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09/06/2024

Oxford Street in the late 19th century.

06/06/2024

The front page of The Star on this day in 1944.

The late night edition of the London based newspaper confirms the blackout times for that night but most importantly it provides an account of the Allied D Day Landings, “the greatest armada the world has ever known”. Closer to home, residents in the south east watched as the planes flew overhead from 3:30am onwards, and flower sellers in London arranged their bouquets in patriot red, white and blue combinations. 🇬🇧

28/05/2024

From 1873 to 1877, Scottish photographer John Thomson collaborated with journalist Adolphe Smith to document the lives of London’s urban poor.
The image, brought to life by colour technician Grant Kemp, shows a street doctor displays his wares.
Eighty years before the birth of the NHS, healthcare was an unaffordable dream for London’s poorer residents. Faced with no other option, many of the penniless sick could only afford the services of quack doctors who sold their products on the streets.
Not surprisingly, the ‘cures’ seldom worked. The ‘street doctor’ in this photo lost his job as a driver due to a degenerative eye disease. After spending months in hospitals, he met a man selling ointment that led to his eyesight gradually returning. The ointment seller set the man up in business.
The man, who is pictured wearing a built-up shoe, told Thomson and Smith: ‘I had no money, but he gave me everything on trust. It was a good thing for both of us, because I was a sort of standing advertisement for him and for myself’

06/05/2024

On this day in 1733: London held the boxing world’s first international boxing match (image 1).

Local fighter Bob Whittaker took on “The Venetian Gondolier”, Tito Alberto di Carini, at James Figg’s academy amphitheatre, the ‘Boarded House’, located behind Oxford Street, in Marylebone Fields - likely near today’s Adam and Eve Court.

Figg (image 2), buried in St. Marylebone Parish Churchyard, promoted the match as: “That ‘ere’s truth about his breaking so many of his countrymen’s jaw-bones with his fist. Howsomdever, that’s no matter, he can’t break Bob Whitaker’s jaw-bone, if he had a sledge-hammer in his hand”

Bob Whittaker saw the Venetian through to conceding defeat and was set up for a fight against another academy protege weeks later, Figg having put a wager on the opponent to beat Whittaker which ultimately paid out.

Figg was a recognisable and famous person in London.Royalty, aristocrats, politicians, writers, artists, and actors attended his fights,and in autumn 1729, Figg was made gate-keeper to upper St James’s Park by the Earl of Essex.

Friends with Artist William Hogarth, Figg appears in several of his paintings, including Southwark Fair, in which he brandishes a sword on horseback (image 3).

05/05/2024

photographed in 1957. The restaurant was opened in 1896 by M. Georges Gaudin at the lower end of Greek Street, and was named Le Bienvenue.
The restaurant became famous for its snails and the name was changed to ‘L’Escargot Bienvenue’ when they took residence at 48 Greek Street (complete with snail farm in the basement) in 1927.

Now simply called L’Escargot, but known by many as ‘the snail’, a plaster bust of M. Gaudin riding a snail with the motto “slow but sure” can be seen above the restaurant’s facade.

27/04/2024

An underground train being transported on wheels through the streets of London, 1926.

23/04/2024

A lot of us have walked past this expressive chap whilst descending Westminster Bridge to the Southbank. But what’s he all about?
The ‘Southbank Lion’ was cast in 1837 but he hasn’t always stood there. Originally he stood a bit further along the Thames adorning the old Lion Brewery, which closed in 1924 and was knocked down for the construction of the Royal Festival Hall (built to celebrate the Festival of Britain in 1951). Every Festival Of Britain wouldn’t be complete without a lion - he was painted ‘British Rail red’ and greeted visitors arriving at nearby Waterloo Station.

The lion was moved to allow for extension of the train station in 1966 and was placed in his current position. A second lion was painted gold, it is now located above the central pillar of the Rowland Hill Memorial Gate (Gate 3) to the west of Twickenham Stadium.

The image set shows the lion atop the brewery, being removed in 1924, standing watch over Waterloo, and being placed in his current position.

17/04/2024

‘Up in the dome area, we felt the shock of it... St Paul’s rocked. But only for an instant; then, quivering, settled down in its habitual majesty.’

- A.S.G Butler, member of the St Paul’s Watch.

The famous photograph taken of St Paul’s rising above the smoke and flames of the Blitz has given rise to the common myth that the Cathedral escaped the Second World War unscathed, when in actual fact the building sustained two direct bomb hits.

