On 15th May 2005 it was one hundred years to the day since a party of dignitaries assembled in East Ferry Road for a short ceremony, followed perhaps by tea at St.Mildred’s House not far away. The occasion was the laying of foundation stones for The Welcome Institute, a clubroom and canteen for factory girls and women. Among those present were Lady Margaret Charteris, the Countess of Aberdeen, Alfred Yarrow (the ship-builder) and residents of St.Mildred’s House including Miss Jean Price, the woman whose imagination and hard work had brought this about.
In 1897 Miss Price was working at St.Mildred’s House, a women’s settlement in West Ferry Road, when she became aware of the factory workers eating their dinners out of doors with nowhere to shelter in bad weather. She opened a little coffee shop for them near St.Mildred’s. As this soon became overcrowded she began raising money from wealthy friends to build a proper centre. She persuaded local landowner Lady Margaret Charteris to donate land for a new building from her extensive holdings on the Island.
The Welcome stood in an isolated position in the middle of open ground, rough fields and wasteland Charteris Terrace and houses in East Ferry Road and Chapel House Street were still undreamed of. Millwall Park was grazing land and a football field, the Mudchute was a swamp. We would have recognised The Lord Nelson on the corner, the new (1904) Millwall Fire Station opposite and in the distance, The Ferry House on the river bank. Millwall Extension Railway ran on its arched viaduct as far as North Greenwich Station near Island Gardens, foreshadowing the Docklands Light Railway which now tunnels under the river towards Lewisham
The building was officially opened later in the year, perhaps on the day the picture above was taken. There was an L-shaped hall downstairs and accommodation upstairs for Miss Price, her assistants and a servant. As well as hot dinners for factory workers there were clubs for women and girls. Grace MacFarlane’s mother told her about Miss Price’s Bible Class.
       The Institute flourished but inevitably, changes came. The First World War prompted factory owners to install canteens for their workers, or at least to provide a sheltered place to eat. Miss Price drew near to the age of retirement. She decided to give up her work at the Welcome - but what should be done with the building?
In 1923 Reginald Kennedy-Cox (see next page) came to the rescue and took over the building for his Dockland Settlement No.2 (No.1 was in Canning Town). Harold William Kimberley (“Kim”, see P.6) was installed as warden and under his enthusiastic guidance the building was developed to include a gymnasium and showers, an upstairs chapel, a library and eventually, the George Hall on the first floor above the gym. Some of the railway arches were taken over to provide space, for a carpenter’s shop. The name “Welcome” remained in use for many years.
The building was alive with energy and noise as local people filled it to capacity with a range of activities. Then came the Second World War and the Settlement temporarily housed a unit of the Heavy Artillery, then the Home Guard, then the Army Cadets. In 1950 Kim moved to Canning Town. He was followed by a series of other wardens and the building endured various changes of fortune in the changing world of the 1960s and 1970s. By the 1980s it was in the doldrums, under-used and dilapidated. Closure threatened, but under the firm guidance of the Trustees and Managers, the building was rescued. The chapel, long disused, became the home of Quaystone Church in 1993. The gymnasium and George Hall were converted to create a school; the living quarters on the first floor were turned into offices to house community projects, including the Island History Trust. Clubs for all ages opened. There are music, singing and dance classes, exercise, cricket, cubs and scouts, clubs for older people, language classes; a football project and two churches are based here.
Increased usage has revealed problems in the ageing structure. In 2005, just 100 years after it was built, plans are in hand to demolish the building and rebuild on the site - carrying the caring, welcoming spirit of Jean Price and Reginald Kennedy Cox into the 21st century.

 

