Comments on: Charles Spurgeon’s Londoners

By: Laura

Laura — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 08:49:19 +0000

The cat hanging around the fish seller brought a smile to my face! Fantastic photos.

By: Bill

Bill — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 20:31:17 +0000

These people are known to us only as we see them here, in a sense frozen in time for posterity, for as long as these images survive. Each captured moment is momentous for us, an audience, yet to each of these individuals the moment it took for the light to affix an image onto glass was as nothing. Each, after posing, continued into a life we can never enter into. That old woman turned from the heat of the day into the coolness of a drab hallway, a tang of odor hitting her nostrils, into the existence of her daily life, each aspect of which was known to her as to no other, even her nearest and dearest, each aspect now long done with, joining those countless, innumerable moments of life, once all full, now expired. And one day all the moments of our living lives will be equals with hers.

By: shannon

shannon — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 02:42:03 +0000

So amazing to see these people who lived out their lives in uncomfortable shoes and all weathers, many carrying their wares and tools on their bodies. Some of these jobs were unknown to me, such as the hokey-pokey boy…what is that? And I didn’t know there were children whose job was to sweep crossings. Always a treat to see the archival photos you find.

By: Marnie Sweet

Marnie Sweet — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 14:41:32 +0000

What difficult lives those individuals lived. Despite their sometimes tattered clothing, they all managed to convey a sense of dignity and purpose. Quite a contrast to today’s smarties whose clothing is not cheap but they all manage to appear unkempt and disrespectful.

I could smell the pile of shrimp from my chair–gave me the shivers. No cat winding its way around the legs of those fellows.

The photographs of old London and the brief bios of the photographers are very much appreciated, GA. For just a flash, we are transported back to the lives and environment of some of our forbears.

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 10:34:41 +0000

These images are fascinating. I had no idea there were “classes” of milkmen and I wonder if their wares were also classed. No school for the poor little chap that was out at 7.30 selling newspapers, then presumably sweeping the roads at the crossings for the rest of the day. The Kentish herb seller could be ‘Liza Doolittle and the Muffin Man reminded me of the old nursery rhyme “Have you seen the Muffin Man?”
Although 65 years ago I used to sing that as a child as part of my large nursery rhymes repertoire, I was never really sure what a Muffin Man was, and if I sang it to my grandchildren now they would wonder “What is a nursery rhyme?”

By: Achim

Achim — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 10:26:05 +0000

It is very interesting to see what mostly manual work was done in the streets of London. Many children had to “do it”. But at least there was also a toy seller.

The Blind Fiddler seemed to know that he was quite well placed next to the advertising poster of “Crowder’s Music Hall”.

Love & Peace
ACHIM

By: Chips Barrett

Chips Barrett — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 10:15:37 +0000

That first picture reminds me of Goddard’s pie shop in Greenwich. Used to travel down from Hackney on a Sunday for some lunch and a trawl through the market. Some will disagree, but I thought they did the best pie & mash in London.

By: Anne Spencer

Anne Spencer — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 09:24:03 +0000

Great photos.
I love that there were different classes of Milkman!

By: Caroline Murray

Caroline Murray — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 09:06:54 +0000

Fascinating – I especially liked the class distinction between milkmen!

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 06:51:15 +0000

Very evocative photographs with a tinge of sadness imagining these people had a precarious life in all weathers.
However, focally they were people to look forward and see.