London (1926)

In 1926 Claude Friese-Greene shot some of the first-ever colour film footage around London, capturing everyday life.

Friese-Greene’s technique - innovated by his father and called Biocolour - captures London in striking detail, as if putting the whole city in a time capsule. The people pass before us like ghosts.

Biocolour produced the illusion of true colour by exposing each alternate frame of ordinary black-and-white film stock through a two different coloured filters. Each alternate frame of the monochrome print was then stained red or green. Although the projection of Biocolour prints did provide a tolerable illusion of true colour, it suffered from noticeable flickering and red-and-green fringing when the subject was in rapid motion. In an attempt to overcome the colour fringing problem, a faster-than-usual frame rate was used.

Claude, born Claude Harrison Greene was the son of colour film pioneer, William Friese-Greene.

After William’s death in 1921, Claude Friese-Greene continued to develop the Biocolour system during the 1920s and renamed the process Friese-Greene Natural Colour. Claude was cinematographer on more than 60 films from 1923 to 1943.

The British Film Institute used computer enhancement to reduce the flickering effect of the original Biocolour and bring us this striking rare film which transports us back through time.

Note: Original Vimeo video stated the date as 1927 but footage dates from 1926.

Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence

Click here to explore another London street
We now have 643 completed street histories and 46857 partial histories
Find streets or residential blocks within the M25 by clicking STREETS

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

The Underground Map Pepys Street, EC3N Added: 20 Sep 2020 13:01 GMT	Pepys starts diary On 1 January 1659, Samuel Pepys started his famous daily diary and maintained it for ten years. The diary has become perhaps the most extensive source of information on this critical period of English history. Pepys never considered that his diary would be read by others. The original diary consisted of six volumes written in Shelton shorthand, which he had learned as an undergraduate on scholarship at Magdalene College, Cambridge. This shorthand was introduced in 1626, and was the same system Isaac Newton used when writing. Reply
Christine D Elliott Spitalfields Added: 11 Jun 2023 14:50 GMT	Spitalfields Charles Blutte came to Spitalfields from Walincourt, Picardie, France for reason of religious persecution. His brother Pierre Phillippe Blutte followed the following year. Between the two brothers they had eventually 20 children, they worked as silk weavers around the Brick Lane area. Member’s of Pierre’s family resided at 40 Thomas Street for over 100 years. Another residence associated with the Blutte family is Vine Court, Lamb Street, Spitalfields, number 16,17 & 18 Vine Court was owned by John Kindon, the father in law of Charles Blutte’s son Jean (John) who married Ann Kindon. This residence appears several times in the census records. Source: Quarto_52_Vol_LII_La_Providence Reply
Graham O’Connell Lloyds Wharf, SE1 Added: 10 Apr 2021 10:24 GMT	Lloyd & Sons, Tin Box Manufacturers (1859 - 1982) A Lloyd & Sons occupied the wharf (now known as Lloyds Wharf, Mill Street) from the mid 19th Century to the late 20th Century. Best known for making tin boxes they also produced a range of things from petrol canisters to collecting tins. They won a notorious libel case in 1915 when a local councillor criticised the working conditions which, in fairness, weren’t great. There was a major fire here in 1929 but the company survived at least until 1982 and probably a year or two after that. Reply
jack stevens Whites Row, E1 Added: 26 Sep 2021 13:38 GMT	Mothers birth place Number 5 Whites Row which was built in around 1736 and still standing was the premises my now 93 year old mother was born in, her name at birth was Hilda Evelyne Shaw, Reply
margaret clark Thrawl Street, E1 Added: 15 Oct 2021 22:23 GMT	Margaret’s address when she married in 1938 ^, Josepine House, Stepney is the address of my mother on her marriage certificate 1938. Her name was Margaret Irene Clark. Her father Basil Clark was a warehouse grocer. Reply
Old Nichol Street, E2 Added: 6 Nov 2021 15:03 GMT	Old Nichol Street, E2 Information about my grandfather’s tobacconist shop Reply
Admin Tower Bridge, SE1 Added: 26 Aug 2022 15:19 GMT	Bus makes a leap A number 78 double-decker bus driven by Albert Gunter was forced to jump an accidentally opening Tower Bridge. He was awarded a £10 bonus. Reply
MCNALLY Blackfriars Added: 17 May 2021 09:42 GMT	Blackfriars (1959 - 1965) I lived in Upper Ground from 1959 to 1964 I was 6 years old my parents Vince and Kitty run the Pub The Angel on the corner of Upper Ground and Bodies Bridge. I remember the ceiling of the cellar was very low and almost stretched the length of Bodies Bridge. The underground trains run directly underneath the pub. If you were down in the cellar when a train was coming it was quite frightening Reply
Martin Eaton Shoreditch Added: 14 Oct 2021 03:56 GMT	Boundary Estate Sunbury, Taplow House. Reply
Johnshort Hurley Road, SE11 Added: 7 Oct 2017 21:07 GMT	Hurley Road, SE11 There were stables in the road mid way - also Danny reading had a coal delivery lorry. Reply
The Underground Map Aldgate Added: 8 Mar 2021 15:05 GMT	A plague on all your houses Aldgate station is built directly on top of a vast plague pit, where thousands of bodies are apparently buried. No-one knows quite how many. Reply
Tom Blackfriars Added: 21 May 2021 23:07 GMT	Blackfriars What is, or was, Bodies Bridge? Reply
Liverpool Street Added: 21 Apr 2021 16:21 GMT	Liverpool Street the Bishopsgate station has existed since 1840 as a passenger station, but does not appear in the site’s cartography. Evidently, the 1860 map is in fact much earlier than that date. Reply
Talbot Yard, SE1 Added: 27 Jul 2021 14:31 GMT	correction Chaucer did not write Pilgrims Progress. His stories were called the Canterbury Tales Reply
All bar one Added: 3 Jun 2021 15:50 GMT	All Bar One The capitalisation is wrong Reply

LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Jean Deane Mill Lane, looking east (1900s) Added: 2 Oct 2023 16:43 GMT	Advertisement for a laundry in Mill Lane, Brixton Hill, SW2 from early 1900’s The New Imperial Laundry Source: From a Ladies glance guide for Mistress and Maid Reply
Sue Meyrick Road, SW11 Added: 24 Sep 2023 19:09 GMT	Meyrick Rd My family - Roe - lived in poverty at 158 Meyrick Rd in the 1920s, moving to 18 Lavender Terrace in 1935. They also lived in York Rd at one point. Alf, Nell (Ellen), plus children John, Ellen (Did), Gladys, Joyce & various lodgers. Alf worked for the railway (LMS). Reply
Michael Tyrrell Avenue, DA16 Added: 20 Sep 2023 21:10 GMT	Momentous Birth! I was born in the upstairs front room of 28 Tyrrell Avenue in August 1938. I was a breach birth and quite heavy ( poor Mum!). My parents moved to that end of terrace house from another rental in St Mary Cray where my three year older brother had been born in 1935. The estate was quite new in 1938 and all the properties were rented. My Father was a Postman. I grew up at no 28 all through WWII and later went to Little Dansington School Reply
Mike Levy Arbour Square, E1 Added: 19 Sep 2023 18:10 GMT	Bombing of Arbour Square in the Blitz On the night of September 7, 1940. Hyman Lubosky (age 35), his wife Fay (or Fanny)(age 32) and their son Martin (age 17 months) died at 11 Arbour Square. They are buried together in Rainham Jewish Cemetery. Their grave stones read: "Killed by enemy action" Reply
Lady Townshend Bridge House Added: 8 Sep 2023 16:02 GMT	Tenant at Westbourne (1807 - 1811) I think that the 3rd Marquess Townshend - at that time Lord Chartley - was a tenant living either at Westbourne Manor or at Bridge House. He undertook considerable building work there as well as creating gardens. I am trying to trace which house it was. Any ideas gratefully received Reply
Alex Britton Roding Valley Added: 30 Aug 2023 10:43 GMT	Late opening The tracks through Roding Valley were opened on 1 May 1903 by the Great Eastern Railway (GER) on its Woodford to Ilford line (the Fairlop Loop). But the station was not opened until 3 February 1936 by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER, successor to the GER). Source: Roding Valley tube station - Wikipedia Reply
Kevin Pont Roding Valley Added: 30 Aug 2023 09:52 GMT	Shhh.... Roding Valley is the quietest tube station, each year transporting the same number of passengers as Waterloo does in one day. Reply
Kevin Pont Dollis Hill Added: 30 Aug 2023 09:47 GMT	The connection with Bletchley Park The code-breaking computer used at Bletchley Park was built in Dollis Hill. Reply

Click here to explore another London street
We now have completed street histories and partial histories

City of London

The City of London constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages, but the conurbation has since grown far beyond its borders.

As the City's boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, it is now only a tiny part of the metropolis of Greater London, though it remains a notable part of central London. It holds city status in its own right and is also a separate ceremonial county.

It is widely referred to as 'The City' (often written on maps as City and differentiated from the phrase 'the city of London') or 'the Square Mile' as it is 1.12 square miles in area. These terms are also often used as metonyms for the United Kingdom's financial services industry, which continues a notable history of being largely based in the City.

The local authority for the City, the City of London Corporation, is unique in the UK and has some unusual responsibilities for a local council, such as being the police authority. It also has responsibilities and ownerships beyond the City's boundaries. The Corporation is headed by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, an office separate from (and much older than) the Mayor of London.

