Pollution Collection

Liverpool & Mersey Tug
The Mersey tug The Minegarth, approaching the Pier Head at Liverpool, Merseyside, England, with the Royal Liver Building beyond. Date: 1950s

Tate & Lyle Refinery
A coastal barge sailing by the famous Tate and Lyle sugar refinery works, Plaistow Wharf, off Silvertown, North Woolwich, east London

Scunthorpe Iron Works
Iron-smelting works at Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England

Battersea Power Station
The chimneys of Battersea Power Station, view across the River Thames, from Chelsea Reach, London

Battersea Power Station
Designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, building began in 1933. It was the first of a series of very large electric generators set up in order to nationalize the grid

Miners Coming to Work
Welsh men and women mineworkers coming to work in the early morning

Welwyn Garden City, an example of town planning
An advertisement for new houses and industrial sites at the new town of Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, an example of town planning, designed to take people away from polluted cities

Cwmpennar Colliery, Glamorgan, South Wales
View of Cwmpennar Colliery (also known as the Powell Duffryn Colliery), Mountain Ash, Glamorgan, South Wales

Corner of Baker Street and Dorset Street, Marylebone, London
National Westminster Bank building on the corner of Baker Street and Dorset Street, Marylebone, London. Date: circa 1905

Marine Colliery, Cwm, Ebbw Vale, Gwent, South Wales
View of the Marine Colliery, Cwm, Ebbw Vale, Gwent, South Wales. Date: early 20th century

Silent Highwayman
Death - The Silent Highway-Man of the polluted River Thames

Lambeth Bridge 1950S
Industrial steam tugs passing underneath Lambeth Bridge, London, England

Harley Street, London W1
Harley Street (looking south), London. Date: circa 1910

Penrhiwceibr Colliery, Glamorgan, South Wales
View of Penrhiwceibr (Penrhiwceiber) Colliery, Glamorgan, South Wales. The colliery closed in 1985

BSC works, Port Talbot, West Glamorgan, South Wales
View of the BSC (British Steel Corporation) works in Port Talbot, West Glamorgan, South Wales, with rows of houses in the foreground

Smoke of the Potteries
The pall of smoke from the factories of the Potteries - the six towns of Staffordshire where the ceramic industry is located. Date: early 20th century

Court for King Cholera
A Court for King Cholera

Old Town and Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland
The Old Town and Castle in Edinburgh, Scotland, seen from Princes Street, with some smoking chimneys in the foreground

1957 nuclear test: Fall-out
Fallout: The sinister and prolonged after-effect of nuclear explosions: a drawing illustrating some characteristics of this haunting phenomenon.An illustration by special Illustrated London News

Road Works in Whitehall, London, 1882
Engraving, originally entitled Horse Guards under Fire again, showing a group of workmen re-surfacing the road in Whitehall, London, 1882

Jousofka (Yusovka, Stalino, Donetsk), Ukraine
General view of Jousofka (Yusovka, Stalino, Donetsk), an industrial city in eastern Ukraine

Gerald Road Police Station, Belgravia, London
Gerald Road Police Station (left), Belgravia, London. Date: circa 1910

Victoria Colliery, Ebbw Vale, Gwent, South Wales
View of the Victoria Colliery, Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent, South Wales

Ferndale Colliery and Tylorstown, Glamorgan, South Wales
View of Ferndale Colliery (also known as Blaenllechau Colliery) and Tylorstown, Rhondda Valley, Glamorgan, South Wales

Anti-Flu Masks
A man and a woman wearing anti-flu masks. These masks cover the nose and mouth and are designed to prevent germs spreading. They may work but they look very curious!

Holloway Road, Islington, North London, with a large public house on the corner. Date: circa 1905

Stroud Green Road, Finsbury Park, North London. Date: circa 1905

Industrial panorama, Hanley, Stoke on Trent, early 1900s

Harley Street and Queen Anne Street, London
Corner of Harley Street and Queen Anne Street, London. circa 1905

Aerial view, Tirpentwys Colliery, South Wales
Aerial view of Tirpentwys Colliery near Pontypool in South Wales

Noise Pollution
A knife-grinder, a milkmaid, dogs, beggars, musicians, a coalman, and a dustman, a postboy with his horn and a child with her rattle - noise pollution in the 18th century

Father Thames Diseases
Father Thames introducing his offspring to the fair city of London; diphtheria, scrofula and cholera

Woolwich Power Station, SE London, with coal barges on the River Thames. Date: circa 1950s

Aerial view, landing stage, Liverpool
Aerial photo landing stage at Liverpool, showing the Liver, Cunard, Dock Office, India, and Midland Bank buildings

Dorset Square, NW London. Date: circa 1910

Horse buses in Baker Street, Marylebone, London. Date: circa 1905

View of Robert Street, off Albany Street, NW London
View of Robert Street, off Albany Street, London, with a motor tyre repair shop on the corner. Date: circa 1908

Garden Bonfire
Billowing smoke pollution caused by a garden bonfire. Date: 1960s

Landscape view of Dudleys iron works. Showing the pollution
Night-time view of Dudley in the West Midlands and its iron works

England / Canvey Island
The old sea wall which encircles Canvey Island, Essex, at the mouth of the River Thames. The wall was built about 1623 by the Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyder

Smoke Makers / Punch / Poll
Smoke makers

Bradford Town Centre and Town Hall, West Yorkshire. 1930s

Satire on polluted water supply in London
Fun makes a comment on diseased water supply. 18 August 1866

White Star Line, Titanic and Olympic postcards. Top: the Olympic The Largest Vessel in the World'. Bottom: G D Courtney real photographic postcard of the Titanic in sepia

Aerial view, Universal Exhibition of Paris 1889
Aerial view of the Universal Exhibition of Paris, 1889 Date: 1889

The Devil and pollution
Even in the early 1900s the issue of pollution was causing concern. The German artist Heinrich Kley exhibited landscapes and portraits with the Munich Secession

Dirty Father Thames 1848
Dirty Father Thames stands in the river water hooking detritus and rubbish that's floating there: old shoes and boots, dead fish, bottles, dead mice and rats

Porter in smog, Smithfield Market, London
Porter pulling a loaded cart through the smog, Smithfield Market, London, December 1962. Air pollution of this kind was very hazardous to health. Date: 1962

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