The “Strangers” Home

Around the Royal Docks you may notice streets such as ‘Kamal Chunchie Way’ and ‘Lascars Avenue’ or walk past the remains of the Albert Dock Seamen’s Hospital. These are just some traces of the enduring legacy of a diverse community of sailors who came from across the British Empire to the Royal Docks area between 1855 and 1945. 

The docks provided security for resources violently extracted by the British Empire from its colonies. These included sugar, grain, tobacco, meat, fruit, and vegetables. 

It was not just cargo that came in on ships. Sailors, of which “over a thousand [were] to be found daily in the Docks”, would disembark and settle. These sailors were racialised by authorities and the wider public, defined and othered by the colour of their skin.

The traces of these communities inspired us to research this further and curate an exhibition investigating the lived experience of this community. The name ‘The “Strangers’” Home’, was inspired by one of the local lodging houses that catered for these sailors.

Sources at archives and museums often come from government and colonial authorities. Whilst they are a useful record of people and their presence, they do not provide the sailors’ experience in their own words. 

We only have glimpses into the journeys these sailors took, the places they visited and stayed, the racism and violence they faced, and their working conditions. From this, we can gain some insight into their agency and the community they built, but we cannot speculate on their everyday experience or speak on their behalf. 

We hope you will be able to take away some understanding of the lives of sailors. Going forward, we invite you to question existing research and the ethics of uncovering “lost” stories.

Read between the lines of these recorded histories.