on plantations.
Indo + Caribbean curator Shereen Lafhaj
“In return they would be promised accommodation, a basic wage and so on, but it’s very obvious that most of the indentured labourers did not know what they were signing up for.
“All that was required was a thumb print. We have an example of one of these contracts as part of the exhibition.
“It was back-breaking work, with children over 10 and women also participating on the plantations doing activities like spreading manure or cutting sugar cane – gruelling tasks.”
The display, which is free to visit and located on the museum’s top floor, offers an introduction to the topic of indenture, people’s experience of travelling to the Caribbean and what they found when they got there.
“Indenture was a very mixed picture and it’s a complex area but we do know most people did not understand what they were getting into,” said Shereen.
“In our audio section you have clips of stories of people getting on board or even trying to escape from the depots they were kept in before embarking.
“It was also a huge cultural shock because India had a caste system and that was completely ignored.
“This caused problems for people returning to India after their indenture as they became the victims of negative stereotypes.”
There’s also a section on Indo Caribbean Londoners, recording the experiences of those who came to the UK on ships such as the Empire Windrush, but slipped through the net of recognition, with no category on the census to record their presence.
“We have three wonderful partners who are Londoners and they’ve recorded a great song for us where they talk about identity, London and their families,” said Shereen.
“We thought it was really important to tell some of these stories too.”
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
On June 10, 2023, the chimes of the bells at St Mary-Le-Bow will ring out to mark 20 years since the late Queen officially opened the West India Quay institution.
Running from 7pm-10pm on the Saturday evening, the event will feature Hackney Showroom’s Bobby Dazzler outdoor stage with a line-up of live music acts and performances to entertain revellers.
Other attractions will include a makers market featuring products from Craft Central creatives, street food stalls and pop-up bars as well as an East End-themed pub quiz.
The museum’s galleries will also stay open late to host a range of talks, tours and film screenings including a focus on the origins of street parties in the capital, the history of the Notting Hill Carnival and the other festivities that have brought Londoners together over the years.
Museum Of London Docklands managing director Douglas Gilmore
The latter is something Museum Of London Docklands managing director Douglas Gilmore is very much hoping the street party will do.
“There will be film, dance and lots of activities and we’re really excited about it,” he said.
“We want to be diverse and to make sure everyone who might want to come to the museum can and for people who haven’t visited to feel that they can too.
“We’ve done these kinds of events before, so local people are used to them, but we also want people to come from further afield to grow our audience.
“Our research has shown some people think Docklands is hard to get to but we know it isn’t – there are five stations across three different lines within five minutes’ walk of us and most museums can’t say that.”
While the party, like Vanity Milan, is the headline attraction, the museum’s 20th birthday has also become the focus of a sequence of events taking place throughout the year.
The Queen opened the museum on June 10, 2023
“We’ve been open for two decades on this site,” said Douglas.
“We want to use that and incorporate it in our new strategy, which we’ve entitled Moving Centre Stage, because with the Museum Of London temporarily closed for its relocation to Smithfield we are now the centre.
“Our strategy has three main pillars – the first is to grow our audience, both in terms of numbers and diversity, the second is to improve our content, both in what we have and what we show and the third is the efficiency of how we operate.
“Our anniversary will be used to feed all of those. June is really our party month and, in addition to the main celebration there will be activities for both adults and children.
“Then, our next big month will be September when we’ll be organising a mudlarking festival.
“Ideally we’d like to grow that into an annual event, starting small but talking about it in the same way the Natural History Museum does Wildlife Photographer Of The Year, which has become an international event.
“We plan to run foreshore tours with an expert from the British Museum to assess items found on the banks of the Thames.
“There’s a lot of interest in mudlarking and part of what we do as a museum is to tell the story of the Thames though the Port Of London Authority’s archive and things found in the river.
“It’s a part of our identity with our Mudlarks Gallery for kids, which is hugely popular.”
The museum is seeking to boost the diversity of its audience
Whatever the museum does, Douglas is focused on making sure that as wide a range of people participate in its activities as possible.
“Museums are famously un-diverse,” he said.
“Ours is actually one of the best with 23% of visitors coming from diverse backgrounds, which is great because most national museums wouldn’t get anywhere near that.
