How cockneys built America
We are always hearing how much of an influence the United States has on the way we live. From nylons and chewing gum, through to rock ‘n’ roll, rap and McDonald’s, the American way of life is here to stay. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find that much of what made America great not only started in the UK, but right here in the East End.
The story starts back on December 19, 1606 when 105 souls set sail from Blackwall Stairs, aboard the ships Discovery, Godspeed and Susan Constant. The voyage was led by Captain John Smith, who is remembered as the lover of Pocohontas.
On April 26, 1607, the three craft made land in what is now Virginia. Only 38 of the settlers survived the harsh first six months in their new home, among them hardy Cockney settler John Laydon. His daughter, Virginia, became the first child born of a Protestant wedding in the territory.
Mayflower leaves Wapping for Virginia
During the 18th Century, the trickle of settlers became a flood. The famed Mayflower set sail from Wapping Stairs with a complement of East Enders, including Stephen Hopkins, whose wedding on February 19, 1617 is listed in the parish register of St Mary’s in Whitechapel.
William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, left for the New World in 1667. He had been born on Tower Hill in 1644 and was just the first of many East Enders who went on to make their political mark on America – among them two presidents. If you ever visit Virginia, you will find a town called Shadwell, and the name is no coincidence. In 1735, Jane Rogers, christened in St Paul’s in Shadwell, set sail with her parents to the New World. There she met and married Peter Jefferson. On their land, named Shadwell in honour of Jane’s birthplace, they raised ten children, among them Thomas Jefferson, one the greatest ever US presidents who drafted the Declaration of Independence.
John Quincy Adams of London
Nowadays, you have to be born in the USA to rise to the rank of president. But John Quincy Adams, the country’s sixth president, was East End born and bred. And, in 1797, he was wed in All Hallows by the Tower, the same church where Pennsylvania founder Penn had been baptised more than a century before.
But if the men who sailed to settle in America quickly battled for independence from the motherland, they didn’t forget their roots.
The settlers didn’t get their independence until 1776, but 15 years before they decided they needed a rallying symbol. The Liberty Bell, with its inscription “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof” was commissioned from the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1751. The bell still hangs in the Philadelphia State House steeple today.
The East End influence continued, as the New World welcomed bold, adventurous settlers into the next century.
Jacob Adler leaves Brick Lane
Jacob Adler left Brick Lane for New York in 1885. He had started in the East End, with a 600-seat Yiddish theatre specially built for him – the building still stands in Princelet Street. But 17 people were crushed to death during a performance, and the heartbroken Adler fled Britain, and he went on to become one of the greatest stars of the American stage.
When he died in 1926, 500,000 people came to see him lying in state in New York. But through his successful career, Jacob never forgot the East End, returning frequently to play at the Standard Theatre in Shoreditch, and the Pavilion in Whitechapel Road.
As Adler said: “My tenderest, most youthful memories of my life are bound with London.”
In 1905, the Saperstein family left Flower and Dean Walk in Whitechapel for Chicago. In 1927, Abe Saperstein, who had left Brick Lane as a five-year-old, founded the Harlem Globetrotters, the most famous basketball team ever to strut the planet. So when Americans celebrate Independence Day with a ring on that Liberty Bell, remember where it all began…
For more information, see “East End, the American Connection”, produced by Bethnal Green City Challenge. Or contact the British American Arts Association, 116 Commercial Street, Whitechapel, on 0171 247 5385.