Taggs Island

The island has had many names over the centuries. In 1841 Thomas George Tagg leased a piece of the island near an old bar called The Angler's Retreat. Here he rented skiffs and fishing punts and eventually gave the island its current name.

Thomas George Tagg's son, Tom Tagg Junior became a Queen's waterman at the age of 21 and starting building boats on the island. He was a genius at boat design and building techniques and his industry got larger and larger. By 1869 he was constructing launches and in the early 1880's received 12 gold medals for his boats in both Britain and France.

His list of customers looked like pages from Debrett and Burkes peerage and at Henley in 1887, his most prized new launch, 'Princess Beatrice' appeared carrying the Prince of Wales and other British and foreign royals.

In 1872 he took over the lease of 'The Angler's Retreat' and immediately set about demolishing the old bar and rebuilding a brand new hotel and restaurant. Before long Taggs Island had become a Mecca for the rich and famous with Royalty, nobility and millionaires rubbing shoulders with theatrical, artistic and literary folk.

By the 1880's the island was ringed with grand houseboats where the great and good could conduct their liaisons. In many respects nothing has changed in the last 100 years!

J M Barrie rented a houseboat on the island in 1887 and wrote many of his early articles and plays on the river. One of his plays was called 'The Houseboat' but had to be changed when another play of the same title was discovered.

The invention of the motor car, the effects of the Boer war and the changing social climate, hit the island and by 1904 the island and hotel were put up for auction. The Taggs Island Hotel continued but was gradually falling into disrepair.

Fred Wescott was an entertainer and used to busk at the lock near Hampton Court at weekends. He made a pledge that once he had the money, the first thing he would do would be to have houseboat on Taggs Island. He changed his name to Fred Karno and made his fame and fortune from Fred Karno's Circus. His list of recruits to his troupe is extensive; Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel, Will Hay, Max Miller, Flanagan and Allen are just some of the entertainers who owed their start to Fred.

In 1903 he bought 'Highland Lassie' and used the boat as his love nest. As his fame and riches increased, he decided that he had to be the owner of the biggest and most luxurious on the river. In 1913 the 'Astoria' took her place on the island, dwarfing every boat around her and costing an estimated 20,000 pounds, a huge sum in those days.

Fred's boat, the 'Astoria', seen here on a winter sunset, still exists in all its original glory and is moored a few yards up river from the island on the Middlesex bank. Show business still figures in its use, as it is now owned by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd and is used as a recording studio.

Fred was asked if he would use his entrepenuerial skills to help the failing hotel. In October 1912 he took over the lease and announced the The Times the plans for the new 'Karsino'. The old hotel would be demolished and a 'sumptuous palace' erected in its place. The high point of the new hotel was to be the Palm Court, which could seat 800 people and was to have a resident orchestra and Fred employed a young musician named Jack Hylton, who 30 years later was to become a theatrical impresario as famous as Fred.

The hotel (seen on the left just before it was demolished) opened its doors on 22 June 1913 and through that year proved a huge success, but the threat of war cast a cloud over the hotel. Through the war years it became an oasis of gaiety and glamour with many servicemen spending a night at the Karsino before heading back to the front lines. When peace was declared, there seemed to be no place for establishments like the 'Karsino', public taste had changed and by 1926 he was forced to sell the tenancy.

The hotel changed hands many times, with many 'grand re-openings' and name changes. In 1935 Charles Clore took over the hotel and island and renamed it the 'Casino Hotel' but that also failed and it was in 1941, during the 2nd World War that the island was taken over by AC Cars who converted the hotel to a factory and had a bridge built from the Middlesex bank. After the war AC cars made their renowned 3 wheeled invalid carriages on the island and the trains for Southend Pier.

There were still plans to re-open the hotel, but again all failed. In 1965 the bridge collapsed and in 1971 the hotel was demolished. The island now was desolate and overgrown with nothing to show for the millions that had been ploughed in to it. Gerry and Gillian Braban were houseboat residents who believed in the island's potential and they set about making Taggs Island a houseboat community without equal. A new bridge was constructed and by the middle 1980's the island was once again a paradise for houseboats and wildlife. Compare the two photos at the top - taken in 1999 and 1971.