“That’s partly because of where we are – the local boroughs around here are quite diverse – but also because we are one of only three museums in the country that has a permanent display about the slave trade, which is a diverse subject in terms of the audience it affects.
“These are the main reasons we’re doing so well already. However, we want to improve because the Museum Of London has an ambition to represent the city in terms of both our staff and the people who visit us.
“London’s population is around 40% diverse, so while 23% is good, it is only about half way to where we should be.
“The way we want to do that is partly through what we show here.
“This month we have a new display called Indo + Caribbean, and that’s very relevant for us as we tell the story of migration and Indian indenture.
The street party will feature live music and entertainment
“In October we’ll be opening Fashion City here as part of the 20th anniversary, which is a different thing for us to do and hopefully will bring in a new audience.
“The strap-line is how Jewish Londoners shaped global style, telling the story of how immigrants came to the East End and started making clothes here, with some moving to the West End to start couture houses.
Follow the journey of dal puri across space and time, from indentured workers from India’s Gangetic Plain in 19th-century British and Dutch Caribbean colonies, to today’s global Indo-Caribbean community.
Join The Urban Rambler, Nick Collinson, for an afternoon jaunt through the streets of Limehouse stopping at queer-friendly and owned pubs along the way
Listen and sing along to the sounds of the inimitable Tom Carradine as he brings a family friendly version of Carradine’s Cockney Singalong to the Museum. Expect plenty of ivory tinkling and bananas.
Join folk singer and researcher Vivien Ellis for a musical walking tour focusing on the rich history of street vendors and others who used song to make a living on the streets. Learn about unsung heroes of the East End and discover how music brought communities together.
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
“Yes, nobody has ever committed a crime after being executed. 100% success rate,” said Lee Anderson, the Tory MP for Ashfield, in response to being asked whether he would support the return of the death penalty, during an interview with The Spectator.
The former Labour politician, who was recently appointed deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, had made the comments shortly before getting the job.
His apparent stance was subsequently disowned by current prime minister Rishi Sunak and his government.
However, it’s sobering to think such ideas continue to circulate in the upper echelons of public life.
After all, it’s a little over a decade since Priti Patel, then the relatively new Conservative MP for Witham, advocated for the return of the death penalty as “a deterrent” on BBC Question Time.
At the time, she seemed bemused at the idea that innocent people might inadvertently be put to death by the state following miscarriages of justice.
She went on to hold high office, including the position of home secretary under Boris Johnson.
It’s been nearly 59 years since the last hangings in the UK took place – incidentally three years before Lee, now 56, was born – although final abolition didn’t come until 1998 when the country signed up to the 13th Protocol of the European Convention On Human Rights.
This is all very interesting, but what have the extreme views of two Conservative politicians got to do with this part of east London?
Well, perhaps Lee, Priti and anyone else with an interest in formulating a view on state sanctioned killing would do well to pop over to the Museum Of London Docklands.
Its latest major exhibition Executions is in place at the former sugar warehouses on West India Quay until April 16 and acts as an in-depth examination of some 700 years of public capital punishment in London.
Granular, macabre and fascinating, it’s a potent, sensitive and poignant exploration of the extreme things humans find excuses to do to one another in the name of justice.
Its primary focus is on the first recorded and last public executions to take place in London between 1196 and 1868.
Museum Of London curator of social and working history Beverley Cook – image Jon Massey
“We wanted to focus on where we had evidence,” said Beverley Cook, curator of social and working history at the Museum Of London.
“The first was recorded at Tyburn, which became the main site for public executions in the city until it closed in 1783 and then moved to Newgate Prison.
“The exhibition is quite traditional in that it relies very heavily on material and visual culture, which we have interpreted to tell the wider story.
“Where we don’t have objects, we’ve used some audio-visual elements to present content with a design that’s very strong and atmospheric to tackle a potentially challenging subject and deal sensitively with the difficulties of bringing that to an audience of the general public.”
Executions examines the mechanics and practicalities of the killings – what methods were used to end the lives of the condemned and where these acts took place.
Over the course of the 700 years people were hung, drawn and quartered, burnt alive, hanged and beheaded – the latter being a fate mainly for convicted members of the nobility.
