the 1860s, the ground floor of the warehouse was predominantly used for wool, furs and skins – hence the name "Skin Floor" – and cork and molasses". In his ''Being Notes of Common Life and Pastoral Work in Saint James's, Westminster and in Saint Georges'-in-the-East'', the Reverend Harry Jones, Rector of Saint Georges'-in-the-East (Smith Elder & Co, London 1875) noted that an army of about 300 cats were "employed" to control the number of rats in the Dock. The former street side entrance to The London Docks was from Ratcliffe Highway which is now known simply as The Highway; due to it being a Roman road it was well suited for its usage as a trading centre for the port. Although it was rather notorious for prostitution and other nefarious activities as many of the sailors coming in from their long voyages were single men looking for drink and a woman, with plenty of cash to spare and the taverns and brothels along its length provided for their every need. In 1600 John Stow described it as "a continual street, or filthy straight passage, with alleys of small tenements or cottages builded, inhabited by sailors and victualers". One such shop along Ratcliffe Highway was German-born wild animal trader Charles Jamrach's "Jamrach's Animal Emporium", which also served as a museum. Jamrach also owned a menagerie in Betts Street and a warehouse in Old Gravel Lane, Southwark; he was a leading importer, breeder and exporter of animals, selling to noblemen, zoos, menageries and circus owners, and buying from ships docking in London and nearby ports, with agents in other major British ports, including Liverpool, Southampton and Plymouth, and also in continental Europe. In 1857 a wild Bengal tiger escaped from its box as it was waiting to be loaded into its new den and carried off a young boy of around nine years of age who tried to stroke it. Upon his command, one of Jamrach's men brought a crowbar and struck the tiger three times until it released the boy. However, it was only stunned and jumped up again once Jamrach pried the boy from its jaws; so, after a final blow Jamrach and his men managed to return the tiger to its den largely unharmed. Hospital reports showed that the boy was unharmed yet Jamrach offered his father, a tailor, £50 in compensation "for the alarm he had sustained". Despite