Charles Chusseau-Flaviens, Photographer
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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These photos are simply fantastic.
I want to say you too are simply fantastic GA. I have been reading your daily blog almost from the beginning, I think in 2009. I cannot believe you are still producing such interesting , captivating stories, pictures, emotions of people and streets from this small area of London. I look forward to it every day. I was born in Bethnal Green in 1944 and although I no longer live there, I never really left.
So, although I have thanked you before, I thank you again most sincerely for all you have done and I hope most strongly will continue to do
John Daltrey
Fascinating photographs of a world that would have been familiar to my grandparents. Sobering too, considering the world and life-shattering events that were to follow in the years to come. How it would have changed the lives especially of the youngsters playing on the street corner and those innocently enjoying the sailing boats on the pond..
Striking how very few women are present in these photographs – except of course for the valiant suffragette!
Might the third & fifth images down (of the main photographs), with clusters of men in bowler hats & caps, be of Brick Lane looking north towards Truman’s Brewery ? The plaque address on a facing wall might pinpoint where it was (& could probably be read if enlarged). Many thanks for showing us all these very interesting images of a gone past
Two thoughts: 1. My father (b. 1896) could have been a youngster amidst the crowd along Petticoat Lane; he lived nearby. 2. In response to Caroline Murray: the dearth of females is surely not too surprising. In my family, for example, my mother would have been preparing the Sunday lunch and my sister might have been helping her.
No matter how wonderful those pictures I can’t help wondering how many of those men would soon die in that stupid war that is just around the corner
What wonderful photographs, thank you. The suffragette picture is particularly striking and lead me on to read more of Sir Rufus Isaacs and his actions with regard to the suffragettes as Attorney General at the time. I love how each day brings new things to research as a result of reading your pieces.
Hear Hear John Daltrey. Very well said.
What a great variety of headgear on display. The flat cap stall must have been a shrine for the working class lads. My vote goes to the roadsweeper with his finely perched cap “Up yours mate”
Great pictures..thanks you Jane Yetter
GPS
A man’s world, indeed. I understand more about the creativity and bravery of the suffragettes.
Many thanks gentle author for these wonderful photographs. I was just wondering if anyone can read the number on the collar of the policeman standing outside of JAYS. I have just written a book, currently with my publishers, about the police in the Victorian era and I would love to find out who this officer is. I believe that it should start with a D, as D division patrolled Oxford Street and Regent Street.