This photograph from the early 1900s is interesting in a couple of ways. Firstly, the car was made by the Star Cycle Company of Wolverhampton. This might seem strange but in the early days of motoring there were hundreds of car manufacturers, most of which failed or...
We don't know where this photograph was taken but it probably dates from the early 1900s and would have been typical of thousands of similar shops throughout the UK. The brand names on the window are unfamiliar but that's not surprising, as many early bicycle...
How many men does it take to repair a puncture? Six, one to do it and five to give advice! We love this photograph from the early 1900s when tyre technology was still in its infancy and punctures were a routine part of any bike ride. How fortunate that they had a...
The is the Guinness Brewery in Dublin in the early 1900s. The site was first leased by the Guinness family in 1759 for just £45 per year for 9,000, yes, 9,000 years. If ever a lessor got it wrong, this is it! The thousands of barrels in the yard are amazing but I like...
This RAF recruitment poster probably dates from 1919 and includes an image of Airship R34. Dirigibles were used during the First World War for reconnaissance and were filled with hydrogen which was highly flammable and led to some serious accidents. R34 was the first...
The RNAS (Royal Naval Air Service) was the Royal Navy's air department during the First World War. These pilots are a happy crew but they were flying early biplanes on very hazardous missions and their chances of returning to base must have been small. The British...
When the War Department called for motorcyclists to volunteer for despatch work at the start of August 1914, the response was huge. The London office had 2,000 more applicants than they needed and a similar response was reported across the country. If a rider and his...
Our archive of almost 20,000 images contains photographs, lithographs, maps and illustrations. This dramatic painting of the Titanic sinking was included in a set of glass projection slides, published in 1912, to be shown in village and town halls to raise money for...
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...
In the 1920/30s, ocean liners crossing the Atlantic were steam powered. The steam was generated by burning coal which had a journey of its own, from being mined underground to the surface; loaded onto trains; by horse and cart to the docks and barge to the ship then,...
The R31 was a British airship built in 1918. It was designed (with the help of a German engineer) to provide air cover for our naval fleet during the First World War but by the time it was ready to fly, the armistice had been signed. On its first flight from England...
This could be one of London's top hotels in Victorian times but it's actually the First Class Dining Saloon on Cunard's RMS Mauretania. Some of today's cruise ships are ultra-luxurious but a transatlantic crossing by ocean liner then was more to do with getting from A...
We have been fortunate in some of our 'finds' over the last fifty years. They include a remarkable set of County maps, printed in the 1840s and beautifully illustrated, which are a fascinating snapshot of England almost two hundred years ago. It was the age of railway...
We Brits just love messing about in boats. It might be because we are a sea-faring, island nation but it's probably just that we like a) messing about and b) boats. A recent photograph was of the 'great and the good' enjoying the Henley Regatta in style. This one,...
This is an interesting example of the transition from steam trams to electric trams. Most towns and cities in the UK had a network of steam tram routes in the late Victorian period, operated by private companies. Local authorities took on the responsibility for...
We have a bit of a tram theme today. This one of a horse tram in Northampton probably dates from the 1880s. Trams such as these weren't heated, of course, and had wooden, slatted seats, so we can imagine how uncomfortable they were in the rain and on a cold Winter's...
The Lockwood Viaduct was built in the 1840s and has thirty-two graceful arches. At least two men died during its construction and many others were injured. A couple of sport-related records are associated with it, lobbing a cricket ball and driving a golf ball. This...
Stonehaven is a fishing village near Aberdeen on the east coast of Scotland. It has retained its charm and is well worth a visit. We love the clean lines of the boats leaving the harbour. They are almost in silhouette and the reflections of the sails in the water make...
There has been a regatta at Henley-on-Thames since 1839 and this photograph was probably taken in the early 1900s. It's a festival of fun and relaxation with races, competitions, fine-dining, possibly a glass of champagne or three and, of course, networking. How...
Chasetown is an area of Burntwood in Staffordshire. Originally a coal mining village, the pits are long-gone. This photograph, taken in the early 1900s, is interesting as the bus is owned and operated by a railway company, the London and North Western Railway (LNWR)....
We have many lifeboat photographs in our archive. This one shows the Great Yarmouth crew around 1910. There were two lifeboat stations on the coast here, the other being at Gorlestone on the other side of the River Yare. They combined in 1926. We love the clarity of...
