The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary.

In 1852 an Act of Parliament had authorised the building of the London Tilbury and Southend Railway (LTSR), with a short spur to take advantage of the ferry over the Thames; a pier nearby was constructed for the steamboat traffic.

[8] A few houses were built for the railway workers, but it was not until the construction of Tilbury Docks (see below) that there was any settlement worthy of a name.

Whilst the docks were being built, the thousands of workers were either provided with temporary accommodation or had to commute from surrounding villages and towns.

A sketch-map of 1571[10] shows evidence of two jetties, the one on the north bank leading to a northward road crossing the marsh.

There are also houses marked on the marsh itself, which became important for sheep grazing; and there is some evidence to suggest that the ferry was used for the cross-river transport of animals and wool.

[12] The curve and narrowness of the river here made it a suitable place to construct forts for the defence of London against foreign invaders.

The first permanent fort at Tilbury[13] was a D-shaped blockhouse built in 1539 by Henry VIII and initially called the "Thermitage Bulwark", because it was on the site of a hermitage dissolved in 1536.

During the Armada campaign (1588), the fort was reinforced with earthworks and a palisade, and a boom of chains, ships' masts and cables was stretched across the Thames to Gravesend, anchored by lighters.

The one-time passenger landing stage was reopened by the Port of Tilbury group as the London Cruise Terminal, though it is no longer served by the railway.

So Tilbury today has high unemployment, and education and employment prospects are widely perceived as poor.

[8] Local buses are operated by Ensignbus National Cycle Route 13 from London to Norfolk passes through the town.

[17] Notable people who have had some connection with Tilbury include: football players, John Evans (1929–2004), and Tom Scannell (1925–1994); Noel Betowski, artist, was born there in 1952; Thomas Horrocks Openshaw (1856–1929), a consultant surgeon at Tilbury Hospital; and actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje whose being raised there by foster parents is documented in the movie Farming.

[18] In the 2014 BBC series The Honourable Woman, the title character Nessa Stein is made Baroness of Tilbury in the first episode.

[27] A later venue called the Tilbury Stadium on land at the end of Dunlop Road also hosted greyhounds between 1964 and 1967.