is a district in the
London Borough Of Redbridge in
East London . It is a suburban development situated 9.1 miles (14.6 km) east north-east of
Charing Cross .
The area is predominantly residential and bounded in the west by the
North Circular Road and the
River Roding . It is contiguous with
Barking to the south,
Gants Hill to the north and
Seven Kings to the east. Like-named
Little Ilford is nearby to the west in the
London Borough Of Newham .
The name means "Ford over the Hyle" (an old name for the
River Roding that means "trickling stream"). Stories that various eminent persons fell in and condemned it as an "ill ford" are folk myths. The former area of the
Municipal Borough Of Ilford was used to form part of the present-day London Borough of Redbridge in 1965.
A number of major businesses have been founded in the town, including the eponymous
Photographic Film and chemicals manufacturer Ilford. Originally called the Britannia Works and growing to occupy a large site in the centre of the town it was founded in
1879 by
Alfred Hugh Harman and initially made
Photographic Plates , later coming to worldwide attention for its
Black And White films and papers, as well as its range of Ilfochrome (formerly Cibachrome and developed in partnership with
CIBA Geigy ) and Ilfocolor colour printing materials.
In
1989 , Ilford was acquired by the USA-based International Paper company, also owners of graphic arts materials manufacturer
Anitec and the two companies were merged in
1990 to become
Ilford Anitec . Their UK base has moved to
Knutsford ,
Cheshire .
In 2004 the company went into receivership. The UK site was subject to a management buyout forming
Harman Technology Ltd in February 2005 and is now producing high quality monochrome products trading as
Ilford Photo and inkjet products for the Swiss part of the old company. The Swiss part of the company was bought by the
Oji Paper Company of Japan in July 2005.
Also a major employer here was the radio, electronics and telecommunications company
Plessey . Founded in
1917 in
Marylebone but moving to Cottenham Road in Ilford early in
1919 then to Vicarage Lane where it remained, becoming one of the largest manufacturers in this field. Plessey were partners in the development of the
Atlas Computer in
1962 . The site closed in
1998 when the company was taken over.
Ilford is represented in the
House Of Commons by
MP s
Lee Scott (
Conservative Party )
Ilford North , and Mike Gapes (
Labour Party )
Ilford South .
- Raymond Baxter , TV presenter
- Nigel Benn , Former boxer
- Noel Edmonds , TV entertainer and presenter
- Bill Fraser , TV actor, (especially The Army Game ) who ran a sweet shop in Ilford between bookings
- Paul Ince , Footballer, currently plays for Wolverhampton Wanderers
- Jane Leeves , Actress most known for her role as Daphne Moon in Frasier
- Denise Levertov , Poet
- Sir Raymond Lygo , Admiral
- Harry John Blagdon Mansfield , owner of Mansfield's Dairies, established in 1868.
- Kevin Maher , Footballer, currently plays for Southend United
- Dame Maggie Smith , Actress
