Did you know that the most important date for the Island in Millennium year will be 12th July 2000? For that is the day that marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Island as we know it. On 12th July 1800 the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, laid the foundation stone of West India Dock - in effect the foundation of the Isle of Dogs! Who was behind it all? Who was the genius who saw the potential of the Island and would not rest until the all-powerful city merchants were so persuaded. His name was Robert Milligan. He was the father of the Isle of Dogs.
His statue now stands facing the entrance to West India Dock. The head is pictured right and below you may observe two gentlemen in snazzy overcoats with the statue behind them, a picture taken two years ago; they are on the left Max Hebditch, the then director of the Museum of London, and on the right Roger Squire, then join chief executive of the LDDC they are shaking hands on a deal which brought back the statue to the place it was taken from 122 years before.
Cast your mind back to 1793. Britain was at war with France. The Thames was packed with ships. The merchants - especially those from the West Indies - were losing millions of pounds through pilferage. They wanted an enclosed dock and they wanted big and well guarded warehouses.
But where to build them? Wapping or the Isle of Dogs was suggested. The Isle of Dogs was too far away, said the City of London. "We want Wapping" they declared. The rows went on for several years. And this is where Milligan came in, he consistently stood by the Isle of Dogs. Hibbert another West Indian merchant who was originally pro Wapping gave Milligan the credit for it.
Hibbert was made chairman of the West Indian Docks Company but Milligan was made deputy chairman and in 1800 work on the West India Docks began, by far the biggest enterprise of its kind in western Europe up to that date.
When Milligan died in 1809 at the age of 63 they put up a statue in West India Docks, it had to be moved 66 years later because it got in the way of the traffic. It is now back where it belongs.
When William Pitt the Younger laid that foundation stone on 12th July 1800 the assembled notables proceeded by barge to the London Tavern to consume a prodigious meal, punctuated by no fewer than nine toasts which culminated in one to the "prosperity" (of the Isle of Dogs) "and may every succes sive improvement produce the need for more". And so it did.
But need that be the end of the story? Should not the bicentennial of the Island be celebrated when it arrives? The Prime Minister in 1800 declared a public holiday on the day the foundation stone was laid. Could that happen again on the Island on Wednesday the 12th July 2000?