One was in October 1940, and the other was on this day in 1941, when a bomb crashed through the roof and detonated in mid-air. The falling masonry created a hole in the Cathedral floor of the North Transept, through which the Crypt could be seen below. It also caused the Dome to rock and the south wall of the south transept to be pushed outwards.

Repost:

09/04/2024

Solar eclipse seen over the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 1858. The picture, viewed from the Isle of Dogs, shows the Royal Naval College and River Thames in the foreground. This particular plate was taken from London Illustrated News, Vol 32, 1858

07/04/2024

The Metropolitan police force was established in 1829. The force consisted of 895 constables, 88 sergeants, 20 inspectors and 8 superintendents.

The brain child of the then Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel, giving us the nicknames ‘Peelers’ (Peel) and ‘Bobbies’ (nickname for Robert). The image shows a ‘Peeler’ in the 1850s.

17/03/2024

In 1706, some time after tea was officially introduced to England by the young Portuguese wife of Charles II, Catherine of Braganza, in 1662, Thomas Twining started selling tea from his coffee shop, at No. 216 Strand. It became Britain’s first tea room and still operates today.

The firm’s logo (a golden lion and two Chinese men), created in 1787, is the world’s oldest in continuous use.

My fave, Earl Grey, was created in 1831 by Richard Twining at the request of Prime Minister Charles Grey. He loved the tea so much he put his name on it.

09/03/2024

John Spilsbury (1739 – 3 April 1769) created the commercial jigsaw puzzle from his workshop off Drury Lane in 1766.
Intended as an educational tool “Europe divided into its kingdoms” was a map pasted onto a board and dissected along country boundaries
This original, held at the , contains 50 pieces, of which 4 (for Scotland, the Channel, the Netherlands, and Corsica & Sardinia) are missing, and that for the Gulf of Finland is damaged. Image:

24/02/2024

Tower Bridge 1905

22/02/2024

London based food processing company Tate & Lyle has replaced its record holding logo (above) with a lion’s head and a single bee (second pic).

Since 1888 Lyle’s Golden Syrup had a logo of a dead lion surrounded by a swarm of bees, illustrating a biblical story, with the quotation “out of the strong came forth sweetness” as their logo.

It previously held the Guinness World Record for the world’s oldest unchanged brand packaging.

Lyle’s Golden Syrup was the product of Silvertown based Abram Lyle & Sons until they merged with Henry Tate & Sons (also founder to the Tate Galleries) in 1921. The two sugar refineries then became known as the Tate & Lyle company we know today.

15/02/2024

The new overground line names have been released. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

The routes will be renamed and illustrated as follows:

The Lioness line, between Euston to Watford Junction, will be illustrated with yellow parallel lines. The name – the nickname of the England women’s football team - honours the Euro winners and is meant to “inspire and empower the next generation of women and girls in sport”.

The Mildmay line, between Stratford and Richmond/Clapham Junction, honours the Mildmay Mission, the charitable hospital in Shoreditch that has cared for Londoners for 160 years and treated diseases from cholera to HIV. It will be shown with blue parallel lines.
The Windrush line will run between Highbury & Islington and Clapham Junction, New Cross, Crystal Palace and West Croydon. It runs through areas with strong ties to Caribbean communities, such as Dalston Junction, Peckham Rye and West Croydon, and will be shown in red parallel lines.

The Weaver line will be the name of Overground services in and out of Liverpool Street – to and from Cheshunt, Enfield Town and Chingford. It runs through areas such as Spitalfields, Bethnal Green and Hackney that were known for their textile trade. It will have maroon borders.

The Suffragette line will be the Gospel Oak to Barking Riverside branch line. It will have green borders. The name celebrates the East End working-class movement that paved the way for women’s rights. Barking was the home of the longest surviving Suffragette Annie Huggett, who died aged 103.

The Liberty line will be the short route between Romford and Upminster and will be shown by grey parallel lines. The borough of Havering has traditionally had more self-governance and autonomy than other areas

10/02/2024

Cannon Street Railway Bridge, early 1900s

09/02/2024

Stepney Green Station in 1977

09/02/2024

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08/02/2024

Atlantic Road, Brixton, c.1905.

05/02/2024

A Jewish Soup Kitchen located on Brune Street, Spitalfields

To the left of the date 1902 is the number 5662. This is the year 1902 written in the Jewish calendar.

The photo was taken circa 1979 prior to the kitchen’s closure in 1992.

04/02/2024

Nonsuch Palace is regarded by some historians to be England’s finest ever palace and in fact the name itself suggests there is non such place finer (costing over £100 million in today’s money). Built by Henry VIII, it stood from 1538 to circa 1682 and was situated in Nonsuch Park on the border of Sutton (in south London) and Surrey - perfect for Henry to be near one of his favourite hunting grounds.

