Poplar in the Past
From: "The Copartnership Herald", Vol. III, no. 32 (October 1933)
Doubts have, from time to time,
arisen concerning the derivation of the name (formerly
spelt Popler, and, earlier, Popeler) of the some-time
hamlet within the manor of Stepney which, in 1817, was
created a separate parish. The name, originally given to
a lonely stretch of territory away from the busy haunts
of men, which eventually became known in all the ports of
the world, was, by reason of the fame of its former
shipbuilding yards and importance of its Docks, conferred
on the large metropolitan borough in 1900, when it was
incorporated with the parishes of Bromley St. Leonard and
St. Mary Stratford Bow. It has been generally accepted
that the description, Poplar, was due to many trees of
the kind commonly so called, which once grew in the
locality. A learned resident writing in the early part of
the eighteenth century testified to this being the actual
case in his day, but this evidence in support is in
itself slender, and does not overcome the difficulty
implied by the absence of the plural number. Granting the
accepted derivation as being true, it would appear more
likely that a single specimen of the tree stood and
flourished on the rising ground north of the Isle of Dogs
(otherwise the Isle of Ducks), and that it was not only
visible from afar, but was long held in view by those who
passed along the great bend of the river between
Limehouse and the Lea mouth.
The area now occupied by
the Docks, Cubitt Town, and Millwall, was long ago
nothing more than marshland. It is not, however, to be
thought of as a dismal swamp, for from early times it had
been embanked, and had given sheep and cattle rich
pasturage. Its intersection by ditches and its liability
to inundation made it no fit place of habitation for man.
The foreshore yielded a plentiful supply of rushes to
strew upon stone floors, and for the weaving of mats,
besides osiers for basket work, for thatching and for
kiddels - a wicker cage-like contrivance for catching
fish. The responsibility for the maintenance of the dykes
for draining, and for the prevention of breaches in the
river walls, primarily belonged to the manor of Stepney,
which was held by the Bishop of London from Saxon times
until Tudor days. In the fourteenth century this
obligation of preserving the marshes was committed to the
care of the newly-founded monastery of St. Mary Graces by
the Tower of London. The consideration for carrying out
so onerous a task (in 1449 the tide broke through and
"a thousand acres were drowned ") can be
conjectured to have been, as in similar cases, the
possession of grazing rights on the marsh, and the
conveyance of some of the adjacent upland, to be held by
copyhold tenure with the power to sublet. It was in the
upland, that is away from the marshland and not implying
any great degree of elevation, that the nucleus of the
hamlet of Poplar came into existence, but when, no one
can say.
In 1499 a certain William Marowe, citizen of London,
in his will provided that "his wood in Middlesex and
Essex except such as (if removed) should disfigure his
place at Popler to be sold if necessary for the repair of
his corne house in Pety wales, his tenement in Philpot
Lane" [London]. This reference suggests a well-kept
and cared-for country house, and the possibility of corn
being cultivated in the vicinity, and implies as well a
population, however sparse, for it cannot reasonably be
thought that the worthy citizen was a hermit and dwelt in
solitude.
At the dissolution of the monasteries in 1586 the
property of St. Mary Graces was seized by Henry VIII and
the land was subsequently granted to various persons
subject to the performance of the obligations of
maintaining the river embankment and ditches or by a
money payment to commute the liability.
About this time there was much activity in draining
marshland in eastern England, and Dutchmen were induced
to come over and undertake the work in which they were
experienced. Whether the fact has any connection with
this matter or not, a Robert Dericke, a Dutchman, came to
England with a fellow countryman who was a
yeoman-armourer to the King, and founded the
distinguished Dethick family that lived in Poplar for
nearly two centuries. His son, Sir Gilbert Dethick, who
was born in 1519, and died in 1584, was Garter
King-of-Arms and employed in public affairs. He was
rewarded by Henry VIII with the grant of a mansion and an
acre of land at Poplar. His son Sir William Dethick, who
was born in 1543, after serving several important offices
in the College of Heralds, succeeded his father as Garter
King-of-Arms, and was knighted by James I. In his exalted
and dignified office he took part in several missions to
foreign princes and in the pageantry of imposing
ceremonials. But he was a man of violent temper and
cordially detested by everyone; in his youth he had drawn
upon himself the parental curse for striking his father
and stabbing his brother. In the next generation one of
his sons, Henry Dethick, was a prominent man in local
affairs. He was one of the representatives of Poplar on
the Stepney Vestry, and was churchwarden in 1639, the
year in which he died. He married, 1 January 1618,
Elizabeth, daughter of Captain Thomas Best, of White
Horse Street, who was a pioneer in establishing British
power in India.
The story of the Dethick family who, it may be said,
endeavoured to conceal their alien origin, is not to be
told here, but further reference to the house they lived
in has a certain interest, one quite sufficient on
account of its subsequent history to warrant a brief
digression. The mansion became the reputed Manor House of
Poplar, a title that had no legal significance, as no new
manor with its customary court could possibly be created.
On its site there stood as late as 1810 an old timbered
house which, being reported to be in a dilapidated and
dangerous condition, was demolished. The property, with
additional land adjoining, then belonged to Mrs. Wade,
the widow of Jeremiah Wade, a most hospitable lady and
one who was generous to the poor. She built and resided
in the present commodious house, which in her time was
surrounded by an extensive garden. A portion of this was
taken for making Wade Street and Shirbutt Street
(originally called Cross Street) and the straightening of
Hale Street. Another portion of the garden was purchased
in 1840 by the late Mr. George Green, and he erected
thereon a parsonage house for the minister of Trinity
Chapel in the East India Dock Road. Fifty years later, in
1892, this house was sold to the trustees of the Missions
to Seamen, who had it pulled down, and in its place
erected as their headquarters the red-brick building,
collegiate in appearance, that has now been acquired by
the Commercial Gas Company as the Copartnership
Institute.
