Nathaniel Fenner

Nathaniel John Fenner (31 May 1824 – 28 November 1888) was a British oil merchant who owned a wharf in Millwall on the Isle of Dogs, London.

[1] He first asked Fairlie to draw up a plan to develop the empty land behind his wharf.

In 1856, with Henry James Fenner, Nathaniel had taken out a lease on a plot of undeveloped land which had previously been used as a garden and paddock, in Southern Millwall.

[2] Having experienced difficulty when attempting to land cargoes at low tide, Fenner hit on the idea of an enclosed non-tidal docks for wharfingers created by building a 'canal' across the Isle of Dogs provided with entrance basins at each end and a central arm which would extend north towards the East and West India Dock Company's Timber Pond.

[4] In 1888, Fenner died suddenly while aboard a steamer crossing the Black Sea.