Wapping

Wapping, a hamlet of St. Mary, Whitechapel, on the Middlesex side of the River Thames, a little below The Tower, "and chiefly inhabited by seafaring men and tradesmen dealing in commodities for the supply of shipping and shipmen."¹ It was originally a great wash, watered by the Thames, and was first recovered in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Stow calls it "Wapping in the Wose"² (really Wapping in the Ooze), signifying as much, says Strype, "as in the wash or in the drain."³ The usual place of execution for pirates was at "Wapping in the Wose."⁴ [See Execution Dock.] But other offenders sometimes suffered here.

March 10, 1618. Sir George Sandys hanged at Wapping for taking purses on the highway, having been formerly pardoned for like offences: his lady and son in prison as accomplices.—Sir G. Herbert to Sir Dudley Carleton (Cat. State Pap., 1611–1618, p. 527.

Lord Chancellor Jeffreys attempting, after the abdication of King James, to make his escape in the disguise of a common seaman—having on a "furre cap, a seaman's neckcloth, and a dirty coat"—was captured in an obscure alehouse, called the Red Cow, in Anchor-and-Hope Alley, near King Edward's Stairs in Wapping. He was found by a scrivener he had formerly insulted, lolling out of window in all the confidence of misplaced security. Among the papers preserved in the Record Office connected with the great Overbury poisoning case, is one in which the "Old Man of Wapping" is denounced as an "eminent Witch." Strype relates at length the curious history of "a large house of timber" which was built by the river side "in this hamlet of Wappin, anno 1626 ... for the making of allom, and which grew to such an inconvenience and annoyance ... that upon complaint of the inhabitants to the King and Council, it was proceeded withal as appeareth." He gives this "complaint," which set forth as a special case, that "a lighter of allom grease lying in the Hermitage Dock, which was taken out of a ship lying there overthwart the mouth of the Dock; and upon the emptying of the water out of the lighter, which issued from the grease, there did arise a most noysome stinking ... and it did so stink that we were not able to endure the scent of it, insomuch that it endangered all the ponds and wells thereabouts." Another petition from the inhabitants of the hamlet of Wapping and the neighbouring parishes declares, with a fine redundancy of expletives, that "being continually choaked and poysoned up with the daily and continual stink and most noisome and infectious smell that is lately begun among us by a workhouse for making of allome," we "are not able to live in our houses, nor keep our families at work about us, the detestable stink thereof is so infectious and intolerable." If allowed to be continued they affirm "it is generally thought it will be a decay and dangerous infection to all inhabitants both on this side and the other side the water within two miles' compass of the place it standeth." And they conclude by asking that "reformation be given," otherwise "we shall be compelled to leave our houses and dwellings to our utter undoings, for the noysome smell is so dangerous, that no man will dwell thereabouts, if he might have his house rent free! "Then there is another petition of his "Majesty's liege subjects, being in number many thousands," which points out the injury done to the " many great brewhouses, which breweth beer for the use and service of your Majesty's navy," to "all passengers that way, or by the River of Thames," many of whom have already been "cast into extremity of great sicknesses and diseases"; that "of late many fishes in the Thames have been found ready to die and dead, supposed to be poysoned by some ill substance issuing into the River of Thames;" that "all the pasture ground lying near thereabouts is tainted and spoiled in such manner that the cattel do refuse to feed on the same;" and they ask for "speedy redress in that behalf, the same annoyance being so great and unsavoury that otherwise your poor subjects, being many thousands in number, shall be compelled to forsake their houses, and abandon their dwellings, to the loss of their trades and lives, and the utter undoing of them and their families."