Sadly Nonsuch Palace became a rather literal meaning of its name when Charles II gave it to his mistress, the Duchess Of Cleveland in 1670, after which she demolished it and sold off the parts to pay for gambling debts in 1682.

Although the palace stood for 150 years only a handful of paintings were ever done of the building and therefore it remains a bit of an enigma even today.

03/02/2024

The Aldgate Pump, aka ‘The Pump of Death’ was originally erected in 1871, at the junction where Aldgate meets Fenchurch Street and Leadenhall Street, but had been situated nearby since the 16th century.

Served by one of London’s many underground streams it stood the test of time and was claimed by some to have healing properties.

However the introduction of new cemeteries, to serve a bulging population, led to a health and safety disaster. Hundreds of people were killed by the goo and calcium draining from dead bodies in various graveyards between Hampstead (where the river began) and Aldgate.

Following the epidemic the pump was closed, and connected to the mains in 1876. The pump clawed back its previous held reputation, retaining its place as the symbolic start of East London. The brass wolf head is said to mark the place that the last wolf was shot in London.

14/01/2024

Charles Spencer Chaplin was born in Walworth on 16th April 1889. Around the age of 10 Charlie lived in this house at 39 Methley Street, SE11.

His early years were spent with his mother, who had no means of income, and brother in Kennington. Their father provided no support for his children causing Chaplin to be sent to the workhouse at the age of seven.

12/01/2024

Wickhams Department store was built on the north side of Mile End Road in 1927. The design was created to rival the grand facade of on Oxford Street.
The design dip to the right of centre was due to the Spiegelhalters family refusing to move from their jewellers store, having already moved a short distance to accommodate the expanding Wickham family monopoly of the block.
Completion of the grand Wickhams design was never to be. When the era of the independent department stores waned in the 1960s, Wickhams sold up, never having acquired the awkward little shop in the middle.

04/01/2024

A bulldog stands guard outside his owner’s London flat during WW2. 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

30/12/2023

Those familiar with the shops, and posh houses, of the King’s Road will enjoy flicking through the photos above.

1. Osborn and Shearman’s paperhanging manufactory at numbers 332-336 (where Big Easy is now)
2. The corner of King’s Road and Edith Grove
3. The original Peter Jones store in 1877
4. Peter Jones in 1900

29/12/2023

Photographed in 1904, the Russian Vapour Baths in Brick Lane. The baths were more popularly known as ‘Schewzik’s’, after their owner Benjamin Schewzik.The steam baths were used by the large immigrant Jewish community living in London’s East End from the late 19th century. They were an important part of social and religious life and were mostly used by men following work on a Friday evening, before going to the synagogue for prayers.The immigrant community in the East End also set up numerous small synagogues, which recreated the atmosphere of those in Eastern Europe. They opened shops selling kosher food and other goods. Posters and newspapers were printed in Yiddish and the busy, bustling streets were full of traders shouting out their wares.

28/12/2023

All aboard the Necropolitan Line!

The practical but creepy 1854 Necropolis Railway line ran from Waterloo to Brookwood Cemetery, near Woking in Surrey. The train line offered mourners a direct route to one of the major cemeteries created to ease the overcrowding of London graveyards. After all, the city population had more than doubled from less than a million to almost 2.5 million between 1800 and 1851!

The London terminus near Waterloo (top left) was designed especially to move mourners from London to the new cemetery. The station was luxurious in appearance with rooms for funerals, hydraulics for moving bodies... Even the existing railway arches were used for the storage of bodies. The gates were originally designed for the Great Exhibition.

In 1902 the London hub was moved to 188 Westminster Bridge Road (top right). It was severely damaged during a bombing raid on 17th April 1941 (bottom right), six days after the last funeral train left London.
Featured in last year’s Ripper Street series, other railway companies offered the Necropolis Railway use of their lines. This dos not encompass the previously offered cheaper rate for mourners and after much discussion the railway line became deceased itself - the Necropolis Railway 13/11/1854-11/04/1941.

Slide two: Some more pics from the London Necropolis Railway, or as I prefer to call it - The Necropolitan Line.
Ferrying the deceased and funeral goers from central London to Brookwood Cemetery 1854-1941

18/12/2023

“It’s like Piccadilly Circus out there” - pretty much summed up in this scene from 1910 at the actual namesake location.

Loving the advert on the horse bus, lower left, for the North London Riding School on Upper Street.

17/12/2023

I’m sure we can all relate to these underground etiquette reminders from the collection of poster art.

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