7. The Docks in the Twentieth Century
Women workers in the docks

Although the vast majority of workers in the docks were men a small number of women worked within the dock walls or in jobs closely connected with the operation of the docks.

They worked in the offices handling the enormous amount of paperwork which went with the movement of large amounts of goods.

They were also involved in cleaning and catering. During the First World War women came into the docks to undertake a variety of jobs in warehouses and on the quayside.

B: Florence Mugridge worked in the offices.
'I think they'd only been employing girls for about four years before I came, so it was quite a new idea... The hours were from nine till five thirty and one o'clock on Saturday...

When the wool sales were on, our busy times...then it would be the bills that were to be made out for all those different merchants for the wool they'd bought.'

Then I was lent to Trinity House head office... You had a woman supervisor there to see that you got on with your work... this room was full of these machines and they made a heck of a noise. I suppose there were about fifty machines there, 'cos that is where the main women were employed... I [was] glad I was only lent because it was much better in the dock.'

Women workers in other industries

A large number of women were employed in the industries that had grown up around the docks and along the river.

A lot of the jobs involved packing or processing the great variety of commodities which came into the docks. Food-processing firms were particularly large employers of female labour.

There were also many jobs in other manufacturing industries, such as paint and chemicals, as well as all types of assembly work and office work. Many women worked as machinists in the numerous clothing firms to be found in East London.

Their wages, although in the main low, were an important part of the family income. This was particularly the case if the male members of the family were dockers as the casual nature of their work meant that a regular income could not be guaranteed.

D: 'I always worked in Bermondsey or the East End, doing machine or packing work. When I got married I had to get a bus through the tunnel to Whitechapel to make children's clothes.

At the time my husband was doing casual work in the docks and if there wasn't any ships in you didn't get paid much.

My mother looked after my son Monday to Friday and we had him at weekends. Lots of women worked either full or part-time to help with the family budget.

Before the war when women got married lots of firms would put them off. But when the war came and soldiers went off, women were taken on in the factories and warehouses around the docks doing packing, assembly and machine work. They were kept on in this type of work after the war.'

Joyce Stevens, 1989.

A: Book-keeping machine room, Trinity House head office, c. 1930.


C: Packing tea c1930