These petitions were considered in Council at Whitehall, July 25, 1627, and an order made that the works should be continued until Lady Day next ensuing, and no longer, and in the meantime no new works should be erected. The inhabitants demurred to the delay, and on their further petition an Order in Council was issued, September 12, that "the said Allome works should be presently suppressed from working," and the farmers thereof are commanded to "see the same duly executed; and of the performance thereof to give account to their Lordships within ten or twelve days after the date hereof." Still the works went on, and the Council at their meeting, December 12, 1627, for reasons stated, authorise the continuance of the works to Lady Day, 1628, when they are to be removed;" and this, we may suppose, was done, as nothing more is said on the subject.¹

Friday, July 24, 1629.—King Charles having hunted a Stag or Hart from Wansted in Essex, killed him in Nightingale Lane in the hamlet of Wappin, in a garden belonging to one—, who had some damage among his herbs, by reason the multitude of people there assembled suddenly.—Strype, B. iv. p. 39.

The first (Pope's) Duke of Chandos married the widow of Sir Thomas Duval, regarding whom Mrs. Pendarves [Mrs. Delaney] writes to Swift, April 22, 1736, "The marriage has made a great noise, and the poor Duchess is often reproached with being bred up in Burr Street, Wapping." Oddly enough, Swift, in writing to Mrs. Pendarves in January 1736, says, "A woman of quality, who had excellent good sense, was formerly my correspondent, but she scrawled and spelt like a Wapping wench."

He [Johnson] talked to-day [April 12, 1783] a good deal of the wonderful extent and variety of London, and observed that men of curious inquiry might see in it such modes of life as very few could ever imagine. He in particular recommended us to explore Wapping, which we resolved to do. [We accordingly carried our scheme into execution in October 1792, but whether from that uniformity which has in a great degree spread through every part of the metropolis, or from our want of sufficient exertion, we were disappointed.]—Croker's Boswell, p. 724, and Boswell's note.

Any one seeking to "explore Wapping" now, would find less to repay his trouble than Boswell might have discovered in 1792. There must then have been much that was curious and characteristic in the low-lying semi-maritime suburb, with its narrow ways, quaint shops, and river-side manners. But all this has been swept away by the recent rapid march of improvement. A few years ago the notoriety of the "Claimant" and his asserted riparian origin led many to visit Wapping, if not to explore its byways. But even the Orton house has now disappeared. It was pulled down in 1876, and it may save the future annotator of our criminal annals some trouble to record its exact site.

It stood near the Wapping entrance of the London Docks, and adjoined that in which it is said Lord Nelson got his outfit when he first went to sea. Both are now demolished to make way for warehouses, which promise to displace most of the old residences by the river-side in these parts. Indeed, the High Street of Wapping is gradually being skirted by enormous piles of these buildings, and before long few beyond the model lodging-houses of Sir Sidney Waterlow and the residences of the dock officers will be left for domestic use.—Rev. H. Jones, East and West London, p. 50.

In Wapping High Street was the entrance to the Thames Tunnel [which see].

Much of Wapping is considerably below high-water level, and as very inadequate provision has been made to prevent overflows, the streets are flooded and the basements of the houses filled with water whenever the spring tides rise above the ordinary level. It can hardly be regretted, therefore, that dwellings are giving place to warehouses. When these are general their owners and occupants will take care that a sufficient embankment is provided. Joseph Ames, the antiquary, and author of Typographical Antiquities, or the History of Printing in England, "lived in a strange alley or lane in Wapping."¹ His very useful work, first printed in 1749, has been edited and enlarged by William Herbert, and again in the present century by T.F. Dibdin. The church is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The Rev. Francis Willis, the "mad doctor," whose treatment of George III. was considered to be so beneficial that he was rewarded with a pension of £1500 a year for twenty-nine years, was rector of Wapping. So later was Dr. Le Bas.

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¹ Strype, B. iv. p. 39.
² Stow, p. 157. In the second edition it is misprinted "in the West."
³ Strype, B. iv. p. 37.
⁴ Stow, by Howes, ed. 1631, p. 697.

¹ Strype, vol. ii. pp. 39–43.

¹ Brydges' Restituta, vol. iv. p. 235.