Saturday, March 24, 2012

Richard Green

Each day thousands of drivers on their way to and from their work in the city pass along East India Dock Road, and I wonder if they ever noticed the old building that has been left to slowly decay for nearly twenty years. 

This of course is Poplar Baths which was built in 1852 and rebuilt in 1933. In its time, as well as being the destination of countless crocodiles of local schoolchildren who were taken there in an effort to learn them to swim, it has been the venues for dances, and sports, especially wrestling, and it was here that I heard the term 'gorgeous George' for the first time, not Galloway but, for some, a very popular wrestler. Now over early a quarter of a century it is to be revamped.

As well as being a sports centre, as it once was, there will be a degree of housing in the huge old building which will bring back a sense of life to that part of Poplar. However it's not the baths that are the subject of this post but the statue that stands, or should I say sits, outside its entrance which is of Richard Green a philanthropist and ship builder.

It was Richard's father George Green that founded the shipbuilding company, and Richard born in 1803 was only surviving child of his fathers first marriage, four elder children had died in infancy. His father however was to later marry again and have six more children, the two oldest sons, Henry and Frederick continued the business with Richard. In 1829 Richard became a partner in the firm with his half brother which was renamed 'Green, Wigram & Green'.

Perhaps the business was best known for building the east Indiamen called 'Blackwall frigates', built at Green's Blackwall yard on the Thames, and ships for the Australian trade, which were in demand for not only transporting 'convicts' and cargo, but also prospectors after the discovery of gold in Port Phillip (later Victoria) in 1852 became common knowledge. The frigates were thought to be a safe mode of transport, and perhaps that is right for the sea is perilous at the best of times, and of the 120 frigates built only the loss of five occurred, sadly however that resulted in the loss of over 1200 lives. At the time of his death in 1863 the firm was involved in building ships for the China trade and experimenting with steam travel.

In his fathers time theirs was the largest private shipbuilding company in the world, and both father and son were philanthropists using their wealth for the benefit of the local people, working on the Thames they would have been aware of just how dangerous it was for anyone working in that environment so they made the money available for Poplar hospital to be built. It was to become known as the 'Dockers Hospital'.

The hospital suffered in both world wars, first by a Zeppelin raid it was partly destroyed but rebuilt in the years following the end of the war. In world war two most of the original building was destroyed but once again rebuilt. The final blow for the hospital came when the local docks were closed and it was deemed no longer viable to keep it open as a hospital. Although the local people organised a protest and suggested the building be kept for use of the local comminity the old hospital was demolished in 1982. Now housing stands in it's place and all that stands as a reminder to the past is it's chimney.

Richard was also noted for promoting children's education, improvement in merchant marine conditions and fostering the naval reserve. He established and endowed the Sailors' Home at Poplar and was benefactor to schools and other institutions in East and South London including the Merchant Seaman's Orphan Asylum, the Dreadnought Seaman's Hospital at Greenwich.

When Richard died he was buried in the local Trinity Independent (Congregational) Chapel alongside his father who is also buried there, and supplied the money for the church to be built in East India Dock Road, unfortunately the church was also right in the centre of Hitler's target area, it looked as though it might be lucky and survive the fate of so many other building in the eastend, but it wasn't to be for in 1944 it too was destroyed by enemy action.

In 1951 another church was built in its place as part of the Festival of Britain although it may serve the same purpose its plain facade doesn't compare with the elegance of its predecessor. The only thing remaining of the original church is its bell which was dug out of the rubble when it was destroyed, after being recast it was set into the new church. 

The fact that the bell was saved is a little nod back to history, for when it was first suggested that the original church should have a bell George green found himself in dispute with the local Anglicans, who stated that a bell had never been part of any local independent chapel before and appealed to the local Parish authorities to make a judgement, the result of this that George Green could have his bell but it couldn't be rung. This stayed in place for some time but gradually the Anglicans relented and the last time the bell was rung was on the day World War Two was declared.

As I mentioned earlier the statue of Richard Green stands outside Poplar baths almost directly across the road from the school named after his father George Green, and the statue seems to be gazing at the large brick building. In the 1970/80's  the school faced demolition in the to make way for the widening of East India Dock Road, fortunately it was saved by being declared a listed building.

A new school was built on the Isle of Dogs still bearing the name of its predecesor.Getting back to the statue should you ever be passing by take a look at his dog and you will notice that it only has one ear, it wasn't like this originally but in 1967 a group of young boys who had been swimming in the baths when one thought it would be a good idea to throw his friends swimming trunks up into the statue, the boy couldn't go home without his trunks so climbed up to retrieve them, that seemed like an easy thing to do but the boy got stuck between the figure of 

Richard Green and his faithful Newfoundland dog. Struggle as he might he couldn't wriggle himself free and eventually the Fire Brigade was called, they decided after consideration that the only way to free him was to remove the dogs ear, and that how it remains today. Whether the statue remains in place after the renovations are finished only time will telL.

East London Advertiser Dec 2012  

Rebuilding east London’s run-down historic Poplar Baths gets under way in the New Year after developers got the planning go-ahead to start work on a £36 million leisure and housing complex.
The project announced a year ago aims to transform the massive art deco building dominating the East India Dock Road, said by ghost hunters to be haunted, which has been left empty and derelict for 26 years.
Now it is being rebuilt with a new leisure centre, state of the art swimming pool and 60 new low-cost homes, after Tower Hamlets council selected Guildmore developers to restore the Grade II-listed site.
Most of the workforce is going to be recruited in the East End itself, the developers have pledged.
The original Victorian structure was commissioned under the 1846 Baths & Washhouses Act to provide bathing facilities for slum-dwellers of the old East End.
It was rebuilt in 1933 in art deco style with a removable floor over the pool to use as a 1,400-seat theatre, dance hall, exhibition gallery or sports hall.
But its popularity declined in the 1970s and it finally closed to the public in 1988.
A campaign was started in 2006 to get Poplar Baths reopened. Tower Hamlets council finally agreed in 2010 to put cash in the kitty to bring the baths back to life.
Mayor Lutfur Rahman told the council’s cabinet last January: “We’re keeping that Victorian spirit of philanthropy alive.”
Keeping with “that spirit” were ghost busters who turned up earlier this year to track down spooks said to be haunting the old bath house.
Members of White Light Paranormal Investigations claim the pool is awash with lost souls unable float on to next world and asked permission to test for ghosts.
But in the end, White Light didn’t get the green light.

2 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

What has happened to the statue of Richard Green? Very interested to know as I’m a close relative
Many thanks Mark Green

3:51 AM  
Blogger Lulu Mckenzie said...

It’s still there .

2:49 AM  

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