Manual Collection

Workshop of a carpenter and joiner
The workshop of a carpenter and joiner, with various activities taking place

Various shoemaking tools
Various tools used by a shoemaker or cobbler, including scissors, pliers, hammers, a skewer, a ruler and strong thread

Coal miners in shaft lift, South Wales
Several coal miners with blackened faces stand in the shaft lift at the end of their shift in a coal mine in South Wales

Workshop of a cooper (barrel maker)
The workshop of a cooper or barrel maker, with examples of the finished product out in the street

Girl playing Nurse
A young girl in her nurses outfit, tends to her teddys injuries with copious bandaging, whilst a pet cat watches on. She seems to be getting her medical knowledge from the First Aid manual in her

Croydon Fire Brigade, South Norwood station
The firefighters of the Croydon Fire Brigade serving at South Norwood station, South Norwood High Street, together with their horse drawn manual fire engine

Miner riding drams, Tirpentwys Colliery, South Wales
A miner riding a journey of drams (coal trucks) at Tirpentwys Colliery near Pontypool in South Wales. Date: 1910

Yost Light Running Typewriter No. 15
A Yost Light Running Typewriter No.15. Date: 1910

GWR navvies, Treffgarne, Pembrokeshire, South Wales
A group of ten Great Western Railway navvies working on the Treffgarne railway at Nant Y Coy, Pembrokeshire, Dyfed, South Wales

Welsh women road builders, South Wales
A group of twenty Welsh women road builders in Pembrokeshire, Dyfed, South Wales, holding their spades. They built the road to Hook in 1903-4 to facilitate transport to the colliery

Man at work, Dinorwig Slate Quarry, North Wales
A man at work, 150 feet up on the main face of Dinorwig (or Dinorwic) Slate Quarry, near Llanberis, North Wales

Leather making and tannery tools
Various tools used in tannery and leather making, including a knife, pincers and a hook

Acton Volunteer Fire Brigade with appliances
District Council of Acton Volunteer Fire Brigade with appliances typical of those used at the time: a horse drawn steamer, horse drawn manual pump, horse drawn escape, hand wheeled escape

Volunteer Fire Brigade with appliances typical of those used at the time: a horse drawn steamer, horse drawn manual pump, horse drawn escape, hand wheeled escape, and a hose cart

GLC-LFB - Dual purpose pump fire engine
The GLC-LFB was created on 1 April 1965. A series of photos was commissioned of each type of fire engine, either within or absorbed into the enlarged London Fire Brigade

Miners and owner, Hook Colliery, Pembrokeshire, South Wales
A group of men at Hook Colliery, near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, South Wales. They are the current shift of miners plus the owner, standing near a wooden headframe connected to a mineshaft

Threshing Wheat
Men threshing wheat at a farm near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, using a Surrells patent compound steam traction engine (mounted on springs)

Range of bakery tools and ingredients
A range of bakery tools and ingredients, including a pair of scales, a bucket, a sieve, mixing paddles and a sack of flour

Workshop of a saddler and upholsterer
The workshop of a saddler and upholsterer, with finished items including trunks, bags and a chair (top right)

Typewriter Keys / Fortune
Typewriter keys on the cover of a magazine

French Palmistry Manual
L ART DE LIRE DANS LES LIGNES DE LA MAIN ( The art of reading the lines of the hand ) - a popular French manual

Fire-Fighting Motorcycle
Merryweathers fire-fighting motor-cycle and sidecar unit of 1910, with manual fire- pump mounted on a platform

Manual Fire-Engine / 1885
Factory Pattern Manual Fire- engine constructed by Merryweathers for the use of factory fire brigade

West Derby Union, Liverpool - Belmont Road workhouse
The Belmont Road workhouse opened in 1890 by Liverpools West Derby Union. It catered primarily for able-bodied inmates and vagrants, providing daily out-relief in return for manual labour. Date: 1925

Welsh miner in coal mine pushing truck
A Welsh miner, stripped to the waist, pushing a truck in a coal mine

West Ham Fire Brigade
A manual horse drawn fire pump belonging to West Ham Fire Brigade with a Victorian fire crew

View outside a leather factory, Bermondsey, south London
View outside Neckinger Mills leather factory, Bermondsey, south London. Date: 1842

Compositor at Works
An American compositor at work in the days of manual type setting. Date: 1887

Great Crane at Woolwich Arsenal, south east London
The Great Crane at the Arsenal, Woolwich, south east London, used to lift sections of large guns

Women brickmakers in the Black Country
Women brickmakers at work in the Black Country -- south Staffordshire and north Worcestershire

YMCA Poster, Lend Your Strength, WW1
YMCA Poster, design by Adrian Gil-Spear, Lend Your Strength to the Red Triangle, Help the Y Help the Fighters Fight, United War Work Campaign, 11 to 18 November, First World War. circa 1918

The bottom sawyer in a saw pit cutting a timber log into pla
The bottom sawyer in a saw pit cuts a timber log into planks. He is showered by sawdust Date: 1989

Loading sugar cane in a field, Cuba. Date: circa 1910

Village Blacksmith
Village blacksmith at work at his forge. circa 1905

Advert for Daisy vacuum cleaner 1912
Daisy vacuum cleaner, manual vacuum cleaner using suction to remove dirt. 1912

St Edwards Orphanage, Liverpool - Carpentry
St Edwards Orphanage, Broad Green, Liverpool - manual instruction room. Boys at work benches with tools

Draycott, Cotswold vllage, Oldborough Farm, men and scythes
Draycott, Cotswold village, Oldborough Farm, five men in field with scythes. Date: circa 1920

Draycott, Cotswold village, Oldborough Farm, harvest
Draycott, Cotswold village, Oldborough Farm, Hodgkins family group, bringing in the harvest pre-1915. Date: circa early 1910s

Railway cutting works, discovery of fossilised trees
Railway cutting works on the Manchester to Bolton line, discovery of fossilised trees. Date: 1840s

George Beaumont with manual fire engine, Pinner
George Beaumont, Chief Officer of the Pinner Voluntary Fire Brigade, with a manual fire engine which was kept at Waxwell Lane, Pinner, having previously been housed at The Hall

Barnet Voluntary Fire Brigade with manual horse pump
The officers and firemen of the Barnet voluntary fire brigade with the manual horse drawn pump fire engine

Tunnel construction, Great Western Railway, South Wales
Tunnel construction taking place on the Great Western Railway, somewhere in South Wales

GWR workings on a railway line in South Wales
Navvies working on a Great Western Railway line embankment, somewhere in South Wales. The navvy hut can be seen in the distance on the left

Harvest workers, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, South Wales
Harvest workers in a field above the town of Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, South Wales

Alchemists Laboratory
An alchemist studies an old instruction manual, while his assistant keeps the furnace going. His workshop is filled with state-of-the-art equipment for The Great Work

Man ploughing with gas mask, September 1939
Man photographed as he ploughs his field in Surrey. The Sphere notes his gas mask which he hangs from the handle of his plough. Date: 1939

Women lumberjacks sawing trees, WW1
Women lumberjacks sawing trees during the First World War. 1914-1918

Expert grinder at Wilkinson Sword Works, WW1
Expert grinder at Wilkinson Sword Works, working on a new bayonet during the First World War. 1914-1918

All Professionally Made to Order for Quick Shipping