My McDermott Great Grandparents were living in Poplar in the 1800's, and Poplar was slap up against Limehouse, and by the late 1800's they had moved from Poplar to Canning Town within the County Borough of the then West Ham.
It appears that when the new Royal Group of docks were built in the Custom House- Wolwich area in the Borough of the then West Ham, now the Borough of Newham large numbers of both Limehouse and Poplar residents made the move to many areas in West Ham to find work in the new docks and in the many many new factories that were also built close to the new docks in the Silvertown area.
My McDermott's originated in Southern Ireland.
Mary