Edward and Minnie Monk lived in Victoria Dock Road for many years. Victoria Dock Road is in Custom House E16 London and today is part of Newham.
Between 1912 and 1916 Edward and Minnie moved from Rendel Road, just a few hundred yards, to Victoria Dock Road. At first they lived at number 229, but after the incident with the Zeppelin in 1916 which killed Frederick Monk, they moved further east down Victoria Dock Road to number 255. They were to stay at 255 for at least 24 years, only moving out because of the bombing in the second world war.
Victoria Dock Road was a long road running east-west, to the north of the Royal Victoria Dock. The road had houses and shops on the north side and the railway line and dock on the south side. Number 255 was fairly central in Victoria Dock Road, between off roads; Hill Street (to the east) and Wightman Street (to the west) and was slightly west of the Custom House Railway Station, which was on the south side of the road.
Number 255 was a three storey dwelling, with the ground floor as a shop like many in the road.
The picture above was taken from Cundy Road (right) looking west down Victoria Dock Road in the 1930s. Number 255 would have been further west just the other side of the tram, It shows the road at the time when most of the family would have been living here and nearby. The railway line and Custom House Station is on the left.
Photo by H C Casserley
Custom House Railway Station in 1934. The railway runs parallel to Victoria Dock Road.
Freemasons Road run south to north out of Victoria Dock Road. The image above from 1912 shows police and Dock workers as part of a dock strike.
The photograph above shows the docks and Victoria Dock Road taken from the air, looking east. The photo claims to have been taken in the 1930s.
You can see Victoria Dock Road leading off on the left (bottom to top) and the proximity of the huge dock area with the impact this had on the lives of people living and working here.
In the aerial photograph below I have marked the approximate position of 255 Victoria Dock Road.
The image above of a Civil Defence Map, shows the Victoria Dock Road area with WW2 bomb damage marked. Much of the area was badly damaged by bombs and this included a hit very close to 255 Victoria Dock Road (marked).
The photo above is taken from a German bomber in 1940. You can see the Royal Docks to the left and the West Ham Stadium in the centre of the picture. 255 Victoria Dock Road is shown by the red arrow.
An aerial photograph showing the burning dock area. The Victoria Dock is quite visible.
The view towards the Eastend docks from Tower Bridge showing the area burning after bombing during WW2.
During 1939-45 a total of 3,221 bombs fell on West Ham and this included high explosive bombs, incendiary bombs, flying bombs and long range rockets.
Between September 1940 and May 1941 during the Blitz 1,400,000 Londoners were bombed out of their homes.
You can find out more about Newham on the Welcome to Newham website.