The old Manor House was approached from Poplar High
Street. Until the construction of the East India Dock
Road a little more than a century ago, the only road into
Poplar was that of Limehouse Causeway across Penny Fields
- or round them by Back Lane, now King Street - into High
Street, which formed the line of communication with
Blackwall. The expression "to go to Poplar"
once really meant the going to this street, for there the
social life and business was to be found. Out of this
thoroughfare, just over a half mile in length, went North
Street, which, after going less than four hundred yards,
continued as a cart track and soon lost itself in the
fields. This way, when the weather permitted, the
inhabitants went to Stepney Church, for there was no
place of worship at Poplar until 1654. Otherwise they
would have to go through the Causeway into Limehouse, and
from thence by Church Lane, which had its name long
before St. Ann's Church was erected. The rural aspect of
North Street is called to mind when reference is made to
one of the substantial men of Poplar living in this
street who sat on the Stepney Vestry early in the
seventeenth century as being described as a"
yeoman."
There is a tradition that Sebastian Cabot, Sir Thomas
Spert, and Sir Walter Raleigh once lived here. In the
case of Raleigh a particular house has been associated
with him. While there can be little hesitation in
accepting the suggestion that they were personally
acquainted with Blackwall, there is no evidence
conclusive of their having lived there in the sense of
the term.
It was the coming of the East India Company to
Blackwall that first affected the life of the
neighbourhood. In 1597 Lord Wentworth, who then held the
Manor of Stepney, granted the lease for five hundred
years of a parcel of land whereon the Company, whose
charter was granted by Queen Elizabeth in 1600,
established their yard. Their activities in building and
fitting out ships began about 1612. In 1621 it was leased
to Sir Thomas Smith, Robert Johnson and others, and in
1652 the Company gave it up, and then it passed
successively to Henry Johnson and his son Sir Henry (who
was knighted at Blackwall in 1679), Messrs. Perry &
Sons, and finally to Messrs. Green and Wigram - names one
and all that bear witness to the great maritime
achievements that were the glory of their times.
In Poplar there was no sudden change such as comes
from an influx of artisans. The scope of the East India
Company's establishment was too limited for that to
occur, but families whose heads were concerned with
maritime affairs were attracted to reside in its
vicinity. In those days it must have been a pleasant walk
- a mile and a half - from Limehouse (where perhaps one
had landed from London by the waterman's boat) to
Blackwall Yard, where carpenter and smith, wise in their
work, gave forth with mallet beat and hammer stroke a
pleasing rhythm. The population was not large. In 1665,
when the Great Plague came and took its toll, it is
estimated to have been about 2,500. Its relative position
with regard to the parish of Stepney can be arrived at by
the proportion which the Vestry allocated its receipts
and expenses. The parish was divided into eighths.
Ratcliff being fixed at three eighths, Limehouse
two-eighths, Mile End Old Town (including Bethnal Green)
two-eighths, and Poplar one-eighth.
In 1627 the East India Company founded a hospital
"for the releife of such as have or shall be maimed
or decayed by the Companies service" and for that
purpose purchased "a very large and convenient
bricke house with some three acres of ground thereunto
belonging, lyeing in Blackwall" and, behind the
house, "a faire field with a dainty rowe of elmes
and a private garden wherein a chapple may be built of
ninety foote in length and thirty-two foote in
breadth." Although described as being "at
Blackwall," the property faced and was entered from
Poplar High Street. In 1633, in response to a petition of
the inhabitants for a chapel, the Company decided that it
was "more proper to fitt and endow the Hospitall
with a competency of lands to maintaine the poore before
they expend more mony in building."
In 1642 the Company granted to the inhabitants of
Blackwall and Poplar a piece of ground behind their
almshouses for the purpose of erecting a chapel, but it
was not until 1653-4 that it was built. It was a small
building and was replaced in 1776 by St. Matthias Church.
The
illustration [left] shows the old Hospital (or
Almshouses) as they were in 1799. They were in a bad
condition, and three years later they were removed. New
almshouses were built in the form of a quadrangle for
occupation by the sailors, and a group of houses for
commanders and mates. These almshouses were maintained
until 1866, when the occupants were pensioned off and the
buildings pulled down. Their site, with the ground
immediately behind them, which had been used as an
allotment for the use of those occupying the almshouses,
in all about five acres, was purchased at a cost of
£12,000 by the Poplar Board of Works, and in 1867 opened
to the use of the public as the Poplar Recreation Ground.
It has been said that Poplar has many faces. If the
one that has been presented may seem somewhat strange,
perhaps at another time we shall be able to present one
that is more familiar. Those readers who from the windows
of the Copartnership Institute view the Recreation Ground
where the children play and the aged take their ease,
will perhaps reflect that it lies between the old High
Street and the modern East India Dock Road, and that
these are the product of two periods, one representing
what is past and well-nigh forgotten, the other still
wanting and waiting for the greatness that was promised
in its early years.
The
illustration [left] shows the old Hospital (or
Almshouses) as they were in 1799. They were in a bad
condition, and three years later they were removed. New
almshouses were built in the form of a quadrangle for
occupation by the sailors, and a group of houses for
commanders and mates. These almshouses were maintained
until 1866, when the occupants were pensioned off and the
buildings pulled down. Their site, with the ground
immediately behind them, which had been used as an
allotment for the use of those occupying the almshouses,
in all about five acres, was purchased at a cost of
£12,000 by the Poplar Board of Works, and in 1867 opened
to the use of the public as the Poplar Recreation Ground.