Sujet

Members of the South Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps at work by torchlight in the gardens..., 1862. Creator: Unknown.

Légende

Members of the South Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps at work by torchlight in the gardens of Burlington House, Piccadilly, clearing the ground for a drill-shed, 1862. 'Amateur navvies...[building] a new room of corrugated iron, 150ft. long by 50ft. broad, for the use of the companies of the regiment situated in London. It was found necessary to remove an immense bank of earth, containing many hundred cubic yards, so as to get the desired level for the floor of the drill-room...Lord Ranelagh, the indefatigable commandant of the South Middlesex, called for volunteers...[and]each night a squad of from 60 to 100 men have been at work from four to ten o'clock with pick, spade, and barrow, in true navvy style...The work was carried on by the light of cressets, with enormous fires in them, camphine lamps, and torches...To judge from the work done, the problem of fortifying London in case of invasion is at last solved. Our volunteer corps would, judging by this instance, turn out any number of most efficient navvies at a moment's notice to construct earthworks in the vicinity of the metropolis. The amount of skill and energy displayed by these amateur navvies...shows what can be done by our young men when they determine to carry out anything'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.

Date

1862

Crédit

Photo12/Heritage Images/The Print Collector

Notre référence

HRM24A08_325

Model release

NA

Property release

NA

Licence

Droits gérés

Format disponible

55,6Mo (6,4Mo) / 45,6cm x 30,5cm / 5383 x 3607 (300dpi)

Mots clés

London England people male job man men hat arts light night lights construction site art guy smoke occupation clothes British tools tool color lighting dress war building site builders builder Piccadilly workmen workman Armed Forces Victorian century Britain profession newspapers press clothing print labourer labourers concept top hat top hats time of day APPAREL B&W wheelbarrow Army pickaxe pickaxes warfare volunteer volunteers engraved engraving wheelbarrows Colour 19th century black & white black and white B W armed services white and black British Army nineteenth century City of Westminster The Print Collector brazier Burlington House Illustrated London News navvy pick axe TGN ILN newspaper voluntary Unknown tophat working man navvies 19th-century clothing & dress fashion & clothing pick axes