WEST HAM, an eastern suburb of London, in the county of Essex, which gives its name to an extensive parish, urban sanitary district, and parliamentary borough stretching north and south from Wanstead and Leyton to the Thames, and east and west from Little Ilford and East Ham to the river Lea. West Ham proper is situated on the main road between Stratford and Plaistow, three-quarters of a mile south-east of the Stratford station on the Great Eastern Railway, but the original village is now completely absorbed in the new buildings which have sprung up around it. The church of All Saints has an Early English nave and a good Perpendicular tower, but the architecture of the remainder of the building is nondescript and incongruous. Some mural paintings have within recent years been laid bare, and there are a number of old monuments. Among other public buildings are the West Ham, Stratford, and South Essex dispensary (1878), and the conference hall for public meetings. There are a considerable number of charities. West Ham park, 80 acres in extent, was opened 20th July 1874 at a cost of <£25,000. A large public cemetery was consecrated in 1857, and there is a Jews’ cemetery. The northern main sewer of the metropolitan main drainage system traverses the parish, the chief pumping station being at Abbey Mills. In 1762 West Ham had 700 houses. Morant, in his History of Essex, 1768, describes it as the “residence of considerable merchants, dealers, and industrious artists.” Since then its character has completely changed, and it is now a busy industrial district, its prosperity being in a large degree traceable to the formation of the Victoria and Albert docks at Plaistow. It possesses large chemical works, match works, candle factories, manure works, flourmills, cocoa nut ...