Limehouse was the site of a short-lived porcelain factory
founded by George Wilson in 1746. It was one of many attempts to
make a British version of the beautiful, white ceramic that was
flooding into London from the Far East. Limehouse porcelain
looked Chinese but was made in East London. You can see examples
of this porcelain at the Museum of London. One hundred years
later, a small community of Chinese sailors settled at Limehouse
Causeway. This was one of two small, East End Chinese
communities. The other was in Pennyfields in Poplar, where
Chinese sailors from Shanghai had settled. Virtually all were
single men, some of whom married British women. By 1914, there
were around 30 businesses and 300 people living in these small
East End communities. Limehouse and Pennyfields became known as
Chinatown, and many of its inhabitants made a living by running
laundries. During the Second World War, the Docklands area,
including Chinatown, was badly damaged and many Chinese people
moved out. In the 1950s, the marke