Charles Chusseau-Flaviens’ London
Petticoat Lane
Photographer Charles Chusseau-Flaviens came to London from Paris and took these pictures, reproduced courtesy of George Eastman House, before the First World War – mostly likely in 1911. This date is suggested by his photograph of the proclamation of the coronation of George V which took place in that year. Very little is known of Chusseau-Flaviens except he founded one of the world’s first picture agencies, located at 46 Rue Bayen, and he operated through the last decade of the nineteenth and first decade of the twentieth century. Although their origin is an enigma, Chusseau-Flaviens’ photographs of London and especially of Petticoat Lane constitute a rare and precious vision of a lost world.
Petticoat Lane
Sandys Row with Frying Pan Alley to the right
Proclamation of the coronation of George V, 1911
Crossing sweeper in the West End
Policeman on the beat in Oxford Circus, Regent St
Beating the bounds for the Tower of London, Trinity Sq
Boats on the Round Pond, Kensington Gardens
Suffragette in Trafalgar Sq
Photographs courtesy George Eastman House
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What a treasure trove! Keep digging, GA.
What incredible photos. They seem so much more realistic than carefully posed images of the time. That top picture is very Gustave Dore.
Images to look at again and again. So many people interacting compared with our streets now.
I like the Beating the Bounds,this is a tradition that has been lost,or has it,does anyone know?
I registered a Village Green here on the IW and tried hard to get the tradition of Beating the Bounds started again,it is a wonderful way of getting children to understand land boundries and their enviroment.
Brilliant photos. Thank you for posting them.
LOVE!
Special pictures.
Wonderful to see these precious scenes recorded. I’d like to find out more about exact locations and which if any of the buildings in the Petticoat and Brick Lane ones are still standing.
Liz Gowers if you put ‘Beating the Bounds’ into the Spitalfields Life searchbox, you will see that the gentle author has done at least two pieces on the subject, on beating the bounds of the City of London and of the Tower. The ceremony is by no means extinct I think, and takes place up and down the country.
I never knew about these photos from the Geo Eastman House, and I live in Rochester, where it’s located. So glad to see them posted here. Thank you !
Fabulous photos. Love the policeman and the suffragette.
Stunning! On first viewing (before reading the words!) I thought they showed London in the 1890s. It’s hard to believe that they were taken in the same era as my dad was born. I guess many of the photos are showing immigrants from Europe wearing clothes that may well have been viewed as archaic to our eyes.