The Diver was conceived as part of the London Borough of Havering’s regeneration of the River and formation of a riverside public footpath at Rainham. It took self-taught sculptor John Kaufman (1941-2002) five years to see the project through from its original inception to its installation 26 feet deep into the Thames mud at 3.30 am on 23rd August 2000.
John’s idea for The Diver was inspired by the stories told by his grandfather Johann Friederich Andreas Kaufmann who worked as a diver in the London Docks at the turn of the 19th /20th century. It commemorates the men who worked in difficult and often dangerous conditions in what has always been a working river. The fingers on The Diver’s left hand are bent in memory of John’s grandfather, whose arthritis was caused by the cold conditions he endured.
