Images From History_ Rarely-Seen Photographs Bring 1800s London Back to Life _ Mail Online

8/6/2019 Images From History_ Rarely-Seen Photographs Bring 1800s London Back to Life _ Mail Online

1/13

Click here to print

Images from history: Rarely seen photographs bring 1800s London

back to life

0

By Eddie Wrenn

Last updated at 3:00 PM on 11th August 2009

In the frantic pace of modern life, it is easy to forget our past, and the toils of the generations before us who built the world we livein.

But for those familiar with our capital city, these fascinating pictures taken when photography was in its infancy will bring back tolife a London which has changed so much over the last 150 years.

They capture sweaty, mustachioed long-dead engineers working hard to bring the world's first Underground network to life; theycapture the hippo who entertained Londoners and visitors alike during his 30 years' lodgings at Regent's Park; they capture long-past shops and factories; they even capture the construction of one of England's most famous monuments, Nelson's Column, back

in 1844.

Further afield, there are pictures of Italy, America, Japan and Egypt, all taken more than 100 years ago.

The British Library holds 350,000 historic pictures in its vaults, and for the first time ever it is running an exhibition of these rarelyseen pictures, which will open in October.

3/21/2011 Images from history: Rarely-seen phot

dailymail.co.uk//Images-history-Rarel 1/


2/13


3/13

Summer days of 1852: Hippo Obaysch is spotted taking a nap in the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park. He was donated by Egypt in 1850 in exchange for English greyhound

and deer hounds, and he lived until 1878




4/13

As London became m ore industr ialised, concern gre w that historic parts of London w ere being lost. In respons e, the Society for Photographing the Relics of Old London

photographed places such as Henry Dixon and Son's shop in Macclesfield Stree t, Soho, in 1883




5/13

It's one of the mos t famous landmarks in the UK - and this unique shot show s Nelson's Column under construction in April 1844




6/13

Life on the Thame s, or as photographer John Thomson called it in 1876, the 'Silent Highway'. Two sailors he ad down the river in a barge




7/13

The Clerke nwe ll district of London was certainly worth a picture, es pecially if you we re a fan of Kodak. It is unknown who took this picture or in w hat year, but from the

clothing and the horse -drawn characters, it is clearly before the days of digital

The changing face of London from the air

Also revealed today were pictures of what is believed to be the first aerial survey of London - from the pages of an old familyphotograph album.

They were found after being kept in storage for years by Alan Richardson, a retired RAF helicopter pilot., whose grandfather AlbertRichardson, an Army Fusilier who was attached to the Royal Flying Corps, is believed to have taken some of the pictures himself.

Mr Richardson, 62, said: 'They were at the back of an album which has been in my family for years. On the side of the image iswhere and when they were taken.

'They are very detailed and very large - I don't know how my grandfather acquired them.

'When I began thinking about the historical significance of them I began to do some research, but could not find any surveypictures of London before 1917. I was quite surprised and thought they should be archived to preserve them.

'You can see the difference in the use of the Thames, with barges and docks - it is an amazing record.'




8/13

Now and then: Waterloo fr om the air in 1917, and again in 2006. The large building, Waterloo station, is almos t unchanged, but now the London Eye dominates the s kyline

For more Old Aerial Photos please visitwww.oldaerialphotos.com

...And around the world

The British Library exhibition also includes many pictures from around the world, including Japan, Italy and America.




9/13

The Colosse um in Rome, now approaching 2,000 years in age, was photographed by the Rev. Calvert Richard Jones in 1846




10/13

The village of Wilhelm Burger , near Yokohama, Japan, in 1869. This photograph was taken by Wilhelm Burger, w ho was attached to the Austro-Hungarian diplomatic mission

which travelled to the Far East to de velop comme rcial relations




11/13

Alexander Gardner took ' A sharpshooter' s last slee p', believed to be from the Battle of Gettysber g in 1863. Gardner s aid this w as 'the blank horror and re ality of war, in

opposition to its pageantry'




12/13

D. S. George' s 'Construction of the Asw an Dam' in around 1899, is from an album of view s r ecording the progre ss of the construction of one of the largest engineer ing

schem es unde rtaken in Egypt in the late 19th century

Places:

London,

Egypt,

Japan,

Italy,

United Kingdom,

America,

Waterloo Station,

British Library

Comments (13)

Newest

Oldest

Best rated

Worst rated

View all

Fantastic!

- Compton Mofo, LA, 11/8/2009 23:06

Click to rate Rating 4

Report abuse

Yep. But how m any died because there were no, or very few, safety regs. Agree about the s harpness and depth of field. Something not so easy to acquire with today's wonderfu

cameras. Old time cameras, lens es and film had a lot going for them., despite everything, and the detail captured has to be seen to be believed.




13/13

- Bwj, Uk, 07/8/2009 00:11


Report abuse

Fantastic...more please!!!

- Anna Rack, Devon, UK, 06/8/2009 13:55


Report abuse

One of the reasons for the "dour" express ions was it took much longer for 19th century film to capture the image with the camera. You had to make a com fortable facialexpression or else the photo would turn out fuzzy.

- Michael K, Virginia, USA, 06/8/2009 13:32


Report abuse

Great pictures. I wonder what the people in them would have made of the country/world today.

- Caroline, Edinburgh, 05/8/2009 23:17


Report abuse

The photo of Waterloo was in teresting to me as I can clearly see the flats where I lived until 1967 and the school I attended until 1955. Both are sadly demolished buildings . Is

possi ble to get a copy of the photo?

- ken, south london, 05/8/2009 21:21


Report abuse

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

Find this story at www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1204508/Images-history-Rarely-seen-photographs-bring-1800s -London-life.html

Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd

Part of the Dai ly Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group

Ass ociated Newspapers Ltd


Date post:	08-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	-
View:	220 times
Download:	0 times

Images From History_ Rarely-Seen Photographs Bring 1800s London Back to Life _ Mail Online

Documents