"In the beginning there was Kim. A truly dedicated man, charming, witty, compassionate, sometimes sarcastic and a grafter who would never ask anybody to do any job he wasn’t prepared to do himself; an accomplished actor – having done a stint at RADA – he was often troubled by his war wound, but always concerned for his members; terrible in his wrath if you broke the rules. He never asked to be addressed as “Sir” but you did it because he commanded respect.” This is how one club member remembered the longest-serving Warden of the Dockland Settlement.
Harold William Kimberley was born at Napton in Warwickshire on 1st January, 1893. (His birthday was always celebrated at the Settlement with a party on New Year’s Day.) His father, Harold Kimberley, described himself as “Butler, Domestic Service”; his mother’s name was Sarah Hughes Kimberley, formerly Hollins.
According to his Army record, Kim attended St.Edward’s School, Malvern, till 13 years old, then had private tutors. The only “St.Edward’s” that has been identified in Malvern at this time was – an orphanage. When he enlisted his next-of-kin was his mother, living at the Deanery, Exeter. Kim’s own address was in Hendon. He spent 6 months in France with the Army Medical Corps and he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on the 3rd September 1915 in the 2nd/18th County of London Battalion (London Irish Rifles). He was given leave for ill health, but returned to the front and on 9th October 1916 was badly wounded in the leg while leading a raid on a German trench at St.Vaast. He was fitted with an artificial leg and later returned to light duties but was discharged as unfit in October 1919. In 1921 he was awarded the Military M.B.E. for bravery under fire. The document was sent to him at the Junior Army and Navy Club in Whitehall.
In 1920 Kim enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), but their records indicate that he did not complete the course. At the Dockland, where he helped to put on many shows, he is remembered as being “up and down that stage like a two-year-old”!
How did Kim become involved in the Dockland Settlement? Ron Kettle, one of the early members, tells the story that Kennedy-Cox and Kim first discussed the value of boys’ clubs “in a tent somewhere in France during the 1914-18 Great War” and we can easily picture this scene. By 1923 Kim was working in the Canning Town Settlement and Ron gives Kim the credit for discovering that The Welcome Institute was for sale and for persuading Kennedy-Cox to buy it.
George Hames, long-term member, voluntary helper, and one of the first to be inspired by Kim, recalled that he: “had a large circle of friends in all strata of society”. From Kim’s correspondence it’s clear that he acted as a bridge between rich and poor. There are numerous letters from stately homes, the shires and Belgravia, sending donations to “your valuable work”; there are also letters from Islanders, thanking Kim for help in times of trouble. He was often asked to give a placement to young men anxious to experience “how the other half-lived”, or perhaps intending to train as youth workers. He had to exercise discretion – occasionally an applicant wanted to work with boys for the wrong reasons.
Kim took a week’s holiday each August, either with his mother or, more rarely, in Switzerland, where he had an Aunt Alice, a sister Peggy and a nephew. In 1928 he went to Italy. Letters from his mother show that he remained very close to her. She visited the Settlement and sometimes entertained club members to tea.
In 1950 Kim reluctantly gave up his post at No.2, to become Warden of all the Dockland Settlements, In 1953 he died in Poplar Hospital, still giving his address as No.2, which he regarded as his home. Kim’s estate, valued at over two thousand pounds, was put into administration and probate was granted to Etta Mary de Heriez-Smith widow, of Bemerton House, Salisbury, Wiltshire, attorney of Margaret Borsinger de Baden, Kim’s sister.

Dockland Settlement No.2, being a family club, had football teams to suit all ages, from Under-11s to Old Boys. These teams met and practised regularly and enjoyed many successes in local leagues, even producing professional players such as Winston Spencer Churchill Page (better known locally as “Stagger Page”) who went to Arsenal.
Brian Bennett lived on the Isle of Dogs in the 1960s and he recalled:
“My football career started at Dockland Settlement in my mid-teens and continued until my mid-20s. We played Swanley in the Kent Amateur Cup Final on 15th May 1971. I felt so proud of playing in the Cup Final against Swanley that I still have the large poster advertising the game.Our manager then, Charlie Wood, had previously played for Swanley and had been Team Manager for a short while. Roy Petitt was a former player for the Dockland Club prior to joining Swanley. We played Herne Bay in the Kent Amateur Cup Semi-Final in 1973, in their programme they described us as “...a strong side, riding high at the top of the Kent Amateur League (Western Section) in which our Reserves languish at the bottom.”

Dockland produced skilled players and some of us, myself, R.Haynes, Jimmy Mills, Alan Soper and D.Smith also played for Kent.
During my time at Dockland I made many great friends, friends for life, this is what the East End was all about at that time. It was not just football but wonderful social events where all the partners of the players became friends as well. They also came to watch us play and cheer us on.
After I left Dockland Settlement I played for local football clubs in Corringham, Essex (where I moved to) and sadly had to hang up my football boots some years ago due to ill health. So I started managing a local team, my own son being a player, and continue managing to this day.”
Photograph above:Swanley v. Dockland Settlement Old Boys 1970-71; Played at Bromley Football Club, Bromley, Kent Left to right: Brian Smith, Swanley player, Swanley Player, Vic Avis, Brian Bennett, Swanley player. Dockland Settlement