LONDON: “Hookey Alf,” of Whitechapel: Pictured here on the right, ‘Hookey Alf’ – formerly Ted Coally - is a sad tale of poor fortune. Growing up in a prosperous household, he attained an apprenticeship working for the brewery house where his father also worked. A workplace accident saw him fall from height and injure his head – resulting in random epileptic fits – causing the brewery to let him go. Unable to qualify for any academic tasks, Hokkey Alf began work as a coal porter and thrived. Alas, another accident saw him fall from a ladder and shatter his left arm and right wrist. He injured himself so badly that his left arm had to be amputated. He was once again left without work and unable to fend for his family. He was often found outside the pub waiting for occasional chores to pop up to allow him to earn a few pennies. Mediadrumimages/GrantKemp/JohnThomson

By Alex Jones

 

INCREDIBLE colourised photos bring all aspects of Victorian London to life – including street sellers, child labourers, and busking musicians.

The expertly colourised pictures, which were taken in the 1870s, the same decade that the famous British author Charles Dickens passed away, show a bustling London full of character – including flower women selling their wares at Covent Garden; posturing police officers on a recruitment drive at Westminster; and a shoeshine boy doing his best to earn enough money to buy some supper whilst dodging the coppers.

LONDON: Flower Women – Adolphe Smith – “The familiar sight of a poor woman holding a pale child in her arms and offering modest violets to the pedestrian, is pregnant with a poetry which rags and dirt fail to obliterate. In exchange for nature’s gifts, she seems to challenge human compassion; and shall the heart of man remain cold where the produce of field and garden are so bounteous and beautiful?”. Poor flowers seller operating outside Covent Garden, a world away from the wealthy grocers selling their wares in the market, were already victims of the supply-and-demand business pitfalls even in 1870. Mediadrumimages/GrantKemp/JohnThomson

The photos, portraying all walks of life in the UK capital 150 years ago, have been vividly brought to life by Grant Kemp, a graphic designer with over two decades of experience in his field.

“From 1873 to 1877, Scottish photographer John Thomson collaborated with journalist Adolphe Smith to document the lives of London’s urban poor,” explained Kemp.

 

“Their project, Street Life in London, was released in monthly instalments and later as a single volume. Thomson and Smith combined unposed, documentary images of street vendors, beggars and other workers with interviews, essays and reportage, which explored poverty as a sociological problem to be studied and alleviated.

“I have produced colourised versions of 11 photographs that appeared in Street Life in London.

“Hopefully these colourised images help to bring the London of the 1870’s a little closer.”

LONDON: The Temperance Sweep: John Day, a chimney sweep. Once a heavy drinker, war veteran and criminal, Day gave up alcohol and his business subsequently prospered. By this time there were around 2,000 chimney sweeps in London. Mediadrumimages/GrantKemp/JohnThomson

Acclaimed photographer Thomson, who would go onto achieve a royal warrant for his work, and radical journalist Adolphe Smith, took on the fairly unheard-of task of introducing the middle and upper classes to the plight of the working folk.

In their book, Smith and Thomson write: “We have sought to portray these harder phases of life, bringing to bear the precision of photography in illustration of our subjects. The unquestionable accuracy of this testimony will enable us to present true types of the London poor and shield us from the accusation of either underrating or exaggerating individual peculiarities of appearance.”

LONDON: “Hookey Alf,” of Whitechapel: Pictured here on the right, ‘Hookey Alf’ – formerly Ted Coally – is a sad tale of poor fortune. Growing up in a prosperous household, he attained an apprenticeship working for the brewery house where his father also worked. A workplace accident saw him fall from height and injure his head – resulting in random epileptic fits – causing the brewery to let him go. Unable to qualify for any academic tasks, Hokkey Alf began work as a coal porter and thrived. Alas, another accident saw him fall from a ladder and shatter his left arm and right wrist. He injured himself so badly that his left arm had to be amputated. He was once again left without work and unable to fend for his family. He was often found outside the pub waiting for occasional chores to pop up to allow him to earn a few pennies. Mediadrumimages/GrantKemp/JohnThomson

Although frequently dismissive of the conditions poorer member of society found themselves in, Smith did at least attempt to lend a sympathetic ear to the people he portrayed and their all-too-often distressing stories. According to the London School of Economics Street Life in London, one of the very first books to include ‘true to life’ images, is now regarded as a key work in the history of documentary photography.

Striking images like these are featured in British author Michael D. Carroll’s book, Retrographic. It is available on Amazon now for £16.85.

 

For more information visit: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Retrographic-Historys-Exciting-Images-Transformed/dp/1908211504

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