Victorian people and costumes Gallery

St Giles Fair, Oxford CC49_00539

St Giles Fair, Oxford, Oxfordshire, September 1905.
Photographed by Henry William Taunt (1842-1922) on silver gelatin glass plate negative. Despite the bustle of St Giles's Fair, the photographer Henry Taunt has inevitably attracted attention perched, presumably on a stepladder, above the fairgoers. Employees of the ornately decorated Taylor's Royal Electric Coliseum are drumming up business, and a Fried Fish and Chip Potato wagon stands beside the gas lamp. St Giles'??s Fair had evolved from a parish wake first mentioned in 1624 into a major amusement fair with special trains bringing visitors from far afield. Taunt photographed the fair from the late 1860s, hoping of course to sell many images, and also out of personal interest

© Historic England

Yeoman Warders DD97_00240

Yeoman Gaoler and Yeoman Warders at the Tower of London, 1873-??8. York & Son wet collodion glass plate negative. Privileged visitors had been permitted to tour the Tower of London since the late 16th century. During the 19th century the Tower continued to house several working institutions, but it gradually became more welcoming to tourists. Indeed, the fortress was deliberately medievalised and historic buildings were destroyed to make the site more attractive to visitors. By the end of the century the Tower was attracting over half a million tourists annually, and there would have been many potential customers for this view of Yeoman Warders or Beefeaters

© Historic England

Floral Festival, Chipping Campden CC73_00462

CHIPPING CAMPDEN, Gloucestershire. A milkmaid with a calf followed by a cart bedecked in flowers and flags form part of the procession through the Cotswold town during the Floral Festival. The Flower Festival was part of Chipping Campden's long established tradition of Whitsun festivities that continued up until the outbreak of the First World War. Photographed by Henry Taunt in 1896

© Historic England