Pigeon fanciers (keepers) are growing in number in the UK and the USA. There are over 50,000 of them in Britain, most of whom also race their birds. The Queen is a pigeon fancier with over two hundred birds on the Sandringham Estate which regularly race other...
Royal Norwich Golf Club was founded in 1893 and, unlike many other clubs, from the start, lady members were allowed to play. Even after fifty years of viewing Victorian photographs, I am still amazed by the clothes ladies wore to comply with society's expectations....
In our archive we have many photographs of sports teams, some still active and famous, others less so. This one, taken in 1895, is from a large collection of rugby teams and demonstrates that the game was well organised by that time, with local and national leagues,...
The two young ladies in this photograph taken in the late Victorian period are, by today's standards, somewhat over-dressed. Perhaps it would add to the excitement of Wimbledon if our star players were required to dress like this for the finals. Matches would be a lot...
This photograph of Deep Ghyll in the Lake District was taken in the late Victorian period. When we compare the specialist clothing and safety equipment used by climbers today, with this lady's long, heavy dress and rope, we can only admire her courage and physical...
I'm not sure that shooting birds can be classified as a sport but lots of people enjoy it and it's probably in our hunter / gatherer DNA. What I like about this photograph from the early 1900s is their smug expressions. There is no caption, so we don't know who or...
This photograph was taken in the 1920s. There is a large crowd, so it might be at a carnival or fair but we don't know where or whether it's an amateur or professional match. What the photo does portray is the attraction for many of watching a contest of raw brutality...
Pheonix Park has been the home of Irish polo since 1873 and is still is. The sport originated some two thousand years ago in Iran and, in the UK, during the days of Empire, was a training game for Army Cavalry units. Known as the 'Sport of Kings', it has long been...
In the early days of motoring, racing played an important part in developing car technology, as indeed it has done ever since. In the 1930s, wealthy sponsors met on Southport beach to test their cars to the limit. No safety barriers, no seat belts, no health and...
King Edward VII is seen here seated in the rear of the boat being taken to his yacht. The event is Cowes Week, an annual gathering of society's elite, on the Isle of Wight, for yachting competitions. British royalty was always in attendance and the Keiser (also...
Cycling was as popular in the late nineteenth century (when this photograph was taken) as it is now. This happy band of cyclists is the 'I.O.G.T.' in Doncaster. We've not been able to find out what the I.O.G.T. was .... or is. I assume its main purpose wasn't cycling,...
It's helpful when Victorian photographers caption their images. Most didn't, of course, but this one did, so we know that it is North Berwick golf course, on the coast to the east of Edinburgh. The date is probably the 1880s and, by then, the Club had already been...
In Victorian times, some wealthy holiday-makers made regular trips to Switzerland and the more adventurous amongst them climbed mountains. Here we see a young lady crossing a crevasse (which is goodness-knows how deep) on a ladder, with a thin rope and the...
Football clubs were big business in the 1890s. Whilst many of the players would have been amateurs and paid very little, the sport had, by then, been organised into leagues with national competitions and the marketing and merchandising that we're familiar with today...
William Gilbert Grace (born 1848, died 1915) was possibly the most famous cricketer of all time. As well as being a great batsman, bowler and fielder, he was influential in developing the modern game and also managed to make a very successful living from it, despite...
You have to admire the guts and determination of climbers of any generation but Victorians did it without special clothing or equipment. They were amateurs who relied solely on friends, ropes and, of course, a trusty pipe! Many of them must have had serious accidents...
We like the irony in this photograph. The location is Pontefract racecourse, one of the oldest horse racing venues in Europe. The chauffeurs have deposited their wealthy employers at the grandstand for a day of gambling, dining, drinking and networking. Meanwhile,...
When this photograph was taken in the early 1900s, Castleford was an industrial town and these men's working lives would have involved hard, physical graft. Despite that, in their spare time, they were members of the local running club and here we see them about to...
An interesting photograph, taken in the early 1900s, of Epsom Racecourse. The men taking bets (in cash, of course) had hand-written sign-boards showing the odds for each horse. There were no mobile phones, calculators or computers with complex algorithms, so making...
The original photograph, on which this photo-art is based, was taken in the 1890s. It's great to see a woman as the 'star player' and the men caddying at this early tournament. Enjoy this photo-art based on an original photograph from our archive. It is low resolution...
The original photograph, on which this photo-art is based, was taken in the 1890s. By then, many football teams had huge followings and some individual players were famous. We don't, though, know who this proud gentleman is. Enjoy this photo-art based on an original...
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