Charles Spurgeon’s Londoners
Charles Spurgeon the Younger, son of the Evangelist Charles Haddon Spurgeon, took over the South St Baptist Chapel in Greenwich in the eighteen-eighties and commissioned an unknown photographer to make lantern slides of the working people of Greenwich that he could use in his preaching. We shall never know exactly how Spurgeon showed these pictures, taken between 1884 and 1887, but – inadvertently – he was responsible for the creation of one of the earliest series of documentary portraits of Londoners.
Champion Pie Man – W.Thompson, Pie Maker of fifty years, outside his shop in the alley behind Greenwich Church
Hokey-Pokey Boy – August Bank Holiday, Stockwell St, Greenwich
Knife Grinder – posed cutting out a kettle bottom from a tin sheet
Rabbit Seller
Toy Seller – King William St outside Royal Naval College, Greenwich
Ginger Cakes Seller – King St, near Greenwich Park
Sweep
Shrimp Sellers – outside Greenwich Park
Crossing Sweeper (& News Boy) – Clarence St, Greenwich
Sherbert Seller – outside Greenwich Park
Third Class Milkman – carrying two four-gallon cans on a yoke, King William’s Walk, Greenwich
Second Class Milkman – with a hand cart and seventeen-gallon churn
Master Milkman – in his uniform, outside Royal Naval College, Greenwich
Chairmender – Corner of Prince Orange Lane, Greenwich
Kentish Herb Woman – Greenwich High Rd
Muffin Man
Fishmongers
Try Your Weight – outside Greenwich Park
Glazier
News Boy (& Crossing Sweeper) – delivering The Daily News at 7:30am near Greenwich Pier
Old Clo’ Man – it was a crime to dispose of infected clothing during the Smallpox epidemics of the eighteen-eighties and the Old Clo’ Man plied a risky trade.
Blind Fiddler – outside Crowders’ Music Hall Greenwich
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Great photographs – I am always interested in anything to do with the Spurgeon family- my great grandmother attended Spurgeon’s Bible Class [that’s Spurgeon Senior] and then a hundred years later, my husband trained at his College, now situated in South Norwood!
Very interesting photographs I know Greenwich very well and enjoyed Greenwich when living nearby it still has a lot of atmosphere also Deptford especially the street market on Saturdays. Very lively and full of characters.
A remarkable series of craftsmen portraits from more than a century ago! Pay attention to the small double jobber boy … 🙂
Love & Peace
ACHIM
Fabulous pictures once again..Thank you Gentle Author.
Beryl Happe
Interesting to have three classes of milkman.
My uncle was a milkman either just before the 2ndWW or just after. He had to chase his horse round the field and hitch to the cart before he could start.
I find these kinds of portraits so poignant. One has a sense of what a hardscrabble life many of these people endured.
How fascinating! Where are the original photos now?
Great pictures. I wonder if the child in the third and last picture is the same one?
Can you tell me which archive / library this photo collection is held in today?
Many thanks.