| AdminHistory | The 1799 West India Dock Act officially authorised the construction of a complex of large enclosed and protected import/export docks on the Isle Docks. The then prime minister William Pitt attended the laying of the foundation stone in 1800, and the docks opened in 1802.
In time, the docks would transform East London: their impact on the physical infrastructure of the area was particularly profound. From the very beginning local commercial interests were fully aware that improved road communications leading to and from the new docks - and the older East India Docks - would be needed to deal with the expected volume of goods flowing into and out of the country. Among the men who signed the agreement of 29 October 1801, George Hibbert (chairman of the West India Dock Company) and Robert Milligan (deputy chairman of the Company) were each willing to subscribe £500 in order to ensure that the main thoroughfare to the docks - what would shortly become the Commercial Road - would be effectively maintained. This particular agreement was a preliminary to the process of obtaining a Local Act of Parliament to establish a proper body to administer the upkeep of the road. This was duly achieved by the committee set up by the October agreement to pursue the matter with the passing on 22 June 1802 of the Act of Parliament which consolidated earlier legislation and created the Commercial Road Trust. As with all Turnpike Trusts, the trustees were allowed to raise money and levy tolls.
In addition to Hibbert and Milligan, the original Trustees were: Charles Hampden Turner, John Shuttleworth, John Craven, William Sims, Thomas Bird, Christopher Richardson, Charles Rich, Samuel Jackson, Henry Wright, Daniel Stephens and Benjamin Severn. The 1802 Act was supplemented by subsequent pieces of legislation in 1804, 1824 and 1828. At some point the Commercial Road Trust appears to have become the Commercial Road Company. |