Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Categories: Europe | History | Photo project |

Between 1873 and 1877, Scottish photographer John Thomson, along with journalist Adolph Smith, documented the lives of London's urban poor.

The results of their work, entitled "London Street Life", were published every month in parts, and later came out in one volume. Documentary photographs of street vendors, beggars and other street dwellers were combined with interviews, essays and reports that perfectly showed poverty as a sociological problem that needs to be studied and ways to combat it should be found.

The project was one of the first examples of social documentary photography and set the tone for photographers and fighters against social inequality and injustice of the next century, such as Jacob Rees and Lewis Hine.

(Total 33 photos)

Source: mashable.com

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Vegetable seller.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Street procession in honor of Guy Fawkes Night.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Street vendors and a shoe shiner.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

A man is waiting for bored passers-by to offer them a ride on a donkey.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Street photographer.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Oyster street vendor.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Seller of expensive jewelry for such streets.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

An Italian harpist entertains local children.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Water carrier.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Dining room for ex-prisoners. Diner owner (left) talking to local Indian drummer Ramo Sammi.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Cheap ice cream vendor.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Gypsy caravan at a stop near Notting Hill.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Used furniture store.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Flower girls in Covent Garden market.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

A poster poster advertises an exhibition at Madame Tussauds.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Wandering craftsman and ginger beer makers.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

A shoe shiner at work.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

People in front of a junk shop in Lambeth, where the annual flooding from the River Thames causes a lot of trouble for the locals.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Friends enjoy beer.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

A begging woman was paid to look after a child.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

British Army recruiting sergeants at the entrance to the tavern.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

A local merchant sells herring.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Bus driver known as Cast Iron Billy.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Sign artist at work in the studio.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

City disinfectors clean the street after a smallpox outbreak.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Chimney sweep and his assistant.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Two wheel taxi.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Lock master.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Advertisement in 1877.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Workers on the barge.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Porters with baskets of plants.

Endless poverty on the streets of London in 1873-1877

Dealer in cough medicine.

Keywords: Poverty | UK | London | Photographer | Photojournalism

     

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