Dunbar Wharf, Limehouse 

The barge is moored in Limekilm Dock with a cargo of grain that is being unloaded into Dunbar Wharf.  The proprietor of these warehouses at the turn of the twentieth century was F V Smythe and Co: cartage contractor, provision merchants and supplier of ship stores.  

Dunbar Wharf is named after Duncan Dunbar who was the proprietor of these warehouses and lived there in the early years of the nineteenth century. In the later half of the eighteenth century, he moved to Limehouse from Scotland so as to make his fortune.  He purchased a brewery in Fore Street, Limehouse and became closely connected with the brewing firm of Taylor, Walker also in Limehouse.  It was to make him rich.  Taylor, Walker’s had managed to brew a beer that could be shipped abroard without going stale.  This became known as IPA, Indian Pale Ale.  Duncan Dunbar realised that he could make more money shipping Taylor, Walker’s beer to the thirsty troops guarding the Empire then in the brewing industry.  He set himself up as a shipping agent, moved into this wharf and started to ship Taylor, Walker’s beer to the Empire.  

His son, Duncan Dunbar II was born at Dunbar Wharf in 1804.  After being educated in Scotland, he returned to Limehouse in 1819, becoming a partner in the business four years later.  On the death of Duncan Dunbar in 1825, he became the owner.  He realised that there was more money to be had owning the ships that transported the beer, provisions and people to the Empire.  He built up one of the greatest and most famous sailing fleets in the Victorian era.  His tall sailing ships could be seen anchored off Limehouse while being rigged and provisioned.  When he died in 1862 he had amassed a fortune of one and a half million pounds.  Throughout his life, he had owned around seventy sailing ships, building most of these in his own shipyard in Burma.  His was a one man business and on his death it was sold and broken up. 

With the building of the Limehouse Link in the late 1980s, Dunbar Wharf ceased to function as a wharf and was converted to flats.  Now the windows have curtains and the loop holes, folding doors.