Gravesend was granted, allowing the men of the town to operate boats between London and the town; these became known as the "Long Ferry". It became the preferred form of passage, because of the perils of road travel (see below). On Gravesend's river front are the remains of a Tudor fort built by command of King Henry VIII in 1543. On 21 March 1617, John Rolfe and Rebecca (aka Princess Pocahontas) with their two-year-old son, Thomas, boarded a ship in London bound for the Commonwealth of Virginia; the ship had only sailed as far as Gravesend before Rebecca fell fatally ill,
Albert Murray, Baron Murray of Gravesend Albert Murray, Baron Murray of Gravesend Albert James Murray, Baron Murray of Gravesend (9 January 1930 – 10 February 1980) was a British Labour Party politician. Murray represented Dulwich on London County Council from 1958 until the council's abolition, in 1965. At the 1964 general election, he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Gravesend in Kent, a marginal seat which was normally won by the party forming the government. Indeed, Murray held the seat until it was regained by the Conservatives in 1970, the year Edward Heath became Prime Minister. From 1969 to 1970, he was a junior