19th century Archives - Page 2 of 3

Featured local business - Clubtek

Forest

SE23

Hill

I was already a regular visitor to Clubtek’s DJ shop when it was in Penge, but now they're even handier in Stanstead Road, just a few doors down from Shannon’s Garden Centre - another old favourite. It’s by no means just for DJs and bands...

South London marches on Westminster – John Henry Mackay on the World Metropolis in 1880s

Aug

2014

John Henry Mackay (1864-1933) was a Scottish-born, German-raised individualist anarchist. His novel, 'The Anarchists: A Picture of Civilization at the Close of the Nineteenth Century' was written in German and published in English translation by Benjamin Tucker in Boston in 1891.The novel draws on the author's time in London in 1887, and includes some great ...

A violent storm in London, 1834

Feb

2014

'On Tuesday last, the Metropolis was visited with a violent storm of wind and rain, which did considerable damage, principally in the suburbs. On the Thames, numerous tiers of shipping in the upper and lower pools broke from their moorings, and several of the colliers were injured. Two ballast-lighters went down off Deptford; but the ...

Deptford from Telegraph Hill in 1815

Feb

2014

This illustration is entitled 'view of Deptford from Plow Garlic Hill, Brockley, AD 1815'. It is reproduced from 'The History of Deptford' by Nathan Dews, published in 1884. One thing that is unclear is whether this is a reproduction of an illustration from 1815, or an engraving done in the 1880s by someone imagining what ...

1890s (?) map of Brockley/New Cross/Nunhead/Lewisham

Jan

2014

A friend gave me this old Brockley-centred street map. It is printed one-sided on folded card, so was presumably a stand alone map to carry in the pocket rather than part of a book. But it is clearly one of a collection as it refers to other sheet numbers for adjoining maps.But when was it ...

The Transpontine Paris Commune

Nov

2013

Always on the look out for uses of the word 'transpontine', so that was the first word I entered when I found the treasure trove of the Spectator archive. There were quite a few references, confirming its most common meaning as being in relation to the 19th century theatres of South London, with their taste ...

Commonweal: late 19th century socialism in South London

Sep

2013

The Socialist League was a significant force in radical politics in the late 19th century (it existed from 1885 to 1901), most famously associated with William Morris. Its newspaper Commonweal is now largely online and is a fascinating source for London politics in that period, with its listings of meetings and branches. For instance in ...

The Walpole Vanishes

Aug

2013

The Walpole Inn in New Cross Road has now been completely demolished. It closed last year, and planning permission has been granted for a hotel to be built there. The adjoining buildings that lately housed the tattoo parlour and hairdressers have also gone.When I went past a couple of months ago, most of it had ...

History Corner: Peckham Anarchists in the 1890s

Jul

2013

Interesting account by Nick Heath at Libcom on 'state repression against the Peckham Anarchist Communist Group in 1894':'In the 1890s several groups of, in the main, young activists broke away from Hyndman’s Social Democratic Federation and coalesced as anarchist groups in Canning Town, Deptford and Peckham. The Peckham Anarchist-Communist Group was one of these groups ...

Walworth radical history walk

Jun

2013

Interesting radical history/geography walk last weekend from 56a InfoShop in Crampton Street, around the the top end of Walworth Road and the Pullens Estate SE17 courtesy of Past Tense.How the poor dieOne theme was who gets remembered and who get forgotten in the official record, with reference to Orwell's How the Poor Die. We were reminded of Ayikoe ...

The origins of the May Day bank holiday

May

2013

Enjoying the May Day bank holiday? A resolution calling for two new public holidays a year, on May Day and New Year's Day, was passed by the Trades Union Congress in 1970 and in 1975 the Labour Government declared that from 1978, May Day (or the Monday after it) would be a bank holiday. So this is ...