Cruikshank’s London Almanack, 1838
This set of engravings is the fourth in a series of calendars illustrating the seasons and festivals of the London year, drawn annually by George Cruikshank for The Comic Almanack published by Henry Tilt of Fleet St. 1838 was the year of Victoria’s coronation and I had no idea that frost fairs persisted until this era, equally the ‘Flying Showers’ of July provide evidence – should we ever need it – of the constant volatility of English summer weather. (Click on any of these images to enlarge)
JANUARY – New Year’s Eve, 1837 departs and 1838 arrives
FEBRUARY – Frost Fair on the Thames
MARCH – St Patrick’s Day at Seven Dials
APRIL – Street market on Low Sunday
MAY – Street plant sellers ‘All a growing!’
JUNE – The Coronation of Queen Victoria
JULY – Flying Showers in Battersea Fields
AUGUST – ‘Sic Omnes,’ on board the steamer from London Bridge to Boulogne
SEPTEMBER – The Michaelmas Gander, ‘De goostibus non est disputandum.’
OCTOBER – Battle of A-gin-court in Petty France
NOVEMBER – The Gunpowder Plot or Guys in Council
DECEMBER – Christmas Eve
You may also like to take a look at
Cruikshank’s London Almanack, 1835
Cruikshank’s London Almanack, 1836
Cruikshank’s London Almanack, 1837
The gunpowder plot is excellent
You are quite correct in believing that frost fairs were a thing of the past by 1838. They were an infrequent event only occurring 26 times between 1400 and the the last fair in 1814. The last one was known as the ‘Great Frost Fair’ and lasted several days. The ice was so thick that an elephant was led across it. The demolition of the old London Bridge in 1831 had the effect that the water became tidal and moved faster.
Not even a cold winter like 1962-63 could freeze the Thames sufficiently for a latter day frost fair. But they live long in the folk memory and these images were a mere 17 years after the event.
Great images!
Thank you! I enjoy these pctures so much. I save them to my Rondeau family research. I am from the line of Rev. William Rondeau who immigrated to Rondeau Island, Livingston Co, Kentucky, and whose sister Phoebe Rondeau Baker immigrated to the States, and from there went to Oakville, Ontario. The Baker farm is now an Ontario Heritage Farm.
To make a long story short, my Canadian Rondeau cousins placed a Rondeau plaque in Christ Church,Spitalfields,and took family photos—AND to our delight we see our Gentle Author walking through the background. Thanks again from the Rondeau family all over North America.
Good to see that St Patrick’s Day was a riot 175 years ago – Seven Dials, of course, and the St Giles/Covent Garden/Soho area, would have been a big centre for Irish immigrants still, as it had been for several decades: my own Irtish ancestor, Maurice Donno, pops up in Soho in the 1810s.