William Whiffin, Photographer
William Whiffin (1878-1957) is one of the great unsung London photographers, which makes it a rare pleasure to present this gallery of his pictures from the collection of his granddaughter Hellen Martin. Born into a family of photographers in the East End, Whiffin made his living with studio portraits and commercial commissions, yet he strove to be recognised for his more artistic photography.
Lion Brewery and the Shot Tower, South Bank
The photographer’s son Sid Whiffin at Cooper’s Stairs, Old Queen St
Off Fetter Lane
The Pantheon, Oxford St
In Princes Sq, Stepney
Figureheads of fighting ships in Grosvenor Rd
At Covent Garden Market
Jewry Street, off Aldgate High St
Milwall & the Island Horse Omnibus, c.1910
St Catherine Coleman next to Fenchurch St Station
In Fleet St
In Buckfast St, Bethnal Green
At Borough Market
In Lombard St
Rotherhithe Watch House
Wapping Old Stairs
Junction of Cambridge Heath Rd & Hackney Rd
Ratcliff Stairs, Limehouse
Ratcliff Causeway, Limehouse
St Jude’s, Commercial St
Farthing Bundles at the Fern St Settlement, Bow
Houndsditch Rag Fair
At the Royal Exchange, City of London
Weavers’ House, Bethnal Green Rd
Off Pennington St, Wapping
Borough of Poplar Electricity Dept
Pruning in the hop gardens of Faversham
Photographs copyright © Estate of William Whiffin
Hellen Martin & I should be very grateful if readers can identify any of the uncaptioned photographs
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He truly is a great photographer. An incredible sense of composition and drama.
Farthing Bundles. In 1973 the custom was still taking place.
The turn of the century saw the founding of a number of settlements in the poorest parts
of London. The Fern Street Settlement was founded on behalf of the Devon’s Junior School in 1907 by the school’s headmistress and warden, Miss Clara Grant. She therefore started an
imaginative scheme known as ‘farthing bundles’. Any child who had a farthing and could
walk under a wooden arch forty- eight inches high without stooping received a bundle. These usually contained note-pads, pencils, small toys, pieces of string, etc. Over the arch she had painted: ‘Enter all ye children small, none can come who are too tall.’ In 1973 children
had to pay a penny for their bundle and the children had a fifty-two-inch arch to go through every other Saturday; attendance is also down to between fifteen and thirty.
The shot tower: why was such a unique item destroyed? I recall no pressure for its preservation, though that means little. What a shame!
I would love to see what those places look like today. An interesting project for the Gentle Author?
Dear Gentle Author, thank you for continuing to provide such a fascinating, rich and illuminating slice of East End life and history every day. My father, Ernest Watts, was born at 192 Vallance Road in Bethnal Green in 1921. His family and his mother’s family, the Browns, lived there from 1919 until the early 1960s in the case of my greatgrandmother Emma Brown. Would you be able to point me towards any pictures in your archive of Vallance Road in the pre-WWII years? I would be most grateful
With thanks and best wishes
Mike Watts
WHAT wonderful photographs!!!!!!!
Thank you so very very very much for opening them up to us.
He had a wonderful eye for composition–his photos capture with it, then draw me in to the people he photographs. The children are so solemn. Levels of ancient London, now long gone. I really enjoyed this post.
Thank you for showing some of my grandfather’s work. It does take you back to another time. Let’s hope there is somebody out there with more info. Kind regards.
It was interesting to see The Pantheon in Oxford Street, where Marks & Spencers is now, between Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road.
It is wonderful to see these lovely historical photographs.
Great Photos.The photo of the children at an Xmas Party was taken in late 1950 at Mayflower Primary School the Teacher on the right with glasses on is Mr Kelvin. One of the members of my group Upper North Street School confirmed this. The group is to remember the 18 Children Killed 13th June 1917 by a German Bomb, If the family should come across any more photos of the school we would be forever grateful if we could see them.I can be contacted via the facebook Group uppernorthstreetscool1917
Regards
Stan
Some fabulous and very evocative images. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful post.
A picture is worth a thousand words. These are suberb photographs of what was still very much Dickensian London.
Fabulous photos !!
I particularly like the one with the woman & the boy with a broken arm ( very fancy sling)
holding the dog upright !
One can only speculate on the back story!
However just a correction One of the photos shows Rotherhithe Engine House where the parish fire engine was kept not the Watch House as captioned
Built in 1821 at the entrance to St Mary’s Churchyard extension ,a pair of small buildings still in existence The Watchouse is now a lovely cafe but there is only the facade of the Engine House which makes this record even more valuable
These old photographic blog posts are my favourite of The Gentle Author’s content – please keep them coming!
An absolute gem of a blof today.
Whiffin was indeed a great “unsung” artist and the more I see of his photos the more I feel angry at his neglect/recognition.
Was it because his studio was in Poplar?
What an absolute treasure trove of Ye Olde London. Thank you so much for sharing these with us.
These are terrific photos. I’ve only ever seen a Whiffen photo before in a Museum of London book called Photographers’ London (now retitled London Street Photography 1860-2010). There really should be a collection published.
Having walked down Lombard Street last week reminds one of how things change and yet there
remains a certain sense of historical continuity. These photos are good examples of this aspect of city life.
Hello I live in Canada and I have a photograph here that was done by William Whiffin in May 1932.of a soldier. my father was from England and was the only one that moved here in the 1940s and I was wondering where I can send this photo to see who it might be if it may be one of my dad’s brothers last name was Maslen . I hope you can help me so I can leave this information for my children as I am 74 now thank you kindly