Edwardian Life

A selection of images showing what everyday life was like in Edwardian England

Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Blue House, Thames & Severn Canal, Siddington, Gloucestershire Labourers working on the canal at Blue House Reach in the process of puddling or making the canal base watertight through the use of a clay mix. The canal was built in 1789 which was too early to be recorded by a photograph. However this image of the canal being restored to be reopened between 1900 and 1904 shows the techniques that would have been used.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Railway viaduct, Stockport, Manchester The viaduct, opened in 1842 by the Birmingham & Manchester Railway Company, is seen across the smokey rooftops of streets of terraced housing. Factory chimneys can be seen in the background. Each house and factory burns coal for heating, cooking and power.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Charwelton Station, Charwelton, Northamptonshire A welcoming party awaiting the arrival of HRH The Duchess of Albany at Charwelton railway station. The Duchess of Albany was the wife of Prince Leopold, the youngest son of Queen Victoria.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR D M Gant's Offices, 1 Conduit Street, London With its cutting from Sporting Life, and motivational and funny posters this office is not too far removed from many of today. The men are Turf Accountants. A Turf Accountant was an early name for a Betting Agent or Office, and Daniel Gant's office catered for only wealthy clients, as 'off-course' cash betting was still illegal unless done on credit. In 1910, there were six telephone lines listed for Gant's offices, enabling privileged clients to place their bets from the comfort of their own homes. Note the extremely thin telephone directory attached to the wall.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Newcastle Street hoarding, Aldwych, London Newcastle Street hoarding in Aldwych. The posters include Pears' soap, which was advertised on a mass scale in the late 19th century, and Allsop's lager.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Bank of England and the Royal Exchange, City of London A view of Threadneedle Street crowded with horse omnibuses and other horse-drawn traffic. The Bank of England and the Royal Exchange are both decorated for the coronation of Edward VII. After a delay due to ill health, the King was finally crowned on 9th August 1902.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Mrs Bennetts Refreshment House, Lamorna, St Buryan, Cornwall Mrs Bennett selling tea and coffee from her refreshment house at Lamorna. She is seen here with her family.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Wood's Restaurant, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland Waitresses serve afternoon tea in Wood's Restaurant.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Woottons Store, Dinton, Buckinghamshire A group of people dressed in their best clothes outside the shop in Dinton. All of them are wearing hats, the ladies straw boaters. The younger boys are wearing breeches.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR St Giles' Fair, Oxford, Oxfordshire The Collins Helter Skelters standing in St Giles' during the annual fair held at the beginning of September, with a large crowd gathered outside.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Children playing, Dinton, Buckinghamshire A group of children playing in a lane near Dinton, the older children looking after the younger ones.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Harvesting corn, Haddenham, Buckinghamshire At the start of the 20th century many agricultural processes were still performed by hand. This labourer will have lived through the invention of many technologies, including the motorcar and the telephone, that would help shape the new century.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR J Plater's Cart, Van & Carriage Works, Haddenham, Buckinghamshire The staff at J Plater's Carriage Works pose for a group photograph. Is the gentleman in the suit J Plater? Several different crafts are visible: carpenter, wheelwright and smith (in the background). Two of the apprentices look particularly young.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Packing goods at Butler's Wharf, London Large amounts of casual labour were required when trade was good because almost all the work of moving and loading goods was done by hand. Here tea is being weighed and packed into tea chests c1910.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Thomas Cook and Son, 21 Kensington High Street, Kensington, Greater London A horse and carriage outside Thomas Cook & Son, during the widening of Kensington High Street.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Excavating the Rotherhithe Tunnel, Rotherhithe, London The construction of the Rotherhithe road tunnel under the River Thames between Rotherhithe and Shadwell was begun in 1904 under the direction of Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice, and completed in 1908. It was excavated using a Greathead-Moir shield. Air locks allowed the work to proceed under pressure
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Liverpool Street Station, Broadgate, City of London A view of Liverpool Street Station shows that by 1905 commuters were travelling in from the suburbs by train. The scene in this photograph shows a mixture of horse-drawn carriages and commuters. The station was completed in a continental Gothic style as the terminus of the Great Eastern Railway in 1875.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Hampstead Underground Station, Hampstead, London Hampstead Underground Station is advertised as 'now open' soon after the Northern Line was opened by David Lloyd George in June 1907. Faced in tiles, separate entrances and exits were made to avoid congestion.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR High Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire Workmen using pickaxes and shovels to prepare a road surface outside the Examination Schools, designed by T.G. Jackson, built in 1882.