Two poisoners (one a chef) were even boiled to death in separate incidents.
“In the earlier period, with governments and the monarchy being more unstable, you find more people being executed for things like treason, rioting, rebellion and of course heresy,” said Beverley.
“When you move to the 18th century, you start to see it becoming more urbanised, with more emphasis on property – governments are more stable, so you start to see more people being executed for crimes that we might be more familiar with today, such as crimes against the person or against property.
“There was this bizarre thing called the Bloody Code where every sort of offence mainly against property was added to the statute book.
Methods of public execution and a scrolling list of crimes the punishment was – image Museum Of London Docklands
“That meant that there were more than 200 crimes – many similar to one another – where people could in theory be condemned to death, as that was one of the only forms of punishment at the time.
“There are some very strange ones, such as impersonating a Greenwich Pensioner – presumably to get certain privileges – which was a capital offence. We don’t know whether anyone was actually executed for it.”
While my assumption before visiting the exhibition was that people would primarily be killed for committing serious crimes of violence, it turns out many were put to death for relatively minor offences.
Coin clipping – slicing silver off the edges of coins to be melted down and sold – one of the main forms of fraud in the Mediaeval period did, however, see offenders put to death.
“We know this was a crime that Jewish people were often executed for,” said Beverley.
“This was part of the discrimination against the Jewish community at the time, and in the exhibition we show how they were more likely to be executed for this than members of the Christian community – even though there were probably more Christians committing that crime.
“Between 1278 and 1279, 600 members of the Jewish community from across the country were sent to the Tower Of London and 279 were hanged at Tower Hill.
“That’s in contrast to 29 Christians.”
The exhibition only sets out to deal with executions carried out in public to examine their impact on Londoners’ lives.
“In the centre of the capital, you’re never more than five kilometres from a site of public execution,” said Beverley.
“Although people think of Tyburn, Newgate and maybe Smithfield, there were multiple execution sites throughout London.
“The reason for that was partly because people were often executed close to the site of their crime.
“It was seen as important to have visible justice in a local area, so people couldn’t ignore the fact that this was the punishment for a particular crime.
The former door of Newgate Prison – image Museum Of London Docklands
“For very serious or high profile crimes people were often brought to London for execution – such as William Wallace who was hung drawn and quartered at Smithfield – and over time you get the press, printers and publishers all focused on London.
“Like today, if something happened in the capital, word spread very quickly.”
A substantial chunk of the exhibition is given over to telling the stories of the condemned.
Dressed to represent a cell at Newgate Prison, where those sentenced to death at the Old Bailey would have been held ahead of their execution, it tells the stories of those pleading for mercy and final letters from the prisoners – some saying farewells and others maintaining their innocence.
“When Newgate was demolished in 1902, the museum acquired some of the relics such as the bolt from a condemned cell,” which we’re able to display,” said Beverley.
“Those convicted at the Old Bailey next door might have been held for a few days or a few months but everyone had the right to petition for mercy – not exoneration but to commute the death sentence to imprisonment.
“We have petitions on display from the national archive including one from a man named Joseph who argues he was led astray by a gang of youths who got him drunk before he stole from someone.
“His mother signed his petition with a cross because she was illiterate.
“People would try to get as many signatures as possible but Joseph didn’t have many supporters so his petition failed.
“He was described as ‘dreadfully distressed’ at the time of his execution. It’s quite shocking. He was only 18.”
The exhibition includes the door from Newgate through which prisoners passed on their final journey.
It’s a solid, iron-bound touchstone linking all who visit to those put to death.
Executions also looks at how public killings were received, publicised and attended – including a mock up of the three-cornered gallows at Tyburn.
“We have a representation of the procession from Newgate to Tyburn, which was a few miles, and the crowd would line the streets,” said Beverley.
“The prisoners were taken in carts, and in the cart was the coffin they would be put in – their arms would be pinioned so they would be allowed to pray, but that was all.
“The nooses were put around their necks while they were in the cart, the horses would be driven away and that’s how they were executed.
“There was no science behind it – there are accounts of people taking half an hour to die.
“One story we highlight is about a man called John Smith, who had the noose around his neck.
“The horse was driven away and he was reprieved suddenly, so he was cut down and revived.
