Elizabeth Anne Tyack Ellis

Antwerp had reached the lowest point of its fortunes in 1800, and its population had sunk under 40,000, when Napoleon, realizing its strategic importance, assigned two million[clarification needed] to enlarge the harbor by constructing two docks and a mole and deepening the Scheldt to allow for larger ships to approach Antwerp.[12] Napoleon hoped that by making Antwerp's harbor the finest in Europe he would be able to counter London's harbor and stint British growth, but he was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo before he could see the plan through

was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later. From 1811 until his accession, he served as Prince Regent during his father's relapse into mental illness.

The first successful tunnel under the Thames. Nicknamed, The Great Bore, Brunel began this tunnel between Rotherhite and Wapping in 1824 taking 18 years to complete. The tunnel was constructed in much the same way used today in the construction of the Chunnel under the English Channel linking Folkestone and Calais. The tunnel was constructed by forcing an iron cylinder through the ground with men behind bricking up the tunnel as they went.

The buildings were demolished in 1825 to make way for the building of a new dock. This addition to London’s dock-land was the smallest of them all and many who denounced the demolition of the ancient foundation firmly believed that the dock, built close to the heart of the city was unnecessary. Some of the houses occupied only 100 superficial feet and at the time when the area was cleared the Liberty was far from salubrious. Whilst the promoters of the scheme for the new dock were to be condemned for the demolition of a historical edifice, they could , wrote Sir James Broodbank in his History of the Port of London ,"with some justification, claim their activities involved the disappearance of some of the most insanitary and unsalutary dwellings in London". St. Katharine’s was a memorial of more than local interest due to it being the personal property of the Queen Mother. However, although it escaped the fate of other monastic establishments at the hands of Henry VIII, it remain suspect by some stern Protestants because of its establishment of lay brothers and sisters. In 1780 when the Gordon Riots exposed London to the violence of a few fanatics leading bands of rioters, St. Katharine’s was only saved from the flames by the efforts of loyal citizens who defended the Queen’s property from the mob. The sentimental interest of the public, in this ancient foundation was of course employed for all it was worth by the opponents of the new dock scheme. A large number of tracts were published for the purpose of propaganda. One such publication issued by "A Clergyman", has been described by a twentieth century commentator as making resort to "the most intense form of clerical eloquence". In the end, commercial interests prevailed over clerical eloquence. The last service in the church of St. Katharine’s took place on 30th October 1825. The construction of the dock took less than eighteen months and the first ship to enter the dock did so on 25th.October 1828. Some 11,000 people were evicted from their homes, mostly without compensation and without alternative provision for their housing; they were simply turned into the streets to find shelter where they could. The trustees for the St. Katharine’s Foundation came to terms with the promoters of the new dock. A new church was built besides Regents Park, together with a large house for the Warden, six houses for the brethren and sisters and a small school. Walter Besant later described what had happened as, " a needless, wanton, act of barbarity". East London he said had lost "the one single foundation it possessed of antiquity. With St. Katharine’s went an endowment income of between £10,000 and £14,000 a year. The Foundation had to a large extent become a Royal Grace and Favour establishment, separated from its roots adjacent to the City and transplanted to the quiet respectability of Regents Park, St. Katharine’s had indeed become a Royal Peculiar. The St. Katharine Dock Act, provided that, as the remaining inhabitants of the Liberty would no longer benefit from the religious ministrations of the brethren of the Hospital, they would be entitled to the same privileges from the incumbent of St. Botolph without Aldgate, in consideration for which, the dock company was to pay £50 a year to the incumbent. The rights of the King and Queen were preserved as were those of the Master and brethren. The heirs of persons whose monuments were in the church or hospital were permitted to remove them to consecrated places. The graves in the churchyard were to be disturbed as little as possible and friends of the dead were allowed the option of re-internment at a cost not exceeding £10 and bodies not so dealt with were to be removed to some consecrated place. http://www.royall.co.uk/royall/stkath1.htm