Say not the struggle naught availeth
October 12, 2018 1:30 PM Subscribe
I would love to have a high-res scan of this photo to play with. I wonder what modern editing tools could reveal in this image that is currently hidden by the limits of 19th century technology.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 2:59 PM on October 12, 2018
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 2:59 PM on October 12, 2018
I was curious so I checked out a map of London in 1850. I assume the chimney is the Vitriol Manufactory. If so, my father used to live a little to the left of the photograph, roughly where it says "Proposed Botanic Garden". My own flat was about where the crowds gathered for the Gordon Riots seventy years earlier. Twelve years before that was the Massacre of St George's Fields.
London: city of intermittent hoo-hah.
posted by Grangousier at 6:43 PM on October 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
London: city of intermittent hoo-hah.
posted by Grangousier at 6:43 PM on October 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
This is stunning - thanks, OP.
extra troops were brought to the capital and the authorities enlisted 170,000 special constables
"The entrances to government buildings were blocked with books and files of papers, ministers’ homes were specially protected, soldiers guarded the Bank of England and rifles were issued to the clerks in the General Post Office."
More Kilburn daguerrotypes, including a few Benjamin Disraelis and Florence Nightingales.
posted by Iris Gambol at 7:17 PM on October 12, 2018
extra troops were brought to the capital and the authorities enlisted 170,000 special constables
"The entrances to government buildings were blocked with books and files of papers, ministers’ homes were specially protected, soldiers guarded the Bank of England and rifles were issued to the clerks in the General Post Office."
More Kilburn daguerrotypes, including a few Benjamin Disraelis and Florence Nightingales.
posted by Iris Gambol at 7:17 PM on October 12, 2018
I've always thought they should be armed in the Post Office. Those pensioners can get pretty shirty sometimes.
posted by Grangousier at 3:50 AM on October 13, 2018
posted by Grangousier at 3:50 AM on October 13, 2018
Amazing, thanks for the post! Wikimedia Commons has higher resolution versions up to 2,797 × 1,990 pixels, originally scanned by the Google Art Project I think, from the copy in the Royal Trust Collection.
Members of the Chartists—John Frost, Zephaniah Williams, and William Jones—also have the dubious distinction of being the last people in Britain sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered after the 1839 Newport Rising. It's not clear from Wikipedia if their sentences were formally commuted but instead of being executed they were “transported”, i.e. exiled to the colonies.
posted by XMLicious at 4:45 AM on October 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Members of the Chartists—John Frost, Zephaniah Williams, and William Jones—also have the dubious distinction of being the last people in Britain sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered after the 1839 Newport Rising. It's not clear from Wikipedia if their sentences were formally commuted but instead of being executed they were “transported”, i.e. exiled to the colonies.
posted by XMLicious at 4:45 AM on October 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
As an aside, this entire blog Iconic Photos is pretty damn great. I read through most of it last night. Neat find, clew.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 8:22 AM on October 13, 2018
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 8:22 AM on October 13, 2018
in the largest version at wikimedia you can see, by zooming in on the cart or platform at the center, that the writing on it is backwards. therefore the image is mirror-reversed in orientation despite the apparent evidence given by the flag with the legible numeral 2 on to the left of the platform.
So Grangousier, I would suggest possibly your father once lived a little to the right of the image as we see it.
Delightful to be able to examine things like this in high resolution.
posted by mwhybark at 9:56 AM on October 13, 2018
So Grangousier, I would suggest possibly your father once lived a little to the right of the image as we see it.
Delightful to be able to examine things like this in high resolution.
posted by mwhybark at 9:56 AM on October 13, 2018
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posted by Katjusa Roquette at 2:56 PM on October 12, 2018