“People were then asking him what he’d seen close to death, because they were very religious at that time.”
Such sudden changes to the expected outcome could be problematic as printed accounts of executions were big business and widely sold – often before the killing had actually taken place.
The exhibition includes many examples – telling the stories of crime and death in lurid detail – including one of a man who was never actually killed despite the description of his execution.
He actually wound up being transported to Australia instead – an example of fake news.
In contrast there are the forensically accurate sketches of the dead – complete with rope marks on the neck – from the Royal College Of Surgeons where bodies were often sent for dissection.
This constituted an extra punishment as it was thought the process would prevent resurrection in the afterlife.
Perhaps the most powerful part of the exhibition is a simple scrolling list of those executed – their names, the date of their death, their age and their crime.
There are 16 and 17-year-olds featured. Many were executed for crimes such as theft, burglary and fraud.
It’s impossible to do full justice to the rich and deep vein of tragic stories that Executions brings together in a single article.
While the exhibition offers no overt comment on the death penalty, it is chilling to think many of those put to death over 700 years were doubtless innocent of their often minor offences.
We must never repeat that crime
The vest is on display as part of Executions – image Museum Of London Docklands
ROYAL REMINDER– Possibly the vest of King Charles I
One of the key exhibits at Executions is a sweat-stained knitted silk vest, reportedly worn by King Charles I at his beheading.
“This would have been worn under his shirt, which would have been plain white according to illustrations of the scene,” said Beverley.
“We know it was a bitterly cold day, 30 January 1649, when he was executed in front of Banqueting House, and he did ask for a second vest, because he didn’t want the crowd to think that he was shivering from fear.
“It is an amazing story and we have done some analysis on the stains. We believe that they are bodily fluids, but we can’t prove that they have been there since 1649.
“At the time it came into the Museum Of London’s collection with this story attached, there was no reason to disbelieve the claim, although now as curators we are rather more cautious in our approach.
“What we do know is that it is correct for the period – it’s fine knitted silk, which wouldn’t have been generally worn by the public.
“It’s an amazing story and we have been doing further tests to uncover more evidence.”
King Charles I was executed for treason in front of a large crowd at the culmination of the English Civil War.
In line with custom, the identity of his executioner was never revealed to the public.
Executions runs at the Museum Of London Docklands until April 16, 2023. Standard tickets start at £12. Wharf Life readers can get 25% off adult ticket prices when visiting before April 1, 2023, by using promo code Wharf25.
Terms and conditions apply. The offer is only valid on visits on or up to March 31, 2023. Only adult tickets are covered and the discount will be applied during the checkout process. The offer applies to max four reduced tickets per customer and there is no cash or credit alternative.
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
Vibrant colour, sounds, sights and smells will fill the major exhibition space at Musuem Of London Docklands when it opens its doors to visitors again on October 22.
Inside, the freshly joined pine of packing crates, resplendent in blues, reds and printed with photos, house the cargo of London: Port City and are set to tease and provoke the eyes of viewers as they explore the displays.
Held in partnership with the Port Of London Authority (PLA), the exhibition is both a look into the past and a snapshot of the present, as it explores the impact that the arrival and departure of cargo has had on the capital since 1800.
Taking the era when the building that houses the museum itself would first have been used as a warehouse as its starting point, the display draws heavily on the PLA’s vast archive and includes 222 objects that make up an interactive timeline, revealing stories of smuggling and infrastructure.
“The museum has been managing the archive for quite some time and there are some small aspects of it already on display there, but this is the first time it has been mined to this extent,” said co-curator Claire Dobbin.
“The port and its impact on London is massive – not just historically, but today.
“Handling over 50million tonnes of cargo a year, from our morning coffee to the clothes we wear and materials for the buildings we live and work in, it plays a vital role in our daily lives and national economy.
“It’s moved down river – and for many of us out of sight – but the port is still very much part of London. Our riverside cityscapes are also peppered with echoes of its history in its architecture and street names.
“Our cultural landscape too has been shaped by centuries of global exchange – by people, products and ideas passing through the port.
“This influenced and enriched language, diversity and communities that underpin the city we know today.”
