London Borough of Tower Hamlets: History
The earliest reference to the name "Tower Hamlets" was in 1554, when the Council of the Tower of London ordered a muster of "men of the hamlets which owe their service to the tower". This covered a wider area than the present-day borough, and its military relationship with the Tower is thought to have been several centuries earlier than the 1554 record.
In 1605, the Lieutenant of the Tower was given the right to muster the militia and the area east of the tower came to be a distinct military unit, officially called Tower Hamlets (or the Tower Division). The Hamlets of the Tower paid taxes for the militia in 1646.
The borough is closely associated with the Whitechapel murders a series of brutal serial killings by Jack the Ripper. These events drew intense crime research public attention, which ultimately contributed to the instruction of the Housing of the Working Classes Act 1890 and the Public Health Amendment Act 1890, that ultimately renewed efforts by the government to address and reform deteriorated urban conditions in the East End.
Hundreds of books and articles discuss the Whitechapel murders, and they feature in novels, short stories, comic books, television shows, and films of multiple genres.
On 24 September 1888, George Bernard Shaw commented sarcastically on the media's sudden concern with social justice in a letter to The Star newspaper.
The Trinity Buoy Wharf in Leamouth contains London's only surviving lighthouse. Built between 1864 and 1866 by Sir James Nicholas Douglass, the historic structure functioned as an experimental laboratory for maritime lighting. Today, the regenerated wharf serves as a thriving cultural hub for artists and creative organisations.
The population of Tower Hamlets grew enormously in the 19th century, leading to extreme overcrowding and a concentration of poor people and immigrants throughout the area. These problems were exacerbated by the construction of St Katharine Docks (1827) and the central London railway termini (1840–1875) with many displaced people moving into the area following the clearance of former slums and rookeries. Over the course of a century, the East End became synonymous with poverty, overcrowding, disease and criminality.
The area was once characterised by rural settlements clustered around the City walls or along the main roads, surrounded by farmland, with marshes and small communities by the river, serving the needs of shipping and the Royal Navy. Until the arrival of formal docks, shipping was required to land goods in the Pool of London, but industries related to construction, repair, and victualling of ships flourished in the area from Tudor times. The area attracted large numbers of rural people looking for employment. Successive waves of foreign immigration began with Huguenot refugees creating a new extramural suburb in Spitalfields in the 17th century. They were followed by Irish weavers, Ashkenazi Jews and, in the 20th century, Bangladeshis. …