In his will of 23rd November 1695, the sailmaker John Edmanson bequeathed all his properties in the City of London in trust to the Drapers Company, so that it could purchase land on which to build 12 almshouses, and afterwards to endow them.

In 1706 the almshouses were built on land in Bromley-by-Bow that the Company already owned and on the eastern part of which were located the Jolles' Almshouses.

The new almshouses were built on the western and southern sides of a large quadrangle. The southern block contained a chapel with two almshouses on either side.

The almspeople were elderly poor people from the precincts of St Catherine (later St Katherine's Docks) or former sailmakers or their widows from there or elsewhere.

Each almshouse had two rooms - one on the ground floor and one above. Men were allowed to bring their wives, and the widow was allowed to stay when her husband died.

In 1836 four houses were added to the western wing at a cost of £956.

In 1855 a lodge was built on Bow Road at the entrance to the almshouses, at a cost of £362.

In 1858 four more houses were added to the western wing at a cost of £922. The Almshouses then had accommodation for 20 almspeople.

In 1863 new almshouses were added to the site to replace Pemel's Almshouses in Whitechapel Road.

By the mid 19th century a railway had been built to the west of the almshouses, and the North London Railway wished to expand. In 1868 it sought to compulsorily purchase the land occupied by the Almshouses by Act of Parliament. The Drapers Company vigorously opposed this, on the grounds that the interests of the poor should not be overridden by a profit-making company. The bill went through, but the railway company was forced to purchase the whole site, including the eastern side with the Jolles' Almshouses, and to provide temporary accommodation to the displaced almspeople, and also to pay all legal costs of the move to the new Drapers Almshouses in Bruce Grove.

Current status