From the earliest days until the mid-18th century the Thames was the preferred route for travelling east-west across London, and a barrier which had to be crossed by boat to travel north-south. By boat, because the roads were very poor and there was only one bridge. In 1510 Henry VIII set up a licencing system for watermen, or wherrymen, and in 1555 the watermen were incorporated to control tariffs and impose safety regulations. In 1700 the watermen joined forces with the lightermen (who carried cargo rather than passengers) to form the Company of Watermen and Lightermen. See also Doggett's Coat and Badge.
This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Thames watermen
Commemorated ati
wherrymen seat
{On the modern plaque above:} The Ferryman's seat located on previous buildin...
Other Subjects
London steam carriage
Londonist have a piece on this early manifestation of the car and steam locomotive, rolled into one.
Palmer Tyre Company
From Car History: In June 1892 John F. Palmer (American) obtained two US patents for a “thread-fabric” bicycle pneumatic tire. Shortly afterwards he moved to England; registering the Palmer Tire Co...
Princess Alice disaster
London's worst peacetime disaster. The Princess Alice was a passenger paddle steamer, making what was called a 'moonlight trip', from Swan Pier near London Bridge to the former Rosherville Pleasure...
Royal Mail
Before the 2012 Olympics started the Royal Mail committed to turn a red post box gold for each British Gold medal, Olympic and Paralympic. In the event this meant that over 100 boxes turned colour...
Marine Society
From the Marine Society: "Founded with the aim of providing men to fight in the King's ships as Britain faced war with most of Europe, The Marine Society was the world's first charity dedicated to ...
Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them