Comments on: A Walk Through Time With C A Mathew

By: Leigh Walters

Leigh Walters — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 11:39:16 +0000

It’s strange how the images from 100 years ago look clearer than the more current ones. The one looking down Widegate Street shows this clearly.

By: Cherry Smith

Cherry Smith — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 14:10:30 +0000

My Granny was born in the East End in 1900. By the age of 14, when the photos were taken, she was in service as an under-kitchen-maid at a big house in Kent. She slept there, in the kitchen fireplace. Did you notice how much smaller the ‘ghost’ people are than the modern folks? Malnutrition. Common people were a good 6″ shorter than the upper classes: along with their much shorter lifespan, this was believed to prove their genetic inferiority.

Academics argued that the labouring classes were an inferior breed, incapable of fully responsible behaviour (just as they argued about non-white people.) The Great War and the Spanish Flu were about to wipe out such enormous quantities of people that this conceit could no longer be afforded. We owe our current ideas of equality to the millions who died in those four years.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sun, 09 Mar 2014 19:12:40 +0000

Enchanting and captivating, a portal stepping into a past lifetime!

By: Herry Lawford

Herry Lawford — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 09:36:44 +0000

These should be in the V&A

By: Herry Lawford

Herry Lawford — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 09:35:02 +0000

Wonderful; a brilliant idea

By: Sonia Murray

Sonia Murray — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 02:04:05 +0000

Brilliant pictures, juxtaposing modern London with the ghosts of a bygone era. The casual clothing people wear today contrasts oddly with the formality of Victorian times. Perhaps the women wore voluminous clothes to keep warm. There was no central heating, and coal was very expensive. Fashions in clothing were very slow to change. When my husband came to England in 1954 he noted with surprise that navvies working on the roads wore suits. No blue jeans then!

About the children – families of twelve were commonplace. There was no birth control. And the street was the only place to play.

By: Yvette Williams Elliott

Yvette Williams Elliott — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 23:24:23 +0000

Lynette raised a fascinating question about why there seem to be so many children. I am guessing that large families and overcrowded accomodation meant that kids were lived more of their lives on the street than they do now. Plus, of course, no cars, no computers, and a different set of ideas about what was safe and appropriate for children. Seeing these photographs, I wonder what became of them all…..

By: Yvette Williams Elliott

Yvette Williams Elliott — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 23:18:25 +0000

Sent a shiver down my spine – the past is with us…..

By: Vivienne Palmer

Vivienne Palmer — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 18:21:26 +0000

These are very moving.

By: Elli Pyne

Elli Pyne — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 15:42:00 +0000

Fantastic, what a wonderful idea to combine the old photos with the modern, imagine the multitudes that would occupy these spots if they were blended from every year.
Many thanks Adam Tuck for sharing these amazing pic’s.