What a wonderful photograph, taken in the early 1900s, of yachts racing on the Norfolk Broads. At this level, it was, and still is, a rich man's sport but sailing, even in the smallest dinghy, is truly exhilarating. It's interesting that despite the motion of the...
This unusual view of the Forth Bridge near Edinburgh was taken in the 1930s and shows a gang of maintenance workers walking to work, far above the Firth of Forth. It reminds me of the famous photograph of skyscraper construction workers in New York, eating their...
Disused railway stations are normally demolished but not this one. We see it here in the early 1900s at Foulridge near Colne in Lancashire. Following the closure of the line, the building was moved, stone by stone, to a new home at Ingrow West on the Keighley and...
Crewe in Cheshire has always been know as a railway town. It was built on a greenfield site in the 1840s specifically to serve the burgeoning railway industry. Located at a major junction, it developed a range of construction, maintenance and administrative services...
We Brits enjoy an excursion when on holiday, usually a coach trip to local places of interest. It was no different for Victorians, although the vast majority could only afford to be part of the mass migration to hotspot seaside resorts such as Blackpool. These...
This is Clitheroe Railway Station in Lancashire. The town is in the glorious Ribble Valley and the station is still in use. Photographs of railway stations taken in the 1890s usually show ranks of horse-cabs waiting for the next train to disgorge its passengers but...
Brodsworth Colliery, located near Doncaster, was a major coal mine employing, by the 1980s, thousands of men. The first shaft was dug in 1905 and this photograph was probably taken just a few years later. Given that our pits our now long gone and their spoil heaps...
The original caption on this photograph is 'Bleriot plane, Filey'. Bleriot was an early pioneering aviator, famous for his designs and flying expertise but we don't think this is him. What was this pilot doing at Filey on Yorkshire's east coast and who was he? We...
There has been a lifeboat based in Bridlington, on the Yorkshire coast, since 1805. The earliest lifeboats were simply rowing boats and must have required a huge effort to row to the scene of a disaster. This one is much later, probably the 1880s, and is sail-powered...
The Boston Stump, seen here in the background, is a well-known landmark in Lincolnshire. The county has a very flat landscape, so the tower can be seen for many miles. 'Stump' is a nickname, it is actually the tower of the Parish Church, St. Botolph's. The paddle...
The Ffestiniog Railway is a world-famous attraction in North Wales. It has operated since the 1830s as a means of transporting slate from the quarries in Blaenau Ffestiniog down to the sea at Port Madog for onward transportation by ship. At first, it was illegal to...
This is the Tay Bridge linking Dundee to Fife. In 1879, disaster struck when the bridge collapsed in very high winds and a train carrying some sixty passengers plunged into the river, all of whom died. The design of the Forth Bridge was influenced by the disaster and...
In October 1909, an aviation meeting was held at Doncaster Racecourse. These were the early days of flying, the machines were primitive and their designers and engineers (often wealthy amateurs) learnt and adapted through trial and error. Such meetings were an...
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,...
HMS Foudroyant, a British Royal Navy ship was, at one time, Admiral Nelson's flagship. She was launched in 1798 and retired from front line duties in 1812. Fifty years later, in 1862, she was converted into a Navy Training ship and was eventually sold into private...
This is Nechells in central Birmingham. The photographer captioned this photograph 'the last horse bus' and dated it 1906. By that time, horse buses in major towns and cities had been replaced by steam and electric trams and motor buses. Horses were still used for...
Today, London's river police are highly-trained and well-equipped to respond to emergencies and undertake routine enforcement roles associated with a busy river. This photograph, probably taken in the 1880s, shows their Victorian counterparts. Their role was probably...
Early photographs of railway stations are always interesting. This one in Skipton, Yorkshire, shows a scene typical of thousands of stations across Britain in the early 1900s. There are at least twelve station staff wearing smart uniforms. Many of them are porters,...
This photograph of an AA patrolman was taken between Watford and St. Albans, probably in the 1920s. He is saluting the passing motorist because the car has a badge on it which shows that the driver is a member of the AA and the driver, who is a chauffeur, is saluting...
This extraordinary photograph was taken on 15th April, 1919, shortly after the end of the First World War. The crew had surrended a couple of months earlier and the boat was being towed through the English Channel when it came adrift and ran aground on Hastings Beach....
