The name had no official status until the 1987 creation of the Isle of Dogs Neighbourhood by Tower Hamlets London Borough Council.

[1] The whole area was once known as Stepney Marsh; Anton van den Wyngaerde's "Panorama of London" dated 1543 depicts and refers to the Isle of Dogs.

Records show that ships preparing to carry the English royal household to Calais in 1520 docked at the southern bank of the island.

The name Isle of Dogges occurs in the Thamesis Descriptio of 1588, applied to a small island in the south-western part of the peninsula.

In Volume 3, entry 1009 "Shipping" dated 2 October 1520, there is a list of purchases, which includes "A hose for the Mary George, in dock at the Isle of Dogs, 10d.

"[2] The 1898 edition of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable attributes the name: "So called from being the receptacle of the greyhounds of Edward III.

A government map, prepared in connection with the Thames defences at the time of the Spanish Armada, suggests the eyot was a recognised navigational landmark alongside an otherwise featureless marsh.

[9] Dr Wright offered a speculation of her own: that the name "dogs" was bestowed by the Deptford dockyard workers as a punning reference to the barks (naval vessels) moored at this eyot.

[citation needed] The western side of the island was known as Marsh Wall, and the district became known as Millwall with the building of the docks, and from the number of windmills constructed along the top of the flood defence.

On 31 January 1858 the largest ship of that time, the SS Great Eastern designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was launched from the yard of Messrs Scott, Russell & Co, of Millwall.

[citation needed] The urbanisation of the Isle of Dogs took place in the 19th century following the construction of the West India Docks, which opened in 1802.

After a bitter struggle, the London Dock Strike of 1889 was settled with victory for the strikers, and established a national movement for the unionisation of casual workers.

Until the building of the Docklands Light Railway in 1987, the only public transport accessing and exiting the Island consisted of buses using its perimeter roads.

A number of local civilians were killed in the bombing and extensive destruction was caused on the ground, with many warehouses being destroyed and much of the dock system being put out of action for an extended period.

[24] According to Johns the intent was semi-jocular [24] and the purpose was only to achieve independence from the rest of London,[23] a right already enjoyed by the nearby City: it was the Press who dubbed him "President Ted of the Isle of Dogs'.

It featured on the front page of the New York Times,[23] and Johns was interviewed by satellite by Walter Cronkite for CBS Evening News.

[30] Successive Labour and Conservative governments proposed a number of action plans during the 1970s but it was not until 1981 that the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) was established to redevelop the area.

This included the Docklands Light Railway and later the Jubilee line extension, which eventually brought access to the London Underground to the area for the first time.

[31] The Island achieved notoriety in 1993 when Derek Beackon of the British National Party became a councillor for Millwall ward, in a by-election.

On 9 February 1996, the IRA detonated a truck bomb near South Quay DLR station on the Isle of Dogs that killed two people and injured more than a hundred others.

Key areas including the City of London, Tower Hill and Greenwich are all within 20 minutes of the Isle of Dogs by DLR.

Situated at the north of the Island, it provides high-frequency, fast connections to the heart of the West End, Paddington Station, Heathrow Airport and Abbey Wood.

[38] The presence of docks, some of a considerable size, has enabled a practice of various watersports, like sailing, kayaking, windsurfing and standup paddleboarding.

Eliot's The Waste Land contains the lines "The barges wash / Drifting logs / Down Greenwich reach / Past the Isle of Dogs.

While shooting in East London for his film Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson spotted a road sign directing to the Isle of Dogs.

[43] In a 2024 episode of British drama series Call the Midwife set in March 1970, blockades as part of the declared independence of the Isle impede the ability of midwives in Poplar to transport a high risk pregnancy to hospital.