Editing Silvertown (section)

==History==
In 1852 S.W. Silver & Company moved to the area from Greenwich and established a rubber works, originally to make waterproof clothing. This subsequently developed into the works of the [[India Rubber, Gutta Percha and Telegraph Works Company]], which constructed and laid many [[Submarine communication cable|submarine cable]]s. By the 1860s a number of manure and chemical works and petroleum storage depots had been set up.<ref name="silver1867">{{cite map |publisher=Alan Godfrey|title=Notes to London Sheet 80, Silvertown 1867|scale=1:2500 reduced to 1:4340|series=Old Ordnance Survey Maps, The Godfrey Edition|isbn=1-84151-861-1}}</ref> In 1864, the area became an ecclesiastical parish of its own, centred on the church of [[St Mark's Church, Victoria Docks|St Mark's]].

Sugar refiners in the area were joined by [[Henry Tate]] in 1877 and [[Abram Lyle]] in 1881, whose companies merged in 1921 to form [[Tate & Lyle]].<ref name="silver1893">{{cite map |publisher=Alan Godfrey|title=Notes to London Sheet 80, Silvertown 1893|scale=1:2500 reduced to 1:4340|series=Old Ordnance Survey Maps, The Godfrey Edition|isbn=978-0-85054-073-4}}</ref> Prior to the merger, which occurred after they had died, the two men were bitter business rivals, although they had never met.<ref name="Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi">{{cite book|first1=Duncan |last1=Barrett |first2=Nuala |last2=Calvi |publisher=Collins|title=The Sugar Girls|isbn=978-0-00-744847-0|year=2012|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/sugargirlstaleso0000barr}}</ref> Tate & Lyle still has two large refineries in the area.

In 1889 Silver's factory was the scene of a twelve-week-long strike by the majority of its 3,000 workers. The strikers were demanding higher pay and were inspired by the recent successes of [[New Unionism]] in the East End of London. Management refused to negotiate with the strikers who had immense popular support. Leading figures in the strike included [[Tom Mann]] and [[Eleanor Marx]]. The workers were eventually starved back to work, with many being victimised for their role. In the aftermath of the strike, Silver's declared a half-yearly dividend of 5 per cent. The rest of the industry congratulated Silver's management for holding a line against New Unionism.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tully|first1=John|title=Silvertown: The Lost Story of a Strike that Shook London and Helped Launch the Modern Labor Movement|date=2014|publisher=Monthly Review Press|location=New York|isbn=9781907103995}}</ref>

On 19 January 1917, parts of Silvertown were devastated by a massive [[Trinitrotoluene|TNT]] explosion at the [[Tata Chemicals Europe|Brunner-Mond]] munitions factory, in what is known as the [[Silvertown explosion]]. Seventy three people died and hundreds were injured in one of the largest explosions ever experienced in the British Isles.<ref name="nytimes">{{cite news  |title= London's explosion was at Silvertown |url= https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9807E1DA173AE433A2575AC2A9679C946696D6CF |work= New York Times |date= 29 January 1919 |access-date=2009-06-12 }}</ref>

In the early 20th century the area suffered greatly from road congestion due to being located between the [[River Thames|Thames]] and the [[Royal Docks]], then the largest and one of the busiest dock groups in the world. The area was cut off for much of the time by lifting bridges over dock entrances and [[level crossing]]s which were closed for up to three-quarters of each hour by train movements. This led in the early 1930s to the construction of the elevated ''Silvertown Way'', one of the earliest urban flyovers.<ref name=winchester>{{cite book |editor-last=Winchester |editor-first=C. |title=London's Dockland Highway |series=Wonders of World Engineering |pages=749–756 |publisher=The Amalgamated Press |year=1937}}</ref>

On the first night of [[The Blitz]], Tate and Lyle's sugar refinery, John Knight's Primrose Soapworks, and the Silvertown Rubber Works were all badly damaged by bombing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/conMediaFile.399/Smoke-from-the-bombed-factories-in-Silvertown.html |title=Smoke from the bombed factories in Silvertown'' (image) |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202080532/http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConMediaFile.399/Smoke-from-the-bombed-factories-in-Silvertown.html |archivedate=2 December 2008 |website=Port Cities |access-date=23 November 2008}}</ref>

Silver's was eventually taken over by the British Tyre and Rubber Co, later known as [[BTR plc|BTR Industries]]. The site closed in the 1960s and is now the Thameside Industrial Estate.<ref>{{cite web|title=West Ham: Industries|work=A History of the County of Essex|volume=6|year=1973|pages=76–89|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42755|access-date=14 April 2011}}</ref> Another major local employer was the Loders and Nucoline plant at Cairn Mills, a traditional port [[margarine|oleo]] industry and formerly part of [[Unilever]]. This originally milled seeds but later concentrated on production of fats from [[palm kernel oil]].{{citation needed|date=November 2017}}

The area was part of the ancient parishs of [[West Ham]] and [[East Ham]], [[Essex]], from the 12th century onwards.  The Local Government Act 1894 created East Ham Urban District. West Ham became a [[County Borough of West Ham|county borough]] in 1900, before merging with East Ham to create the new [[London Borough of Newham]] in 1965.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=West Ham: Introduction |title=A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6 |editor-first=W. R. |editor-last=Powell |location=London |date=1973 |pages=43–50 |via=British History Online |chapter-url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol6/pp43-50 |access-date=15 July 2021}}</ref>