Well, a yellow brick path rather than road! Is this bicycle dealer starting a new business by working from home? Did he go on to greater things, with a string of Victorian bike shops? Enjoy this photo-art based on an original photograph from our archive. It is low...
In the early 1900s, many UK cities, towns and even villages had electric tram services. This one in Dundee, Scotland, shows the driver, an inspector and a very young conductor (ticket seller), all looking very proud of their, probably new, electric tram. Long before...
Cycling in the late nineteenth century was very popular with men and women. Most women's hobbies and pastimes prior to that, had been in the home, so this was a new freedom. It was liberating to be able to cycle where and when they chose although, in practice, they...
This is Cunard's ocean liner RMS Aquitania. 'RMS' stands for Royal Mail Ship, which means she had a contract to carry mail between Great Britain and the United States. The ship was launched in 1914 and scrapped in 1950, having worked as a transatlantic liner and a...
In Victorian times, when taking a photograph involved glass plates, chemicals and a dark room to develop your prints, night-time photography was challenging and required technical expertise, experience, special equipment, trial and error and luck to get that perfect...
This is Henri Farman, a French aviator, in Blackpool, in 1909. Aeroplanes were still experimental and their very brave (or, perhaps, foolishly reckless) pilots were constantly pushing the boundaries to see what could be achieved. On this flight, Henri set a new record...
This photograph dates from the 1920s, the heyday of transatlantic crossings by luxurious ocean liners, and although not captioned, probably shows 'RMS Majestic' (a sister-ship to Titanic and owned by the White Star Line) in dry dock for repairs. RMS stands for 'Royal...
A fascinating photograph, probably taken in the 1890s, of a major London railway terminus. At the height of the Victorian railway boom, companies competed for passengers and many built grand London stations which were as much status symbols as places to board a train....
The first railway under the River Mersey between Liverpool and the Wirral was operated by steam trains. The smoke and dirt from the engines could not be adequately removed from the tunnels by ventilation, so passengers preferred to use the ferries. As a result, the...
The hotel business has always been competitive and owners still look for ways to make theirs more attractive than the next. In Victorian times, temperance hotels sprang up for those wanting an alcohol-free stay then, as cycling became a huge craze, some hotels offered...
This bridge across the River Clyde in Glasgow has had three names at various times in its history .... Glasgow Bridge, Broomielaw Bridge and Jamaica Bridge. This photograph, taken in the late Edwardian period, shows the reliance on horse-power at the time. It's...
Throughout railway history, accidents were a relatively common occurrence, usually caused by human error. This photograph shows a more unusual one, as a viaduct has collapsed and the engine can be seen on its side on the embankment. The date was 2nd February 1916,...
There has been a ferry across the River Thames at Woolwich for centuries and there still is. Boats of all types were obvious subjects for early photographers and our archive contains many images of them, including some of the Woolwich ferry. However, we like this one,...
Madame Tussaud was born in 1761 and brought her travelling waxwork exhibition to Britain in 1802. It has been hugely popular ever since and is now a global business. You would never imagine that in a world dominated by moving and 3D imagery, static models of...
The original photograph, on which this photo-art is based, was probably taken in the 1930s. Biplanes were first used by the Royal Navy during the First World War, mostly for aerial reconnaissance. Launching them from ships that didn't have purpose-made flight decks...
Trafalgar Square is so busy, all of the time, that we often don't see it for what it is, a magnificent, beautifully proportioned, people-space in a noisy, crowded, bustling city. Designed by John Nash and opened in 1844, it reflected Britain's wealth and our place in...
Today, tunnels such as those for the London Crossrail and HS2 railway line projects, are dug mechanically by huge machines but much of the London Underground system was excavated by hand, moving forward one inch at a time. This photograph from the Victorian period,...
It's Euston Station but not as we know it. Where are the crowds, the shops, the cafes? We like the composition of this photograph with its clean lines (no litter, sorry about the pun) and roof supports sweeping away into the distance, echoing the journeys made by the...
Any large ship in dry dock for repairs is an impressive sight. RMS Aquitania was a Cunard Line ocean liner, launched in 1914 and scrapped in 1950. There are several people in this photograph but they're so small compared to the ship, that you'll need to look closely...
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