A railway carriage leaves for Africa from Royal Albert Dock in 1947 – image PLA Collection/Museum Of London Docklands
Inside the exhibition, visitors will see archive photography and video, hear oral history recordings – first-hand accounts of life on the docks – and even be able to smell the odours of some of the cargoes received by the port.
“We didn’t want it to be a chronological display – that would have been too dry,” said Claire. “Instead we’ve aimed for something more interactive, so that people can connect with things.
“Everybody who comes will connect in some way, because they are here in this building. Many will come who are from the area and know some of the stories very well. We hope everyone will find some relevance in the displays.
“We knew we wanted to focus on the impact of the port on different communities in London and also the lived experience of the people working on the docks.
“For that we’ve drawn a lot on the oral history collections, which are fantastic. There are voices as well – two sections where you hear lived experiences and little anecdotes. The oral histories were done in the 1980s, so some people talk about the beginning of the 20th century, and it’s amazing to hear that first-hand.
“This exhibition has been a real team effort – staff at the museum have spent huge amounts of time going through the archives both physical and digital to select exhibits.”
The PLA itself was created in 1909 to take over the running of the Port Of London from myriad rival private companies that built enclosed dock systems throughout the 19th century as an alternative to the comparatively poor security of the Pool Of London’s wharves.
“Because we’re covering the period from 1800, the team has been trawling through huge amounts of material such as minute books from the companies that pre-date the PLA,” said Claire.
“The wonderful thing about archives and documentation is that what they captured is what needed to be minuted at the time – what was important to that company in that meeting. It’s a different perspective.
“The real beauty of an archive exhibition is the bringing together of a range of different material.
“For example, we have a diving helmet in the exhibition, which we wanted to show, but equally wanted to bring to life, and we were able to find a film of people using the equipment.
“Honestly I could only watch it once as the thought of being under the Thames even with modern gear gives me nightmares.
“Then you have documents – we have one of the ledgers from 100 years ago showing the offloading – exactly what was coming in.
“Samples would be taken to document the quality so we’ve got some sample pots of spices and other commodities.
“What comes through in the oral histories is that working on the docks was a sensory experience, quite a harsh environment.
“People would say you could tell where you were in Docklands by the smell of the warehouses.
“We wanted to recreate a sense of that as well as what things looked like, so there are various smells people can experience.”
A group of young Asian men on board a ship in 1908 – image PLA Collection/Museum Of London Docklands
The exhibition is also about the titanic enterprise that is the modern operation of the PLA.
“Right from the beginning we wanted to bring the docks to life and that means the current practice of the port, which is very much hidden from central London,” said Claire.
“I didn’t know much about it at all, when we started this project – I probably knew more about the historical docks than I did about the current operation and the impact it has on our lives. So we wanted the exhibition to be three-dimensional, to show the scale and dynamism of the PLA today.
“The design is a big part of the exhibition, with lots of interaction, but we wanted to get lots of hard facts in as well. I hope visitors will be interested to learn more about where they live and work and that they see the area through new eyes on leaving.”
Laid out thematically, highlights include the opportunity to discover the stories behind 80 words, phrases and place names that have their origins in the Port Of London with a focus on the its relationship to the slave and sugar trades, including a document commemorating the unveiling of the statue of slave owner and merchant Robert Milligan, which was removed from outside the museum in 2020 in response to the Black Lives Matter protests.
The exhibition will also feature Trade Winds: London a new work by artist Susan Stockwell using archive material to explore trade, economics, migration and empire.
London: Port City runs until May 8, 2022.
Entry is completely free although tickets should be booked online. Donations to the museum are welcomed.
Exhibition at the London Sugar And Slavery Gallery examines the role played by food in black identity
Aleema Gray is community history curator at Museum Of London Docklands
Walk over the floating green bridge from Canary Wharf to West India Quay, turn left and, just behind a now vacant pedestal, you’ll find the Museum Of London Docklands.
Head up to its London, Sugar And Slavery gallery and, provided you visit before July 17 next year, you’ll find a bright orange corner dedicated to Feeding Black.
The display, which opened to the public this month, examines the role played by food in black entrepreneurship and identity in south-east London.
Focusing on four businesses – Livity Plant Based Cuisine in Croydon, Zeret Kitchen in Camberwell plus Junior’s Caribbean Stall and African Cash And Carry, both in Woolwich – it explores how they act as much more than suppliers of goods and services to their customers, as spaces to talk and express politics, culture and heritage.
