Spade Collection

Rifle Brigade in position, Western Front - WWI
The First Battalion of the British Rifle Brigade in position close to the German trenches under shell fire - WWI. Date: circa 1915

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

Dig for Victory poster - WWII
World War Two poster encouraging British civilians to dig for victory, featuring somebody doing just that

Picking coal from waste tip during 1921 strike, South Wales
Three men picking coal from a local colliery waste tip during the 1921 strike, South Wales

Gardener from Sense and Sensibility
The gardeners lamentation upon blights, an illustration to Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, first published 1811. Date: 1908

Man with mechanical digger in a muddy field
A man working next to a mechanical Hy-Mac digger in a muddy field. Perhaps the digger has got stuck in the mud, and he is trying to dig it out

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, Tsarevitch, Grand Duchess Tatian
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia pictured with two of his children, the Grand Duchess Tatiana and Alexei, the Tsarevitch, building a fortification from snow in the grounds of the Imperial Palace at

Comic postcard, Little girl at the seaside, marooned on a pile of sand. Date: 20th century

Buckets and spades at the seaside
Two little girls on the beach at an unidentified British seaside resort, carrying their buckets and spades. Date: 1950s

Children Play at Seaside
Rather than entrust their boat to the waves which might sweep it away, these children construct an inshore pool where it will be safe though its voyages will be short

Cheerful Land Girl
A cheerful Land Girl cycles to work with her spade over one shoulder

Five children building a snowman in a wood
Five Edwardian children building a snowman in a wood

Off to the Sea by Muriel Dawson -- a little child ready for the summer holidays. Date: 1940

Children Run on Sand
Two children and their dog scamper across the sand, carrying their spade and bucket. Date: 1913

Miner working at the coalface, South Wales
A miner, stripped to the waist, working at the coalface in a mine in South Wales

Medieval Workers 15C
Labourers & Artificers

Children on Beach 1 of 4
Four children on the beach, wanting to make friends but feeling a bit shy

Christmas card in the shape of a boy in a sailor suit with bucket and spade. Date: circa 1890s

Comic postcard, Large woman in red swimsuit on the beach Date: 20th century

Palm-wine tapper climbing a palm tree, Senegambia
Naked palm-wine tapper climbing a date palm using a rope to collect a gourd full of sap, Senegambia, 18th century. A man gives instruction to the tapper. A negro ascending a palm tree for its wine

Garden Tools, Spades, Forks, Hoes, Shears, Rakes and Knives. 19th century

Hardy Patent Pick Co. mining tools 1890s
Selection of solid steel mining hand tools made by Hardy Patent Pick Co, in Sheffield. Date: 1890s

Poster, Dig for Victory, Grow More Food, WW2
Poster, Dig for Victory, Grow More Food. 1940s

Allegorical scene with Flora, Botany, Physics and Pomona
Flora, crowned with a garden of flowers, offering floral tributes to three figures - Botany (shown holding an alembic), Physics (who is looking through a magnifying glass)

Hircocervus, goat-stag or horse-stag - The Trusty Servant

Poster, Dig for Victory, WW2
Poster, Dig for Victory, step on it! 1940s

Poster, The need is growing, Dig for Victory still, WW2
Poster, The need is growing, Dig for Victory still. 1940s

Boys and girls taking part in a Communist Youth labour camp in former Yugoslavia. They were working on a river project. Date: 1963

Labourer Mr Idris Silman takes a break, Tredegar, Wales
Mr Idris Silman, a manual labourer, takes a short break while digging up the road in Tredegar, South Wales. He sits on the raised pavement with his shovel. The Sunday Times Date: 1988

Prince Philip with his father and mother
Prince Philip of Greece & Denmark (born 1921), later Duke of Edinburgh and consort of Queen Elizabeth II, pictured as a little boy with his father, Prince Andrew of Greece, and his mother

Wireless Whist playing cards scorecard, Art Deco design

Court Whist playing cards scorecard, royal fanfare trumpets draped in flags of four suits

Crazy Whist playing cards scorecard, four characters carrying giant images of the four suits

Cover design, Do it yourself, June 1966 - inspection pit in your drive Date: 1966

Pears Soap Advertisement
An advertisement illustration for Pears soap, from the womanhood in war time series. The image shows a woman on an allotment, leaning on a spade handle

Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret playing in a sandpit
Princesses Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) (1926-) and Margaret (1930-2002), daughters of the Duke and Duchess of York playing in a sandpit at St

Advert, Parkes steel digging forks and draining tools
Advert, Messrs Burgess and Key, wholesale agents for Parkes steel digging forks and draining tools Date: 1856

Children climbing down to the beach with bucket and spade

Photographing the Family on the Beach - original pencil sketch by unknown artist

Robert Scarlett, Sexton
Robert Scarlett, also known as Old Scarlett, the Sexton, who died in 1591 aged 98 Date: 16th century

Army chaplain tending British graves, WW1. 1914-1918

Illustration, Gravediggers scene, Hamlet
Illustration to the Gravediggers scene in Shakespeare's play, Hamlet (Act. V, Scene I)

Henry V - after the battle. 1862

A Demon blows corruption into the ear of a Magistrate while Death lies at his feet.. Handcolored engraving by Chretien de Mechel from Hans Holbein's The Triumph of Death

Folio of 97 etchings and drypoints of the Western Front, WW1
Page from a German folio of 97 drypoint etchings of the Western Front, 1914-1918, by W Schimmelpflug, 16th Dragoon Regiment. A dead soldier. Date: 1914-1918

Burying a body, France
Three grave diggers inter a corpse in a cemetery

The Triumph of Death (detail), by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Pieter Bruegel The Elder, called Peasant Bruegel (1525-1569). The Triumph of Death (detail). Date: circa 1562

Funeral of General Simon Fraser, 8 October 1777, the day after the Battle of Saratoga during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Date: 1777

All Professionally Made to Order for Quick Shipping