The City is a major business and financial centre, ranking as the world's leading centre of global finance. Throughout the 19th century, the City was the world's primary business centre, and continues to be a major meeting point for businesses.

The City had a resident population of about 7000 in 2011 but over 300,000 people commute to it and work there, mainly in the financial services sector. The legal profession forms a major component of the northern and western sides of the City - especially in the Temple and Chancery Lane areas where the Inns of Court are located, of which two—Inner Temple and Middle Temple - fall within the City of London boundary.

LOCAL PHOTOS

Click here to see map view of nearby Creative Commons images
Click here to see Creative Commons images near to this postcode

Bank station Credit: IG/steven.maddison TUM image id: 1653840363 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Postal area SE1 TUM image id: 1483541461 Licence: CC BY 2.0	"Cheapside and Bow Church" engraved by W. Albutt (1837) First published in The History of London: Illustrated by Views in London and Westminster. Steel engraved print after a picture by T.H. Shepherd. Credit: W. Albutt TUM image id: 1507465321 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Georg Giese from Danzig, 34-year-old German merchant at the Steelyard, painted in London by Hans Holbein in 1532 Credit: Hans Holbein TUM image id: 1490827371 Licence:	Walbrook Wharf is an operating freight wharf located in the City of London adjacent to Cannon Street station. TUM image id: 1508582712 Licence: CC BY 2.0
The Great Synagogue of London (1810) Credit: Thomas Rowlandson (1756â TUM image id: 1518368926 Licence: CC BY 2.0	The Aldgate Pump (1874) Aldgate Pump is a historic water pump located at the junction where Aldgate meets Fenchurch Street and Leadenhall Street. The pump is notable for its long, and sometimes dark history, as well as its cultural significance as a symbolic start point of the East End of London. The term "East of Aldgate Pump" is used as a synonym for the East End or for East London as a whole. Credit: Wellcome Images TUM image id: 1518792844 Licence:	Bevis Marks Synagogue Credit: John Salmon TUM image id: 1519475277 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Exterior of St Katherine Cree, City of London Credit: Prioryman TUM image id: 1519729630 Licence: CC BY 2.0	St James Duke Credit: Robert William Billings and John Le Keux TUM image id: 1520552156 Licence: CC BY 2.0
Petticoat Lane in the 1920s Credit: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress) TUM image id: 1523993996 Licence:	Etching of All Hallows Staining tower, drawn in 1922 Credit: Public domain TUM image id: 1585749143 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Mark Lane station Credit: London Transport TUM image id: 1585759751 Licence:	Wagstaff Buildings, Sumner Road, Bankside, c. 1920. TUM image id: 1557142019 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Hopton Street, Borough, 1977. TUM image id: 1557142131 Licence: CC BY 2.0

In the neighbourhood...

Click an image below for a better view...

Bank station
Credit: IG/steven.maddison
Licence: CC BY 2.0

"Cheapside and Bow Church" engraved by W. Albutt (1837) First published in The History of London: Illustrated by Views in London and Westminster. Steel engraved print after a picture by T.H. Shepherd.
Credit: W. Albutt
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Georg Giese from Danzig, 34-year-old German merchant at the Steelyard, painted in London by Hans Holbein in 1532
Credit: Hans Holbein
Licence:

Walbrook Wharf is an operating freight wharf located in the City of London adjacent to Cannon Street station.
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Southwark Cathedral
Credit: IG/aleks london diary
Licence:

"London Bridge from the Old Swan" by the Irish painter Hubert Pugh (1780) Shooting the tidal rapids at old London Bridge was dangerous; many passengers preferred to get off at the Old Swan, and walk. Immediately across the river in the painting is St Saviour’s Church, now Southwark Cathedral.
Credit: Hubert Pugh (Bank of England Museum)
Licence:

HMS Belfast (2022)
Credit: IG/city visual
Licence: CC BY 2.0

The George Inn (1889) On Borough High Street and once known as the George and Dragon, the pub is the only surviving galleried London coaching inn.
Credit: National Trust
Licence:

Optician built into the facade of St Ethelburga’s, Bishopsgate, c.1910
Credit: Bishopsgate Institute
Licence:

The Church of All Hallows Lombard Street as seen from Ball Alley in the 1820s. All Hallows was a rare City of London church not demolished due to the Great Fire or the Blitz but to falling attendances. Taken from ’The Churches of London’ by George Godwin (1839)
Credit: Robert William Billings and John Le Keux
Licence:

MAP YEAR:	1750	1800	1810	1820	1830	1860	1900	1950	2023	Show map without markers
ZOOM:	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17 18	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17 18
	TIP: Clicking MAPS at the top will display a full-screen map without the accompanying article