Community history curator Aleema Gray said: “One of the things I’m really interested in is looking at alternative knowledge – what it means to represent in terms of curatorial displays, and that was the motivation behind this exhibition.
“It’s about alternative ways of knowing. For instance, we’ve recently had an upswell of looking at black British history. But, when you go into the community, there’s oral history, the things that are left outside academic textbooks. Curators are typically seen as people who conserve this kind of academic knowledge.
“What’s interesting about this project is looking at the ways alternative knowledge can be used to make certain interventions in the role of curator – it sounds wishy-washy, but it is essentially asking how we can include multiple different perspectives and narrative experiences in our displays? I put a call out, basically asking: ‘What are contemporary black experiences?’. Some people said, ‘my kitchen’ or ‘the barber shop’ and one person put forward an idea she had, which she referred to as the ‘black economy’.
“She’d been looking at black-owned food businesses as part of her research, focussed on African Cash And Carry – interviewing people that came in – and discovered these spaces were about more than just commercial gain. They were for politics, culture, sending money back home and buying food. There was even a little restaurant – a multi-dimensional space.
“I wanted to explore that a little bit further, so I took that and thought about what the next step was for this kind of research and put forward a proposal for Feeding Black – which takes the element of looking at not only community spaces, but also interrogating power, because a lot of the conversations when we did the initial oral histories were talking about what it means to be in London today, to survive and thrive, to start a business, the challenges, the setbacks, but also stories about being part of a diaspora.
Junior’s Caribbean Stall in Woolwich features in the exhibition
“Apart from one, all the people featured in the displays were born outside London – one in Ethiopia, one in Jamaica, one in the Congo, one in the Cameroons, so a lot of this is entangled with questions of migration and so on.
“That’s how the initial idea came about, but the area I work in, Curating London is very much a participatory project – we place a particular emphasis on being on the ground – visible outside the museum – and asking what a museum wall is.
“We had to re-jig things a bit because of the restrictions around the pandemic, but essentially the main exhibition deals with four black-owned food businesses, their oral histories and the objects that they put forward reflecting their place. It also looks at different themes of food including health, the different objects you find in kitchens as a place of work but also the nutritional value of ingredients and dishes and we’ve got a recipe wall as well.”
In her role, Aleema has a particular responsibility for the London Sugar And Slavery Gallery in which the exhibition sits.
She said: “Since the gallery opened it has been shelved a little bit, so my responsibility is to try to re-mobilise certain conversations, make some interventions to think about how we develop, and take that gallery a little bit further.
“Feeding Black sits in the wider gallery, because I wanted to do something in response to the ways in which Docklands has been developed as a direct result of the plantation economy.
“For me, food acted as a perfect segue to think about London, Sugar And Slavery, not only in terms of the content of the exhibition, but also the visual design.
“This exhibition is very much about the process as well as the content, as is the wider gallery.
“Feeding Black was about using that space as a vehicle for community engagement.
“It’s also not necessarily a chronological history – it draws on certain themes and it puts forward not necessarily answers, but asks questions about the legacy of this history and how we are all implicated in it. Feeding Black tries to speak to that.
“In the crates under the wall display, for example, you have certain questions, such as: ‘Where does our food come from?’
“It’s very subtle, but it helps people to think about the legacies of migration, enforced or otherwise.”
Aleema, who is currently finishing a PhD on the documentation of a community engaged in the Rastafarian movement in Britain, said it was weird to talk about herself as a curator.
She said: “I didn’t go to museums as a young person because I didn’t see myself or my history reflected in these spaces but something I’m really passionate about is curating history from below – the silent histories, the hidden archives – I’m a historian.
“There’s this idea of what history is in schools – the Romans and the Tudors, for example. I feel there’s a need to show that history is dynamic, it’s a verb, and that started my work to see how we can bridge this gap. This is what I’m doing as a curator and an academic – situating myself as the outsider within.
“The Museum Of London and museums in general are making a strong effort. There’s a lot more work to do but we’re definitely on the right path.”
The museum is free to visit and is currently open from 10am-5pm Wednesday to Sunday.
