Sir John Soane’s Other House

In days of yore, men of distinction liked to keep a country pad to escape from the smells and noise of the metropolis where they went about their daily affairs. Think William Hogarth, JMW Turner, Horace Walpole, the Rothschilds. And there were many more. Of course, these are now no longer in the country, but [...]

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Remembering Edward Cave

Yesterday marked the birthday of one Edward Cave (1691 – 1754), but I was too busy to write him up. Cave is not a household name in the annals of London history and nor was he a born Londoner, hailing as he did from Warwickshire. But in 1731 he founded the Gentleman’s Magazine and was [...]

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Holborn Viaduct Furniture

London’s first flyover, opened by Queen Victoria in 1869, Holborn Viaduct spanned the new Farringdon Road. It was just one of many Victorian civil engineering projects which utterly transformed London’s streetscape. Painted in confident maroon and gold, it was richly decorated. Here are some of its enhancements, which I shot last week. There are four [...]

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Review: Dickens’s London

This is a lovely little book, literally. Although hardback and lacking a dustjacket, it is covered in crimson cloth with smart, white embossed lettering, used sparingly. Set in the centre is a glossy image of  a very young Dickens. The inside front and back covers are decorated with 19th Century Ordnance Survey mappage from Putney [...]

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The Government Art Collection

Thanks to a tip-off by Jo Moncrieff of Westminster Walking, I got myself a slot on last Wednesday’s visit to the Government Art Collection (GAC). It was arranged under the auspices of the Whitechapel Gallery‘s current series of exhibitions featuring art from the collections. The Government Art Collection is based in Queen’s Yard  just of [...]

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Trial of the Pyx

Today was the opening ceremony of the annual Trial of the Pyx, held at Goldsmiths’ Hall. The trial lasts until May and about a hundred members of the public are allowed to spectate on the opening day. I managed to secure a small stash of tickets for London Historians, my thanks to the Company of [...]

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Immigrants of Note: Sir Marc Isambard Brunel

The other day I caught the East London Line train from Canada Water to Wapping, travelling through – I think for the first time – Marc Brunel’s tunnel under the Thames. Taking 17 years to complete, between 1825 and 1842, it was his crowning achievement, only made possible by the tunnelling shield, his own invention. The device [...]

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One Horse or Two?

In our February Members’ Newsletter, we have an article by Hannah Renier on Victorian animal rights campaigner Lewis Gompertz. It features an 1865 photo of a horse-drawn ominbus, reproduced below. I captioned it as a single horse vehicle, although one of our members wrote in, convinced there are two horses. There is what appears to [...]

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Review: Fern Fever

A Guest Review by Val Bott FERN FEVER: The Story of Pteridomania by Sarah Whittingham Mike Paterson handed me a weighty package, asking me to review the contents for London Historians. Knowing my interest in horticultural history and that I was unable to attend the launch of Sarah Whittingham’s handsome new book, he knew this [...]

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